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Wednesday 10 December 2014
Justice Department Sues Scotland County, North Carolina, Public Housing Agency and Two Employees for Sexual HarassmentRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against Southeastern Community and Family Services, Inc. (formerly Four-County Community Services, Inc.), a public housing agency that administers the Section 8 voucher program in Scotland County, North Carolina, along with two of its employees John Wesley and Eric Pender. The lawsuit alleges that Wesley, the Section 8 housing coordinator, and Pender, the housing inspector, have sexually harassed female voucher program participants and applicants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges, among other things, that Wesley and Pender have subjected voucher program participants and applicants to unwanted sexual comments, sexual touching and other sexual acts, conditioned or offered Section 8 benefits in exchange for sexual acts and took adverse housing actions against those who rebuffed their sexual advances. As alleged in the complaint, Pender and Wesley have engaged in this conduct while exercising their authority as employees of Southeastern Community and Family Services (SCFS), and SCFS has failed to take reasonable preventive or corrective measures.
“No one, including those who seek public assistance for housing benefits, should be subjected to sexual harassment, particularly by the very people tasked with providing critical assistance,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue its vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act against those who abuse their power and authority.”
“To invade the safety and security of someone’s home with sexually harassing and other abhorrent behavior will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand for the Middle District of North Carolina. “The goal of this lawsuit is to vindicate the rights of those subjected to the types of shameful conduct alleged in the Complaint – conduct that is a violation both of federal law and of basic human decency.”
The suit seeks monetary damages to compensate victims, civil penalties, and a court order barring future discrimination and requiring additional preventive measures.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination by Southeastern Community and Family Services, John Wesley, or Eric Pender or have other information about this matter can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox 94, or e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected]. Persons who believe that they have experienced unlawful housing discrimination elsewhere can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, or e-mail [email protected], or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must be proven in federal court.
Justice Department Sues Scotland County, North Carolina, Public Housing Agency and Two Employees for Sexual HarassmentRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against Southeastern Community and Family Services, Inc. (formerly Four-County Community Services, Inc.), a public housing agency that administers the Section 8 voucher program in Scotland County, North Carolina, along with two of its employees John Wesley and Eric Pender. The lawsuit alleges that Wesley, the Section 8 housing coordinator, and Pender, the housing inspector, have sexually harassed female voucher program participants and applicants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges, among other things, that Wesley and Pender have subjected voucher program participants and applicants to unwanted sexual comments, sexual touching and other sexual acts, conditioned or offered Section 8 benefits in exchange for sexual acts and took adverse housing actions against those who rebuffed their sexual advances. As alleged in the complaint, Pender and Wesley have engaged in this conduct while exercising their authority as employees of Southeastern Community and Family Services (SCFS), and SCFS has failed to take reasonable preventive or corrective measures.
“No one, including those who seek public assistance for housing benefits, should be subjected to sexual harassment, particularly by the very people tasked with providing critical assistance,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue its vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act against those who abuse their power and authority.”
“To invade the safety and security of someone’s home with sexually harassing and other abhorrent behavior will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand for the Middle District of North Carolina. “The goal of this lawsuit is to vindicate the rights of those subjected to the types of shameful conduct alleged in the Complaint – conduct that is a violation both of federal law and of basic human decency.”
The suit seeks monetary damages to compensate victims, civil penalties, and a court order barring future discrimination and requiring additional preventive measures.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination by Southeastern Community and Family Services, John Wesley, or Eric Pender or have other information about this matter can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox 94, or e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected]. Persons who believe that they have experienced unlawful housing discrimination elsewhere can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, or e-mail [email protected], or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must be proven in federal court.
Jury Convicts Easton Man of Meth, Money Laundering ConspiraciesRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Easton, Mo., man was found guilty by a federal trial jury today of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the St. Joseph, Mo., area and a conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Jeffrey Ray Pendleton, also known as “Fro,” 34, of Easton, was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and participating in a money-laundering conspiracy.
Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Pendleton was involved in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the St. Joseph area from Jan. 1, 2009, to July 19, 2012. During the same time, Pendleton conspired with others to engage in financial transactions with the proceeds of the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
Pendleton was arrested by the Kansas Highway Patrol on April 30, 2010, after a high speed vehicle pursuit in Lenexa, Kan. Pendleton fled from troopers and local officers until his vehicle became disabled, then ran on foot before being taken into custody. Following his arrest, troopers recovered six different prescription narcotic pills, a digital scale, methamphetamine, syringes and approximately $5,000. Pendleton was arrested again on Jan. 19, 2011, after a short vehicle pursuit by Lenexa, Kan., police officers. During the pursuit, Pendleton tossed a white object out the window that was later determined to be methamphetamine.
A former girlfriend of Pendleton and other cooperating defendants told investigators that Pendleton possessed methamphetamine every two to three days during late 2009 and 2010. Two traveled with Pendleton when he went to Kansas City, Kan., to pick up $10,000 worth of methamphetamine, which he brought back with them to St. Joseph for distribution.
Other individuals also told investigators they had witnessed Pendleton in possession of methamphetamine on numerous occasions. They stated they saw Pendleton with “softball”-size and fist-size bags of methamphetamine. One of the cooperating individuals told investigators that Pendleton was in possession of a large plastic bag, which contained three pounds of methamphetamine.
A cooperating individual told investigators that Pendleton orchestrated the beating of a girl in the basement of a St. Joseph residence over a drug debt. The victim of the beating sought medical attention at a hospital emergency room. Pendleton forced the beating victim to pose for cell phone photos with a hypodermic needle in her arm, and told her that if she reported the beating he would send the photos to family services and the victim would lose custody of her children.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about 90 minutes before returning the verdicts to U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner, ending a trial that began Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014.
Under federal statutes, Pendleton is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $10.5 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades. It was investigated by the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Clay County Drug Task Force.
Johnstown Man Sentenced to Prison for Heroin Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A resident of Johnstown, Pa., was sentenced in federal court on Dec. 9, 2014, to 24 months in prison and three years supervised release on his conviction of violating federal narcotics laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
United States District Judge Kim R. Gibson imposed the sentence on Matthew John Claycomb, 23.
According to information presented to the court, on Jan. 25, 2013, Claycomb, along with co-defendants, distributed less than 100 grams of heroin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Haines prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Mr. Hickton commended the Laurel Highlands Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cambria County Drug Task Force for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Matthew John Claycomb.
Jefferson County Man Guilty of Drug TraffickingRead the Press Release
Department of Justice
Office of Public AffairsBEAUMONT, Texas – A 41-year-old Port Acres, Texas man has pleaded guilty to federal drug violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.
Chad Piazza pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Dec. 9, 2014 before U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.
According to information presented in court, beginning in January 2012, Piazza and a co-defendant, Wendy Claudine Hopkins, 45, of Groves, Texas, conspired to distribute methamphetamine in the Jefferson County, Texas area. As part of his plea, Piazza admitted that he was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and used his association with the ABT to further his drug trafficking activities.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment on May 15, 2014 and charged Piazza and Hopkins with drug trafficking violations. Piazza entered his guilty plea during jury selection for his trial, which was set to begin yesterday.
Hopkins pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2014 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Both defendants face a minimum of 10 years in federal prison. Sentencing dates have not been set.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Port Arthur Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross.Jasper County Man Guilty of Distributing CocaineRead the Press Release
Department of Justice
Office of Public AffairsBEAUMONT, Texas – A 28-year-old Jasper, Texas man has pleaded guilty to federal drug violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.
Shane Dwayne Hadnot pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith F. Giblin.
According to information presented in court, on Nov. 7, 2013, Alfred Wright, of Jasper, Texas, was reported missing by his family after his truck broke down in rural Sabine County, Texas. Articles of Wright’s clothing were found on private land, approximately a mile from where Wright was last seen. After searchers initially failed to locate Wright, his body was found on Nov. 25, 2013 in brush near where his clothing had been found. An investigation into the cause of Wright’s disappearance and death revealed his involvement with Shane Hadnot. Phone records, witness statements, and drug evidence located during the search of Shane Hadnot’s car, indicated that Hadnot was selling cocaine to Alfred Wright.
During the two-day period before Wright’s death, Hadnot and Wright exchanged 20 text messages. The indictment alleges that on Nov. 7, 2013, Wright sent a text message to Hadnot at 12:36 pm requesting to purchase cocaine and other illegal narcotics from Hadnot. Wright went missing approximately five hours later. An autopsy was performed on Wright’s body and toxicology testing revealed that Wright’s blood contained cocaine, methamphetamine and Xanax. The final autopsy report, and other experts in the fields of pathology, toxicology, and anthropology concluded that Wright’s cause of death was an accident due to combined drug intoxication. Hadnot was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 6, 2014 and charged with drug trafficking violations.
“Today’s guilty plea signals that this investigation has reached a significant point of closure,” said U.S. Attorney Bales. “Shane Hadnot is being held accountable for his criminality and the associated factual context for Hadnot’s plea provides the truth for why Alfred Wright lost his life in the Sabine County woods. Of course, today’s court activity will provide little solace for Mr. Wright’s family who lost a husband, father, brother and son. Can anyone doubt that the distribution and use of illegal narcotics is a cancer in American society? On behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Texas Rangers, DEA and FBI, I again express our sorrow and our condolences to those who loved Alfred Wright. I also want to commend the Rangers, the agents and the officers who worked countless hours to determine what happened and who should be held accountable – they have done their duty and I am honored to be associated with this team.”
Hadnot faces up to 20 years in federal prison at sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.
This case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brit Featherston and John B. Ross.Huntington Man Sentenced to 312 Months for Distribution of Heroin and Crack Cocaine in Boyd CountyRead the Press Release
ASHLAND, KY - A Huntington, W.Va., man, previously convicted of second degree murder, has been sentenced to 312 months in federal prison for trafficking in heroin and crack cocaine in Boyd County.
On Tuesday, December 9, U.S. District Judge David Bunning sentenced 32 year-old Jason C. Brown and ordered him to serve 15 years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term. Judge Bunning enhanced Brown’s sentence because Brown’s criminal history qualifies him as a career offender. Brown has a prior drug trafficking felony conviction and a conviction for second degree murder in West Virginia. Under federal law, he must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.
Evidence at Brown’s trial in September of this year established that Brown sold heroin on multiple occasions to individuals in Boyd County between January 2013 and April 2013. He also sold crack in February 2013. Evidence also established that Brown fled Ashland once he learned of the warrant for his arrest on these matters.
Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Howard S. Marshall, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police Commissioner, jointly made the announcement today.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Kentucky State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
Honduran Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally ReentryRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that NELSON FLORES-CRUZ, age 30, a citizen of Honduras, pled guilty today to a one-count Bill of Information for illegal reentry of a removed alien.
According to the Bill of Information, on or about August 12, 2014, FLORES-CRUZ was found in the United States after having been officially deported and removed on or about July 11, 2008.
FLORES-CRUZ faces a maximum term of imprisonment of two years and a fine of $250,000, or the greater of twice the gross gain to the defendant, one year supervised release after imprisonment, and a $100 special assessment. U.S. District Judge Martin L. C. Feldman set sentencing for April 8, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Removal in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Irene González is in charge of the prosecution.
Greenbrier County woman sentenced in federal court for dealing heroinRead the Press Release
Beckley, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a White Sulphur Springs woman was sentenced to federal prison for possession with intent to distribute heroin. United States District Judge Irene C. Berger sentenced Amanda Nicole Canaday, 27, to 18 months in prison. Canaday pled guilty in July of 2014, admitting that on August 31, 2013, she possessed 56 packets of heroin that she intended to sell. She stored the heroin in her apartment in White Sulphur Springs. She also admitted that she had been selling heroin for some time.
The case was investigated by the Greenbrier Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force under the Greenbrier Heroin and Pill Initiative, as part of an ongoing law enforcement effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the sale of heroin and the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs in the Southern District. Assistant United States Attorney John File handled the prosecution of this case.
Goddard Man Charged with Seven Counts of Producing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
WICHITA, KAN. –Paul F. Grimm, 43, Goddard, Kan., is charged with seven counts of producing child pornography. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in Sedgwick County, Kan.
The indictment alleges he sexually exploited a 13-year-old girl in order to make the images.
If convicted, he faces a penalty of not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years in federal prison on each count, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.
Grimm has been charged in federal court in Texas in a separate indictment alleging he had sex with a minor girl on a cruise ship.
OTHER INDICTMENTS
Michael Muoghalu, 61, Pittsburg, Kan., is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The crime is alleged to have occurred beginning in 2006 in Pittsburg, Kan.
The indictment alleges that while Muoghalu worked for Pittsburg State University and managed a program for recruiting Nigerian graduate exchange students he fraudulently obtained more than $148,000 in Pittsburg State University refunds to Nigerian graduate exchange students. The money came from fees paid by Nigerian exchange students who were accepted into Pittsburg State’s Masters of Business Administration program.
The students were required to pay a deposit for tuition and fees to Pittsburg State upon being accepted into the program. After the students were enrolled, they were to receive partial refunds of their deposits. The indictment alleges the defendant fraudulently directed students to pay a portion of their refunds to him for acting as the students’ agent in obtaining the refund. The defendant filed fraudulent paperwork causing the university to issue partial refunds totaling $148,430.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the wire fraud count, and a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $500,000 on the money laundering count. The Pittsburg State University Police, the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger is prosecuting.
Gerardo Arzate-Arzate, 23, a citizen of Mexico, is charged with attempting to enter McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita using a counterfeit identification indicating he was a legal permanent resident of the United States.
Azarte-Azarte is charged with one count of possessing false documents, four counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of producing a false identification document, one count of making a false statement to the U.S. government and one count of misusing a Social Security number. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2013, 2014 and 2015 in Sedgwick County, Kan.
The indictment alleges he was arrested Nov. 17, 2014, while attempting to enter McConnell using a counterfeit U.S. Department of Homeland Security Permanent Resident Card bearing his photo and an alien registration number assigned to another person. He was working for Central Missouri Countertops, Inc., of Columbia, Mo., a subcontractor for Warden Construction Corp. of Jacksonville, Mo., which has a contract with the U.S. Air Force for improvements related to the KC-46 air refueling aircraft project.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Possession of false documents: A maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Aggravated identity theft: A mandatory two years to run consecutive to the underlying sentence and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
Producing a false identification: A maximum penalty of 15 years and a fine up to $4250,000.
Making a false statement to the U.S. government: A maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000.
Misusing a Social Security number: A maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000.Immigration and Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.
Andris Cukurs, 68, Glendale, Calif., is charged with one count of attempted money laundering. The government is seeking forfeiture of more than $314,800 seized Nov. 14, 2014. The crime is alleged to have occurred in Dickinson County, Kan.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $500,000. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett is prosecuting.
Michael L. Shelton, 32, Wichita, Kan., is charged one with one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, one count of possession with of heroin with intent to distribute, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction, one count of possession of a stolen firearm and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The crimes are alleged to have occurred Oct. 21, 2014, in Clark County, Kan.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute: Not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million.
Possession of heroin with intent to distribute: Not less than five years and not more than 40 years and a fine up to $5 million.
Possession of a firearm following a felony conviction, possession of a stolen firearm: A maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking: Not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000.
The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch is prosecuting.Curtis D. Wooten, II, 30, Wichita, Kan., is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction, one count of possession of a stolen firearm, and one count of unlawful possession of a sawed off shotgun. The crimes are alleged to have occurred Sept. 18, 2014, in Sedgwick County, Kan.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison on each count. The Wichita Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch is prosecuting.
John P. Stark, 47, Great Bend, Kan., Kan., Deona L. McNutt, 24, Great Bend, Kan., Alyssa Dannebohm, 30, Hutchinson, Kan., and Keith M. Dannebohm, 22, Hutchinson, Kan. are charged with counterfeiting $100 bills. In the same case, Justin E. Herren, 30, Great Bent, Kan., is charged with one count of passing two $100 bills.
In addition, Stark is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction and three counts of making counterfeit bills.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the firearms charge, and a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the other counts.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Treaster is prosecuting.
Joseph Anthony Ransom, 29, Ellis, Kan., and Carly Marie Dreiling, 21, Hays, Kan., are charged with one count of growing181 marijuana plants in the basement of their residence, one count of possessing 181 marijuana plants, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The crimes are alleged to have occurred Sept. 25, 2014, in Ellis County, Kan.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $1 million on each of the drug charges; and a penalty of not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the firearm charge. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Lind is prosecuting.
Pedro Garcia-Cordero, 41, a citizen of Mexico, is charged with unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported. He was found July 7, 2014, in Sedgwick County, Kan.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.
Teodoro Erasmo Luna, 53, a citizen of Mexico, is charged with three counts of making a false statement to the U.S. government, three counts of misusing a Social Security number, five counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of document fraud, one count of unlawful production of an identification document, one count of making a false statement on a passport application and one count of making a false claim of U.S. citizenship. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 in Ford County, Kan.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
False statement: A maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Misusing a Social Security number: A maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.
Aggravated identity theft: A mandatory consecutive two-year sentence and a fine up to $250,000.
Document fraud: A maximum penalty of 15 years and a fine up to $250,000.
The U.S. Department of State and Defense Security Services investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.Antonio Perez-Vargas, 47, a citizen of Mexico, is charged with two counts of making false statements to the U.S. government.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count. The Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.
In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.- Fugitive Surrenders in Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme
Franklin Man Sentenced for Robbing SunTrust BankRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – Shane Bradshaw, 27, of Franklin, Virginia, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and directed to pay $7,781.50 to SunTrust Bank for his role in robbing the Franklin branch of SunTrust Bank on January 3, 2014.
Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.
Bradshaw proceeded to a jury trial, but pleaded guilty on August 6, 2014, at the conclusion of the government’s evidence in the case. According to testimony at trial and court documents, Bradshaw conspired with his co-defendant Louis Doughtie to rob the Franklin branch of SunTrust Bank. On January 3, 2014, the two men entered the bank, having concealed their faces with ski masks and wearing dark clothing and gloves. They carried air-soft pistols that they had spray-painted black to look like real firearms. Bradshaw and Doughtie forced multiple customers waiting in line to the ground, and thenBradshaw leaped over the bank teller counter and personally cleaned out the teller drawers. The two men escaped with approximately $8,000 in cash.
Doughtie pleaded guilty on June 17, 2014. On September 25, 2014, Doughtie was sentenced to 50 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution to SunTrust Bank.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City of Franklin, Virginia, Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys V. Kathleen Dougherty and Joseph E. DePadilla prosecuted 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. 2:14-cr-66.Tweet
Four Russian Nationals Indicted on Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – Four Russian nationals have been indicted for conspiring to travel from Russia to casinos across the United States, including several local casinos, to cheat at particular slot games using electronic devices.
According to the indictment, the charged defendants engaged in a conspiracy to cheat at least 10 casinos in Missouri, California and Illinois through the use of electronic devices. The devices were used to predict the behavior of a certain make and model of slot machine game known as the Aristocrat Mark VI Electronic Gaming Device. By communicating with a foreign server, the devices allowed the defendants to predict the behavior of the Mark VI games and obtain winnings from the games that far exceeded what would be expected from fair play. The defendants made multiple trips from Russia to the United States in order to carry out their scheme, using the devices to cheat casinos in St. Louis, Missouri; Temecula, California; and East St. Louis, Illinois, among others.
MURAT BLIEV; YEVGENIY NAZAROV; IGOR LAVRENOV; and IVAN GUDALOV were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of traveling in interstate and foreign commerce in furtherance of the conspiracy. Bliev, Lavrenov, and Gudalov are all believed to reside in Moscow, Russia. Nazarov is a U.S. citizen residing in Miami, Florida.
If convicted, each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentences, a judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the Missouri Gaming Commission, the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Gaming Board and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Gambling Control. Assistant United States Attorney Richard E. Finneran is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.Former Office Manager to Serve Year in Prison and Pay over $141,000 in Restitution for Tribal EmbezzlementRead the Press Release
Robin Jean Bitseedy, 41, of Anadarko, Oklahoma, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange to serve twelve months and one day in federal prison for embezzlement from the Wichita and Affiliated, Caddo, and Delaware Tribes, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Bitseedy was also ordered to pay $141,820.47 in restitution to the tribes.
According to Court records, Bitseedy worked as the Office Manager for Wichita, Caddo, Delaware Enterprises, Inc. (“WCD Enterprises”), a corporation organized by the Wichita and Affiliated, Caddo, and Delaware Tribes. Bitseedy’s position gave her access to tribal funds which she used to embezzle money from December 2007 through June 3, 2013. In pleading guilty to the embezzlement, Bitseedy admitted that she used the WCD Enterprises Walmart credit card for personal use without permission and wrote checks to herself with forged signatures. She admitted she used the money to purchase gift cards and items for family and pay the rent and bills for her family.
Bitseedy was charged by information on August 11, 2014, and pled guilty on August 28, 2014. At sentencing hearing, the Judge ordered Bitseedy to report to the Bureau of Prisons on January 9, 2015, to begin serving her prison sentence.
This case is the result of investigations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rozia McKinney-Foster.
Former Office Manager to Serve Year in Prison and Pay over $141,000 in Restitution for Tribal EmbezzlementRead the Press Release
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – ROBIN JEAN BITSEEDY, 41, of Anadarko, Oklahoma, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange to serve twelve months and one day in federal prison for embezzlement from the Wichita and Affiliated, Caddo, and Delaware Tribes, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Bitseedy was also ordered to pay $141,820.47 in restitution to the tribes.
According to Court records, Bitseedy worked as the Office Manager for Wichita, Caddo, Delaware Enterprises, Inc. ("WCD Enterprises"), a corporation organized by the Wichita and Affiliated, Caddo, and Delaware Tribes. Bitseedy’s position gave her access to tribal funds which she used to embezzle money from December 2007 through June 3, 2013. In pleading guilty to the embezzlement, Bitseedy admitted that she used the WCD Enterprises Walmart credit card for personal use without permission and wrote checks to herself with forged signatures. She admitted she used the money to purchase gift cards and items for family and pay the rent and bills for her family.
Bitseedy was charged by information on August 11, 2014, and pled guilty on August 28, 2014. At sentencing hearing, the Judge ordered Bitseedy to report to the Bureau of Prisons on January 9, 2015, to begin serving her prison sentence.
This case is the result of investigations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rozia McKinney-Foster.
Former Executives Admit to Defrauding Employer of $1 Million through Fraudulent Expense ClaimsRead the Press Release
Used Forged Receipts and Invoices in Seven-Year Scheme to Claim Reimbursements for Mislabeled Personal Expenses and Obtain Duplicate Reimbursements
Greenbelt, Maryland – Paul Dunham, age 59, and his wife, Sandra Dunham, age 58, of Northampton, England, formerly of Montgomery County, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme in which they requested reimbursement from their employer for mortgage payments on time shares in Barbados, luxury bedding for their home, a dog sofa and other personal expenses to their employer. Paul Dunham also pleaded guilty to money laundering.The guilty pleas were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to their guilty pleas, the defendants worked for PACE Worldwide which was located at various times in Maryland and North Carolina, and had a subsidiary in the United Kingdom named PACE Europe Ltd. PACE produced parts for the repair and reworking of electronics for the military and others. Paul Dunham held a number of executive positions, including president and chief operating officer. Sandra Dunham was initially hired to work for the European subsidiary in the accounts department, and eventually became the director of sales and marketing for PACE Worldwide. The Dunhams relocated from the United Kingdom to Maryland and then North Carolina, and were provided with corporate credit cards.
Between 2002 and 2009, Paul and Sandra Dunham fraudulently charged personal expenses to their corporate credit cards and submitted vouchers to PACE for reimbursement that falsely described the expenditures as business expenses. For example, Paul Dunham represented that $3,007 had been spent on meals during business meetings, when in fact the money was spent on luxury bedding for his upscale North Carolina residence. Sandra Dunham sought reimbursement for $8,397 which she represented as expenses incurred to cancel a vacation due to a business meeting, when these expenses were actually mortgage payments the couple made on two separate time share units the couple had purchased in Barbados. Other personal expenses which were falsely described as business expenditures included personal legal fees, expensive furniture, a domed pet residence and a dog sofa.
The couple also fraudulently billed PACE Europe Ltd. for business expenses already paid by PACE Worldwide, obtaining duplicate reimbursements.
In addition, a substantial portion of the scheme involved Paul Dunham abusing a private position of trust to manage and direct others, including his secretary, in the execution of the scheme. Moreover, Paul Dunham repeatedly forged receipts and invoices to create the false appearance that they were for business, rather than personal expenses.
As a result of the lengthy scheme, $1 million in actual losses were incurred. Paul and Sandra Dunham have agreed to forfeit and pay restitution of $1 million.
Paul Dunham faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy and money laundering. Sandra Dunham and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Sandra Dunham will be sentenced to 60 days of incarceration. U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for both defendants for January 29, 2015, at 1:30 p.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorneys David I. Salem and Leah J. Bressack, who are prosecuting the case.
Former Chief Financial Officer/Senior Vice President of PARIC Construction Indicted on Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – BRIAN PALUCH, former Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President of PARIC Construction was indicted on three charges of mail fraud involving his scheme to use the company’s corporate funds to pay his own personal expenses during the period January, 2010 through February, 2014.
According to the indictment, Paluch used the PARIC issued American Express card to pay for personal expenses, including personal travel, dining, spa charges, electronics and personal gifts for family and friends. In order to conceal his scheme, Paluch submitted false and altered financial summaries of the monthly American Express statements by deleting and altering his own personal charges. On several occasions, Paluch forged the PARIC President’s signature on these false financial summaries as purported authorization for the payments. Additionally, as part of his employment at PARIC, Paluch was permitted to join the Sunset Country Club, and PARIC paid the monthly membership dues. Paluch, on behalf of PARIC, entered into an agreement with Sunset for the purchase of various types of apparel and golf items containing the PARIC corporate logo. The indictment alleges that Paluch created sham and inflated Sunset Country Club invoices to pay for personal items at the club unrelated to the legitimate business of PARIC. In his position as CFO, Paluch was responsible for calculating the annual bonuses for PARIC’s employees, including his own. As a further part of his scheme, Paluch inflated his base salary in calculating his own annual bonus for several years. Paluch also assisted a PARIC employee issue corporate checks to pay for the employee’s daughter’s private school tuition without PARIC’s knowledge. Additionally, during Summer, 2011, Paluch directed the payment of $5,000 in PARIC corporate funds to a St. Louis area law firm as an incentive for that law firm to hire his niece as a summer associate.
Paluch, Kirkwood, Missouri, was indicted by a federal grand jury on three felony counts of mail fraud. He is expected to appear in federal court later this week.
If convicted, each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentences, a judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by the Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The victim, PARIC Construction Company, provided assistance in the investigation.
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.Former CEO of TierOne Bank Charged in Scheme to Defraud Bank’s Shareholders and Mislead RegulatorsRead the Press Release
The former Chief Executive Officer of TierOne Bank, a publicly traded commercial bank formerly headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, was charged today for his role in a scheme to defraud TierOne’s shareholders and mislead regulators by concealing the declining value of its loan and real estate portfolio. Earlier this week, the former President and Chief Operating Officer pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Thomas R. Metz of the FBI’s Omaha Division and Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) Christy Romero made the announcement.
“Today’s charges against the CEO of TierOne Bank represent our continuing drive to prosecute fraudulent conduct that jeopardizes our nation’s financial institutions,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “We will continue to investigate and prosecute bank executives who engage in deceptive and fraudulent behavior, fueled by greed.”
“What Gilbert G. Lundstrom’s indictment demonstrates is that cheating and breaking the law will not be tolerated,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Metz. “This joint investigation, in conjunction with SIGTARP reflects the FBI’s nonstop commitment to protect our communities by aggressively investigating and bringing to justice individuals exploiting their influence or position for personal gain.”
“SIGTARP’s investigation with the FBI, DOJ, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has resulted in criminal charges against Gilbert Lundstrom, former CEO of TARP applicant TierOne Bank, for hiding bank losses and past due loans arising from the bank’s aggressive expansion out of its traditional lending areas,” said Special Inspector General Romero. “Lundstrom is essentially charged with having two set of books, with the books shown to regulators concealing tens of millions of dollars in delinquent loans. Rather than tell the truth that this aggressive expansion resulted in a loan portfolio declining in value that threatened the bank’s capital position, this bank CEO is alleged to have engaged in a conspiracy to conceal the bank’s true financial condition from regulators who were examining the bank and reviewing the bank’s TARP application. Taxpayers shouldered the burden of TARP to make our system safer, not to fill holes on bank’s books caused by fraud.”
Gilbert G. Lundstrom, 72, of Lincoln, Nebraska was the CEO of TierOne Bank from 1999 to January 2010. According to allegations in the indictment, during that time, he and others concealed the true value of TierOne’s loan and real estate portfolio and provided falsely inflated figures in its required reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Specifically, Lundstrom and others allegedly used outdated property appraisals and rejected new appraisals that would have required TierOne to mark down the value of its real estate holdings. In addition, Lundstrom and others allegedly delayed seeking new appraisals to conceal the depreciating value of its loan collateral, and restructured loan terms to disguise the borrowers’ inability to make timely interest and principal payments. As a result, Lundstrom and others were allegedly able to hide millions of dollars in losses from regulators and investors.
In 2008, TierOne submitted an application to the OTS seeking Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding. Ultimately, TierOne withdrew its application and did not receive TARP funds. TierOne filed for bankruptcy shortly after the bank was shut down by OTS in June 2010.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
James A. Laphen, 65, of Omaha, Nebraska, the former President and Chief Operating Officer of TierOne, pleaded guilty earlier this week to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, making false entries in a bank’s books and records, and making false statements before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl R. Zwart of the District of Nebraska. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 27, 2015. On Sept. 9, 2014, TierOne’s former Chief Credit Officer, Don A. Langford, also pleaded guilty for his role in the fraud. His sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Omaha Division and SIGTARP. The SEC also provided substantial assistance in the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Henry P. Van Dyck and L. Rush Atkinson of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Former Associate Dean of MIT Sloan School and His Harvard MBA Son Plead Guilty in Hedge Fund ScamRead the Press Release
BOSTON – Two Boston-area hedge fund managers pleaded guilty today to conspiring to mislead investors into investing more than $500 million in their fraudulent hedge fund business.
Gabriel Bitran, 69, of Newton, a former professor and associate dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Business, and his son Marco Bitran, 39, of Brookline, a Harvard Business School graduate and money manager, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice in connection with their hedge fund businesses, GMB Capital Management and GMB Capital Partners. U.S. Senior District Judge Mark L. Wolf deferred a determination as to whether he will accept the plea until the time of sentencing which is scheduled for March 27, 2015.
“This office continues to pursue complex white-collar crimes no matter who the perpetrator,” said United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “No one is above the law. Here, a highly respected MIT professor and his well-educated son used their connections to lure investors into a scam which ultimately lost more than $140 million.”
“Gabriel and Marco Bitran cheated their victims out of hundreds of millions of dollars of their retirement money and savings by lying to them over and over again and claiming false returns and profits. Today’s guilty plea is a significant step in our ongoing effort to bring justice to victims of investment fraud. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will keep exposing those responsible for these crimes as long as innocent people are cheated out of their hard earned money,” said Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Division of the FBI.
“Investment returns that seem too good to be true – such as those offered by the Bitrans –should be a signal to investors to stay clear” said Special Agent in Charge William P. Offord of IRS Criminal Investigation. “Today's guilty pleas demonstrate our collective efforts to ensure that the financial services industry will not be used for unlawful personal gain, but will be operated in a fair and honest manner to promote the public interest.”
As set forth in the Information to which the they pleaded guilty, from 2005 through 2011, Gabriel and Marco Bitran solicited and maintained investors in their hedge fund and investment advisory businesses through false claims that, for eight or more years, they had managed friends and family funds, delivering average annual returns between 16 and 23%, with no down years. The Bitrans falsely told investors that the money in GMB hedge funds would be invested according to a complex mathematical trading model developed by Gabriel Bitran and based upon his MIT research on optimal pricing theory. The Bitrans also routinely concealed from investors that certain of their hedge funds were simply “funds of funds,” that is, hedge funds in which values of investments are determined by the value of investments in other independently managed hedge funds, some of which were themselves broad-based funds of funds.
By means of their fraudulent representations, the Bitrans induced investors to entrust over $500 million to their businesses. From this money, the Bitrans paid themselves millions of dollars in management fees.
In the fall of 2008, several of the Bitrans’ hedge funds had disastrous losses, resulting in investors losing 50–75% of their principal in many instances. Nonetheless, in the fall of 2008, as their funds were experiencing these losses, Gabriel and Marco Bitran redeemed approximately $12 million of their own money from these hedge funds, while deferring other investors’ requests for redemption. The Bitrans thereby extracted much of the value of their own investments while leaving other investors to suffer more losses as the funds’ values declined precipitously.
In January 2009, while investigating potential victims of the Madoff fraud, examiners from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) learned of the Bitrans’ performance claims and asked for supporting documentation. In response, the Bitrans made false statements to the SEC examiners and provided fabricated records purporting to support their claimed trading performance.
As they did so, Gabriel and Marco Bitran acknowledged to each other that they had made false statements to investors and owed them restitution. For example, in July 2009, Gabriel Bitran emailed Marco Bitran and discussed the fact that they had misled investors:
“We have mislead [sic] a lot of people with a range of statements that were incorrect simply to increase our income. . . . A person with the experience and knowledge of the financial sector and a veteran professor of MIT should not have engaged in this type of behavior. . . . I certainly do not blame you for everything that happened; we both share responsibility. . . . With [several named individuals] and probably a few others . . . we told them a story that was not true! . . . In my view you are discarding their anger as bad losers. This is not the whole story. They are not idiots, they know that they were mislead [sic]. The penalty for this type of action is Full [sic] restitution, which obviously we cannot afford.”
Similarly, in a September 1, 2009 email, Marco Bitran acknowledged to his father that he had not acted honestly. He stated:
“We are certainly sharing equally in this dad. . . . Lots of our problems were caused by my good intentions but very poor actions when it came to true honesty.”
Still, from early 2009 through 2010, the Bitrans took steps to shield their assets by transferring them out of GMB businesses and into entities with less obvious affiliations to Gabriel and Marco Bitran. To effect some of these transfers, they used the identity of a family member without that person’s knowledge, obtaining falsely notarized signatures in that person’s name, to shield millions of dollars that they had preferentially transferred out of the GMB hedge funds.
In total, the Bitrans lost more than $140 million of GMB investors’ principal.
If the plea agreements are accepted by the Court, the Bitrans will be sentenced to no less than two years and no more than five years in jail, as well as three years of supervised release, and forfeiture in the amount of $10 million.
U.S. Attorney Ortiz, SAC Lisi, and SAC Offord made the announcement today. The United States Attorney’s Office received valuable assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the course of investigating this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Miron Bloom of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit, Brian Pérez-Daple of the Major Crimes Unit and Mary Murrane, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
If you believe that you are victim or have any information regarding this case you may contact us at [email protected].
The details contained in the information are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law or the Court accepts their guilty pleas.
Florence Man Sentenced for Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Contact Person: Beth Drake (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Andrew Stephen Jackson, age 44, of Florence, South Carolina was sentenced in federal court in Florence, for possession of child pornography, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) and (b)(2) by United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence. Jackson was sentenced to ten years imprisonment to be followed by Supervised Release for Life, during which time Jackson will be required to: register as a sex offender, submit to polygraph examinations, submit to electronic monitoring and receive counseling. Jackson was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to his victims.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Jackson traded child pornography with an individual in Australia in October 2010. A search warrant was executed at Jackson's residence and thousands of images of child pornography were found on Jackson's computers.
The case was investigated by agents of the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney William E Day, II of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.- Felon Pleads Guilty to Possessing Firearms and More Than 200 Rounds of Ammunition
Federal Prosecutor Recognized with National AwardRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert was recognized at a national awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., today for his role in the prosecution of a capital case involving inmates at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo.
Eggert was among the recipients of the 2014 Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. The award, which recognizes superior performance and service, was presented to the trial team of Eggert, Trial Attorney James D. Peterson of the Capital Case Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, and Special Agent Rick McLain of the FBI for the successful prosecution of Wesley Paul Coonce and Charles Hall.
“Randy Eggert has been an invaluable asset to this office for the past 17 years,” Dickinson said. “His exemplary work in this case deserves this special recognition and reflects the same commitment to justice, diligent work ethic and astute professionalism he brings to every case he prosecutes on behalf of the United States.”
Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr., 34, and Charles Michael Hall, 43, who were both inmates at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, were found guilty on May 7, 2014, of murdering another inmate. Coonce was also found guilty of murder by an inmate serving a life sentence. Coonce and Hall were both sentenced to death.
Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the 136 award recipients at today’s ceremony. “Your work is central to the mission of this department, and to the promise of our nation: the promise of equal justice under law,” Holder said. “Your efforts help to protect, and to realize, the rights – of safety, security, opportunity, and justice – to which your fellow citizens are entitled. And all across the country – from our biggest cities, to our smallest towns; from rural areas to tribal lands – you play a crucial role in improving public safety, keeping dangerous criminals off the streets, cracking down on financial and health care fraud, and safeguarding the most vulnerable members of society from violence, exploitation, and abuse.”Endicott Man Sentenced for Writing a False Letter Accusing his Former Boss of Being a Foreign Intelligence OfficerRead the Press Release
BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK –United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) Albany Special Agent in Charge Andrew W. Vale, announced today the sentencing of RYAN LETCHER, age 39, of Endicott, New York. LETCHER was convicted on August 6, 2014, after a jury trial of one count of knowingly and willfully making a false statement in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1001(a)(3). On December 4, 2014, the Honorable Thomas J. McAvoy sentenced LETCHER to a four year term of probation and ordered LETCHER to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 180 hours of community service. Additionally, LETCHER was ordered to have no contact with his former boss and with BAE Systems.
In March 2012, LETCHER wrote an anonymous letter accusing his former supervisor of being a foreign intelligence officer. The testimony during trial established that the term “foreign intelligence officer” means a spy for another country. LETCHER admitted that he sent the letter and stated that he sent the letter because of his disdain for his former supervisor.
The case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tamara Thomson.
El Paso, Texas, Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Cocaine DistributionRead the Press Release
Muskogee, Oklahoma - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced today that ELADIO ARGUELLES, age 26, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced to 78 months imprisonment and 4 years supervised release for an Information charging him with Possession with Intent to Distribute 5 Kilograms or More of Cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B).
The charge arose from an investigation by the Savanna Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Information filed on July 24, 2014 alleged that on or about April 5, 2014, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant did knowingly and intentionally possess with the intent to distribute five (5) kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of Cocaine, a Schedule II Controlled Substance.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing. The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshal Service pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which he will serve his nonparolable sentence.
Assistant United States Attorney Chris Wilson represented the United States.
Eight Defendants Charged with Distributing Heroin in Chicago Area on Behalf of Guerrero Unidos Mexican Drug CartelRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — An Aurora man who allegedly led the Chicago area cell of the Guerrero Unidos Mexican drug trafficking cartel is among eight defendants who are facing federal narcotics charges here for their alleged roles in distributing kilogram quantities of heroin, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The investigation, led by the Chicago DEA, resulted in the seizure of approximately 68 kilograms of heroin, nine kilograms of cocaine, and more than $500,000 in cash since August 2013.
The alleged cell leader, PABLO VEGA CUEVAS, 40, and his brother-in-law, ALEXANDER FIGUEROA, 37, both of Aurora, were arrested yesterday morning in southeast Oklahoma, and three other defendants were arrested in the Chicago area. Arrest warrants were issued for three additional defendants, including one who is believed to be in Mexico. Also yesterday, DEA agents and local police seized several automobiles and executed four federal search warrants at residences in Aurora, Chicago, and Rockford, as well as at a business tied to Vega, Salude Bienstar, in Aurora.
According to a 131-page complaint affidavit unsealed yesterday, Vega worked with various narcotics sources in Mexico to import wholesale amounts of heroin and cocaine from Mexico to Illinois, often concealing the narcotics in commercial passenger buses that traveled from Mexico to Chicago. Vega’s organization stored drugs at warehouses in Aurora and Batavia, distributed drugs to wholesale customers, and collected cash proceeds on behalf of the Guerrero Unidos, the charges allege.
“This operation strikes at a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that is alleged to have routinely distributed large quantities of heroin and cocaine throughout the Midwest,” said Dennis Wichern, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “These arrests will have a significant impact on the supply and distribution of heroin and cocaine in the Chicago area,” he said.
Vega and Figueroa appeared yesterday in Federal Court in Oklahoma and were ordered transferred to Chicago in custody. Arrested in the Chicago area yesterday were: ELISEO BETANCOURT PEREIRA, 50, of Aurora; ROBERTO SANCHEZ, 39, of Chicago; and ISAIAS MANDUJANO, 29, of Rockford. Those three appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier and remain in federal custody pending detention hearings that were scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Arrest warrants remain outstanding for: WILFREDO FLORES-SANTOS, 43, of North Aurora; JOSE RODRIGUEZ, 31, of Chicago; and ARTURO MARTINEZ, 33 or 34, who is believed to be in Mexico.
According to the complaint affidavit, on Aug. 21, 2013, law enforcement officers discovered and seized approximately $200,000 in cash during a traffic stop of an individual in Chicago. A subsequent search of the individual’s residence yielded 12 kilograms of heroin and nine kilograms of cocaine, as well as an additional $231,000, all of which the individual had delivered and picked up on behalf of a courier for Vega’s organization. On June 7 of this year, approximately 25 kilograms of heroin and 60 grams of cocaine were seized from Rodriguez after Figueroa and Betancourt allegedly distributed the heroin to him. Three days later, approximately 31 kilograms of heroin were seized from another individual allegedly supplied by Figueroa and Betancourt.
All of the defendants except Mandujano were charged with conspiring between August 2013 and November of this year to possess and distribute a kilogram or more of heroin. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million fine. Mandujano was charged with possession with intent to distribute 100 grams of more of heroin in April of this year, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison and $5 million fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The arrests and charges were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Mr. Wichern, of the DEA. Police departments in Aurora, North Aurora, Addison, Arlington Heights, Chicago, Oak Lawn, Oswego, and Prospect Heights assisted in the investigation, as well as the Cook County Sheriff’s Police and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. The investigation was conducted under the umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Kim and Georgia Alexakis.
The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Complaint
East McKeesport Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison in Large-Scale Cocaine Trafficking RingRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County man has been sentenced in federal court to 120 months (10 years) imprisonment followed by five years supervises release on his conviction of violating federal drug trafficking laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
United States District Judge Terence F. McVerry imposed the sentence on Derrick Knox, 33, of East McKeesport, Pa.
According to information presented to the court, from in and around January 2011 and continuing thereafter to in and around June 2012, Knox conspired with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute between 500 grams and two kilograms cocaine. Additionally, Knox sold cocaine to an undercover agent on four separate occasions between January 2011 and April 2011. Finally, during the execution of a search warrant at Knox’s residence on April 13, 2011, agents discovered approximately two ounces of cocaine, and $4,700 in U.S. currency.
The prosecution of Knox was the result of a long-term investigation that involved wiretaps on cell phones utilized by several members of the conspiracy. At the conclusion of the investigation, 20 defendants (including Knox) were charged in a large-scale cocaine conspiracy that operated between Warren, Ohio, and Washington, Pa. All 20 defendants have since pleaded guilty. The same investigation also resulted in the prosecution of 10 defendants charged in a large-scale heroin conspiracy that operated between Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, Pennsylvania. All 10 defendants have likewise pleaded guilty.
Assistant United States Attorneys Charles A. Eberle and Barbara K. Doolittle prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania State Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Knox.
Detroit man convicted by federal jury for oxymorphone traffickingRead the Press Release
Drugs Were Concealed in a Box of Laundry Detergent
Huntington, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that Kendall Lamar Spears, 35, of Detroit, Michigan, was convicted today of possessing oxymorphone with the intent to distribute it. The conviction follows a two-day jury trial in federal court in Huntington. The evidence presented at the trial established that in November of 2012, Spears paid a Huntington couple to drive him to Detroit under the pretext of visiting family. The following day, Spears left the couple for a brief time and returned with bags from a Dollar Store. On the return trip from Detroit to Huntington, the van was stopped by law enforcement officers based on a tip that it was carrying illegal drugs. Spears was seated in the back of the van. A trained law enforcement drug dog sniffed the van and indicated that narcotics were likely present. Officers then searched the van and discovered 304 15 mg oxymorphone pills. The pills were hidden in a detergent box in one of the bags carried by Spears.
Spears faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on March 3, 2015.
The case was investigated by the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force and the Huntington Police Department. The case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.
Dallas Airmotive Inc. Admits Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations and Agrees to Pay $14 Million Criminal PenaltyRead the Press Release
Dallas Airmotive Inc., a provider of aircraft engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services based in Grapevine, Texas, has admitted to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay a $14 million criminal penalty to resolve charges that it bribed Latin American government officials in order to secure lucrative government contracts.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Diego Rodriguez of the FBI’s Dallas Division made the announcement.
A criminal information, filed today in federal court in the Northern District of Texas as part of the deferred prosecution agreement, charges Dallas Airmotive with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.
According to Dallas Airmotive’s detailed admissions in the statement of facts accompanying the deferred prosecution agreement, between 2008 and 2012, the company bribed officials of the Brazilian Air Force, the Peruvian Air Force, the Office of the Governor of the Brazilian State of Roraima, and the Office of the Governor of the San Juan Province in Argentina. Dallas Airmotive used various methods to convey the bribe payments, including by entering into agreements with front companies affiliated with foreign officials, making payments to third-party representatives with the understanding that funds would be directed to foreign officials, and directly providing things of value, such as paid vacations, to foreign officials.
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Dallas Field Office and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney David M. Fuhr of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Elliott from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas has provided assistance in the case. The department acknowledges the assistance of law enforcement counterparts in Brazil. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.
Coombe Becomes First Female Federal Criminal Chief for Northern District of New York; Clymer Becomes Appellate ChiefRead the Press Release
Albany, New York – Elizabeth C. Coombe has been named the Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. Ms. Coombe succeeds Steven D. Clymer, who is becoming the Appellate Chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
United States Attorney Hartunian said: “Beth Coombe is an outstanding leader and accomplished trial lawyer, with the extensive experience, breadth of perspective, unflinching integrity, and sound judgment needed to address today’s significant law enforcement challenges.”
Ms. Coombe is the seventh Chief of the Criminal Division and the first female to hold the post since it was created about twenty-three years ago. Ms. Coombe has served as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division since 2012. She became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia in 1998, serving in the appellate, general felony, and grand jury sections before being assigned to the fraud and public corruption section. She transferred to the Albany Office of the Northern District of New York in 2003, where she has focused on public corruption and white collar crime. She has also served as a team leader and as a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Ms. Coombe graduated from the University of Michigan Law School cum laude in 1992 and Hamilton College summa cum laude in 1989. Before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Coombe worked as a trial attorney in the Court of Claims and Federal Circuit Section of the Department of Justice. She also worked as a staff attorney for the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission and clerked for the Honorable Diana E. Murphy, then Chief United States District Court Judge for the District of Minnesota.
In the Northern District, Ms. Coombe has tried a number of high profile cases, including an honest services fraud case against the former New York State Senate Majority Leader; a $30 million dollar investment fraud case against the owners of a securities broker-dealer in Albany (McGinn Smith), leading to imprisonment sentences of 15 and 10 years; and United States v. Yassin Aref (a local Imam) and Mohammed Hossain, leading to sentences including imprisonment for 15 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism, and related offenses. She has also tried extortion, tax fraud, structuring, and embezzlement cases. This year, Ms. Coombe received a Director’s Award for Superior Performance.
Regarding Mr. Clymer, United States Attorney Hartunian said: “Steve Clymer has served the District with great distinction as Criminal Chief. His extraordinary legal mind, attention to detail, and demonstrated excellence as a leader, litigator, and educator will make him a superb Appellate Chief.”
Mr. Clymer has served as the Chief of the Criminal Division since 2010. Mr. Clymer first became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California in 1987, where he worked until 1995 and 2003 - 2005, serving as Chief of the Criminal Division, Senior Litigation Counsel, Chief of the Major Crimes Section, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Section, and Chief of Training. A graduate of Cornell University (magna cum laude, 1980) and Cornell Law School (magna cum laude, 1983), Mr. Clymer served as Associate Professor of Law at Cornell Law School 1995 – 2000, Assistant Professor of Law 2001 - 2005, and Professor of Law 2005-10, and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law since 2010. Mr. Clymer was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of New York 1998 - 2000, served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney 2001 - 2003 and 2005 - 2007, returned to the Office in 2007, and became Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in 2008. Before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Clymer was an Assistant District Attorney for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County) 1983 - 1986.
Mr. Clymer’s notable cases have included prosecutions of: the LAPD police officers responsible for use of unlawful force when arresting Rodney King; two men who killed two DEA agents and wounded a third; a case arising from Operation Polar-Cap, the largest money-laundering investigation in United States history, resulting in the laundering of over $100 million per year of cocaine proceeds; two cases arising from multi-defendant conspiracy to smuggle in excess of 60 tons of Thai marijuana to the United States by use of large ocean-going vessels; a Syracuse area physician who was defrauding Medicare and private insurers by charging over $10,000 for patient physical examinations; a Syracuse heart surgery practice for filing false claims to Medicare about use of second physician in open heart surgeries; executives at two Central New York insurance companies in a scheme to defraud Medicare; and an Albany area pain management physician who submitted false claims to Medicare and private health insurance companies and had nurses illegally dispense prescriptions for schedule II controlled substances without physician involvement.
United States Attorneys serve as the nation's principal litigators, under the direction of the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice. There is one United States Attorney for each judicial district in the United States and its territories. The primary statutory responsibilities of United States Attorneys are the prosecution of federal criminal cases, the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party, and the collection of debts owed the federal government which are administratively uncollectible. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York prosecutes about 500 criminal cases each year.
Richard S. Hartunian took office as United States Attorney on January 3, 2010. The other current leadership of the Office is:
First Assistant U.S. Attorney: Grant C. Jaquith
Chief, Criminal Division: Elizabeth C. Coombe
Chief, Appellate Division: Steven D. Clymer
Chief, Civil Division, and Chief, Albany Office: Thomas Spina, Jr.
Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney for Public and Community Affairs: John G. Duncan
Senior Litigation Counsel: Edward R. Broton
Chief, Syracuse Office and Project Safe Childhood Coordinator: Lisa M. Fletcher
Narcotics Chief and Lead Organized Crime Task Force Attorney: Daniel Hanlon
Deputy Chief, Civil Division: William F. LarkinThe Northern District of New York is comprised of thirty-two counties in upstate New York, covering an area of over 30,000 square miles that is home to about 3.4 million people. The United States Attorney has offices in Syracuse, Albany, Binghamton, and Plattsburgh.
Contractor Admits Conspiring to Rig Selection Process for Union City Community Development Agency ProjectsRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Union City contractor today admitted conspiring to rig the contractor selection process for projects run by the Union City Community Development Agency (UCCDA), causing losses of at least $70,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Joseph Lado, 66, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiring with agents of the UCCDA and a Jersey City, New Jersey, contractor to obtain money from the agency by fraud. Lado entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark federal court.
According to documents in this case and statements made in court:
Between June 2007 and September 2010, Lado owned Lado Construction in Union City. There were two individuals (Inspector 1 and Inspector 2) at the UCCDA, a government agency that received funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under a federal block grant. The funding was used for home improvement projects and sidewalk replacement projects, among other things.
Lado conspired with another individual who owned a paving contracting company in Jersey City, New Jersey (the Contractor), Inspector 1 and Inspector 2 to rig the competitive process by submitting false and materially misleading proposals for contracts to perform sidewalk replacement and residential rehabilitation. The process was rigged to favor of certain contractors, including Lado Construction. Lado caused the Contractor to provide Lado with phony proposals from the Contractor’s company that were higher than Lado’s own proposals. He also caused the contractor to provide Lado with blank proposal forms from the Contractor’s company that Lado later completed with the help of another, listing amounts that were higher than Lado Construction’s proposals for the same work. Under both of those scenarios, Lado would then submit the Contractor’s phony higher-priced proposals and his own to the UCCDA in order to obtain projects, and ultimately, HUD grant funds, from the UCCDA for the completion of the projects. Lado would also, at the request of Inspector 1 and Inspector 2, provide both inspectors with phony proposals for amounts higher than his competitors for projects that the inspectors had already decided to award to other contractors.
The conspiracy charge to which Lado pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Lado is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford; and special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Luria and Senior Litigation Counsel J Imbert of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.
14-432
Defense counsel: John M. Vazquez Esq., Roseland, N.J.
Lado, Joseph Information
Community Leaders Unveil Action Plan to Combat Drug AbuseRead the Press Release
1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Tara Tighe, Public Affairs Specialist
WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Community leaders in Northern West Virginia have embraced an innovative, collaborative approach to combat drug abuse and overdose deaths in the region, First Judicial Circuit Judge David J. Sims and United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced today.
A diverse group of local thought leaders gathered at Wheeling Hospital today to present the Ohio Valley Addiction Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy designed to address a growing drug problem. According to Ihlenfeld, the plan is “unique because it combines expertise from education, law enforcement, healthcare, news media, business, legislative, treatment, and recovery.”
U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld and Judge Sims served as Co-Chairs of a working group that has been meeting since August 2014. The working group incorporated eight subcommittees, led by the following individuals:
• Dr. Angelo Georges, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Wheeling Hospital: Medical Subcommittee,
• Dr. Dianna Vargo, Superintendent, Ohio County Schools: Education Subcommittee,
• Erikka Storch, W.Va. House of Delegates: Business & Legislation Subcommittee,
• Sheriff Chuck Jackson, Brooke County Sheriff’s Department: Law Enforcement Subcommittee,
• Mark A. Games, President/CEO, Northwood Health Systems: Mental Health/Substance Abuse Treatment Subcommittee,
• Terry Stemple, Chief Executive Officer, Healthways, Inc.: Mental Health/Substance Abuse Treatment Subcommittee,
• James Lee, Retired Chief Probation Officer, First Judicial Circuit: Community Corrections Subcommittee,
• Brenda Danehart, News Director, WTRF: News Media Subcommittee;
• Patti Barnabei, Founder, Never Alone West Virginia: Support Groups Subcommittee“The number of Ohio Valley residents abusing heroin and other opioid drugs is staggering,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld. “This is not simply a law enforcement problem; we are facing a true public health crisis. Our plan starts with more impactful education that will resonate with our young people. But we also need to engage the community at all levels to choke off the supply of heroin, to prevent people from abusing opioid drugs, and to ultimately build an adequate infrastructure to treat individuals that do become addicted.”
Per Ihlenfeld, the plan presented today, which targets Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock Counties, is merely the first step in a much larger initiative. Ihlenfeld plans to create similar working groups throughout Northern West Virginia.
Anyone interested in additional information on the effort to combat drug abuse is encouraged to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia at (304) 234-0100. Continuing updates will also be available through the U.S. Attorney’s official Twitter page @NDWVnews.
A complete copy of the Ohio Valley Addiction Action Plan is available here.
Cleveland Woman Sentenced to Nearly Four Years in Prison for Tax CrimesRead the Press Release
A Cleveland woman was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for her role in a conspiracy that useed false identities, including those of people incarcerated, to file nearly $2 million worth of false tax claims, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Kathy Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.
Gwendolyn N. White, 32, was also ordered to pay $342,365 in restitution. She was previosuly found guilty of one count of conspiracy to file false claims for income tax refunds with the IRS and on ten counts of filing false claims for refunds with the IRS.
“This defendant knowingly filed false income-tax returns in the names of people whose identities were stolen," Dettelbach said. "She tried to game the system to enrich herself.”
“The defendants who perpetrated this scheme systematically defrauded the government and the taxpaying public,” Enstromm said. “At the IRS, protecting taxpayer money is a matter we take very seriously. IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to vigorously pursue those who unjustly enrich themselves by preparing false claims for refunds.”
Kenneth White, 48, of Cleveland, is scheduled to be sentenced in February. He recruited people to use as claimants on some false tax returns, often with the promise of substantial refunds. White also obtained names, Social Security numbers and other personal identifiers of other people to use as claimants, including people in prison or jail. In some cases, this was done without the knowledge or consent of these other people, according to court records.
Gwendolyn White, at the direction of Kenneth White and for a fee, prepared and electronically filed 10 false income tax returns for the year 2008 in the name of the claimants. The total amount claimed in the returns was approximately $1,995,687, according to the indictment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vasile Katsaros following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations.
Civil Rights Settlement in Manhattan Federal Court Requires Major Real Estate Developer to Make New and Recent Rental Complexes Accessible to All New YorkersRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit with the RELATED COMPANIES (“RELATED”) by consent decree. Under the settlement, RELATED agrees to establish procedures that will ensure that its ongoing and future development projects, such as the residential complexes at the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s West Side, will comply with the accessibility requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”). RELATED also agrees to make retrofits at four residential rental complexes in Manhattan – One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, 500 West 30th Street, and 529 West 29th Street – to make them more accessible to individuals with disabilities. Additionally, RELATED agrees to inspect its twelve other residential rental complexes in Manhattan and, where necessary, make retrofits at those buildings as well. Finally, RELATED agrees to provide up to $1.9 million to compensate aggrieved persons and pay a civil penalty of $100,000. The consent decree was approved today by U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “For over two decades, the Fair Housing Act has required newly built residential rental buildings to be accessible to people with disabilities. Yet developers in New York City have too often disregarded that requirement. It is encouraging that a major developer like Related has embraced its obligations under the law by agreeing to establish a process for ensuring accessibility at its ongoing and future development projects and to make retrofits in thousands of apartments. We hope this settlement will serve as a positive example for the developer community. But any developer that continues to ignore its obligation to comply with the law must understand that my Office is prepared to use all legal tools available to enforce the Fair Housing Act and ensure that New Yorkers with disabilities have full access to rental apartments in New York City.”
The FHA’s accessible design and construction provisions require new multi-family housing complexes constructed after January 1993 to have basic features accessible to persons with disabilities. In March 2014, the United States filed this lawsuit against RELATED and two architectural firms, alleging that a number of past and ongoing rental projects designed and constructed by RELATED and the architects, including One Carnegie Hill and Tribeca Green, do not comply with the FHA’s accessibility requirements.
Under the settlement, RELATED agrees that, for every multi-family housing project it constructs in the next four years, it will retain an FHA compliance consultant to ensure that the building, as constructed, will comply with the FHA’s accessibility requirements. For example, the FHA consultant will advise RELATED on the selection of fixtures and appliances and whether deviating from the architects’ drawings will affect accessibility. The FHA consultant also will conduct a site visit to identify non-compliant conditions and recommend appropriate solutions prior to the completion of construction. In addition, RELATED agrees to institute policies and training to ensure that its own employees and agents will comply with the FHA’s accessibility requirements.
Further, the settlement also requires RELATED to make extensive retrofits at two rental complexes, One Carnegie Hill and Tribeca Green, and to commit to additional retrofits at two other rental complexes that have been inspected, 500 West 30th Street, and 529 West 29th Street, in order to make them accessible. RELATED also agrees to arrange for inspection at its 12 other rental complexes in Manhattan and, where necessary, to make retrofits at those properties as well. Together, the 16 buildings covered by the consent decree contain more than 4,500 rental apartments.
Finally, the settlement requires RELATED to provide up to $1.9 million in funds to compensate aggrieved persons. RELATED also agrees to pay a civil penalty of $100,000.
The government’s lawsuit also asserted claims against the architects of One Carnegie Hill and Tribeca Green, ISMAIL LEYVA ARECHITECTS and ROBERT M. STERN ARCHITECTS. The United States is engaged in active negotiations with those architects regarding a potential settlement.
This settlement resolves claims against the developers in this eighth FHA lawsuit brought by the United States in Manhattan federal court to rectify inaccessible conditions at residential apartment buildings. The United States has settled claims against developers in the seven prior cases through consent decrees. A ninth lawsuit involving inaccessible design and construction of residential apartment buildings, against the Durst Organization, is still pending.
Aggrieved individuals may be entitled to monetary compensation from the fund created through today’s settlement. Aggrieved individuals may include those who were:
- Injured by a lack of accessible features at One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, or the other properties constructed by RELATED;
- Discouraged from living at One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, or the other properties constructed by RELATED because of the lack of accessible features;
- Required to pay to have an apartment at One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, or the other properties constructed by RELATED made accessible,
- Prevented from having visitors because of a lack of accessible features at One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, or the other properties constructed by RELATED; or
- Otherwise injured or discriminated against on the basis of disability as a result of the design or construction of One Carnegie Hill, Tribeca Green, or the other properties constructed by RELATED.
People who may be entitled to compensation should file a claim by contacting the Civil Rights Complaint Line at (212) 637-0840, using the Civil Rights Complaint Form available on the United States Attorney’s Office’s website http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/civilrights.html, or sending a written claim to:
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
86 Chambers Street, 3rd Floor
New York, New York 10007
Attention: Chief, Civil Rights Unit
The case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Li Yu, Emily E. Daughtry, Carina H. Schoenberger, and Jessica J. Hu are in charge of the case.
Related Companies Consent Decree
Chelsea Man Pleads Guilty to Student Financial Aid FraudRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Chelsea man pleaded guilty yesterday to submitting fraudulent financial aid applications to support his daughter’s Harvard College tuition.
Joseph N. Fonge, 59, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled sentencing for March 4, 2015.
Fonge filed fraudulent financial information, including false federal tax returns, in support of applications for financial aid for his daughter while she was a student at Harvard College from 2010 through 2012. Based on the applications, Fonge’s daughter was approved for aid totaling more than $160,000 over the three school years. The same false information was used to support a financial aid application in the amount of $46,600 for Fonge’s second daughter who was attending the University of Rochester in 2010.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Brian Hickey, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, Regions I & II, made the announcement. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
California Man Gets 27-Year Prison Sentence for Child Exploitation CrimesRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – Edward Hilts, a former resident of Fallbrook, Calif., was sentenced to 324 months in federal prison for committing several child sexual exploitation crimes, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Hilts, age 69, was sentenced by United States District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose. Judge Ambrose also imposed a lifetime term of supervised release to follow the prison sentence and ordered Hilts to register as a convicted sex offender.
In June 2014, Hilts was convicted at the conclusion of a federal jury trial of attempting to persuade, induce, or entice a 14-year-old child to engage in illegal sexual acts; of traveling from California to Pennsylvania with the intent to engage in illegal sexual acts with a 14-year-old child; of transporting sexually explicit images of children from California to Pennsylvania; and of possessing sexually explicit images of children. In addition to evidence of the commission of these crimes by Hilts, the prosecution presented evidence at sentencing that Hilts had previously sexually molested a 13-year-old child in Thailand; that Hilts had sexually molested another child for several years in the 1980’s; and that Hilts absconded from bond while his federal case was pending to travel to meet up with a 16-year-old child in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hilts communicated with the 16-year-old child about his desire to engage in sex acts with her 10-year- old sister.
Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, the Pittsburgh High Tech Crimes Task Force, and the Vancouver (British Columbia) Police Department investigated the case leading to the conviction of Hilts.
This case was a product of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in February 2006, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
British Citizen Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Visa FraudRead the Press Release
OAKLAND – Madhu Santhanam pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland today to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Special Agent in Charge David Zebley of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service.
In pleading guilty, Santhanam admitted that, between September 2009 and June 2013, he made at least 25 fraudulent I-129 petitions. These documents are required by U.S. immigration laws and regulations to be submitted in order to obtain H-IB visas for highly skilled immigrant applicants seeking to work in the United States. In these petitions, an American employer must certify that it has high-technology jobs that it cannot fill with U.S. citizens. In many of Santhanam’s fraudulent I-129 applications, he falsely represented that the applicants would be working at his company, MAAN Systems, Inc., on an in-house, proprietary product named “e-ntelligent Applications manager.” In others, he falsely represented that the applicants would be working at Western Digital and Walmart, and he included forged documentation, including forged employment offer letters, with each of these petitions. In his plea agreement, Santhanam agreed to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $400,000.
Santhanam, 41, of Union City, was arrested on Nov. 19, 2013, and made his initial appearance in federal court after being charged by federal complaint on Nov. 14, 2013. He has remained free on bond since his initial appearance. Santhanam was charged by information on March 13, 2014.
Santhanam’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 27, 2015, before United States District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. The maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy to commit visa fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1546, is a maximum term of 5 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and 3 years of supervised release. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Brian C. Lewis is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Janice Pagsanjan. The prosecution is the result of an investigation led by the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service’s representative to the Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF) overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement HSI. The DBFTF is a multi-agency task force that coordinates investigations into fraudulent immigration documents. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Office of Fraud Detection and National Security also assisted with the investigation.
Antlers Man Sentenced to 27 Months for Failure to Register as Sex OffenderRead the Press Release
Muskogee, Oklahoma - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced today that PETER GLENN BAKER, age 42, of Antlers, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release for Failure to Register as Sex Offender, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2250(a)(1), 2250(a)(2)(B) and 2250(a)(3).
Charges arose from an investigation by the United States Marshal Service. The defendant was indicted in July, 2014 and pled guilty in August, 2014.
The Indictment alleged that from in or about October 2013 until in or about December 2013, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and elsewhere, the defendant, an individual required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, after having received a felony conviction from the State of Washington on or about December 2, 2004, for the felony offense of Rape of a Child in the Third Degree, traveled in interstate commerce and knowingly failed to register and update his registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing. The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshal Service pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which he will serve his nonparolable sentence.
Assistant United States Attorney Edward Snow represented the United States.
Anthony, N.M., Man Sentenced to Ten Years for Heroin Trafficking ConvictionRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Daniel Arrieta, 39, of Anthony, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 120 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his heroin trafficking conviction.
Arrieta was arrested on May 10, 2013 on a criminal complaint charging him with participating in a heroin trafficking conspiracy. According to the criminal complaint, Arrieta was arrested after he sold 3.6 grams of heroin which was packaged for retail distribution to an undercover agent in exchange for $200. The undercover transaction took place during two meetings in Anthony, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, on April 18, 2013.
Arrieta pled guilty on Dec. 13, 2014, to a felony information charging him with participation in a heroin distribution conspiracy.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah M. Davenport and Shaheen Torgoley.
Allentown Man Charged with Sex TraffickingRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA - Corderro Cody, 27, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was charged by indictment, unsealed today, with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and conspiracy to transport individuals both intrastate and interstate for the purpose of prostitution, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.
The indictment alleges that Cody recruited women to work as prostitutes, referred to his prostitution business as the “program,” and advertised the women on Backpage.com. The women were sometimes driven to other states and forced to perform sexual acts. Cody recovered and kept most, if not all, of the money generated by the sexual acts, and used physical force in the form of beatings when the women did not adhere to the “program,” and to maintain the women performing commercial sexual acts. In one instance, the indictment alleges that Cody physically assaulted one of the women when she requested permission to go home to see her children for the Thanksgiving holiday.
If convicted the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of lifetime imprisonment, a mandatory minimum 15 years in prison, a $1.5 million fine, a mandatory minimum five years of supervised release up to lifetime supervised release, and a $600 special assessment.
The case was investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Allentown Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sherri A. Stephan.
An Indictment, Information or Criminal Complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography ChargeRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Carl Weatherman, 32, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty this morning to receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Weatherman was arrested on federal child pornography charges on April 8, 2014, based on a criminal complaint alleging receipt and possession of child pornography charges. According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Weatherman was initiated by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) in Dec. 2013, when a minor child reported seeing Weatherman watch child pornography and that Weatherman showed child pornography to the minor child. Between Dec. 2013 and Feb. 2014, the BCSO executed search warrants at Weatherman’s residence which authorized them to seize, among other things, computers, computer-related media and cellphones. Items seized by the BCSO during the searches were submitted for forensic examination by the New Mexico Regional Forensic Laboratory, and were found to contain images and videos consistent with child pornography.
Weatherman was indicted on May 7, 2014, and charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
During today’s proceedings, Weatherman entered a guilty plea to Count 1 of the indictment, charging him with receipt of child pornography. In his plea agreement, Weatherman admitted that between Aug. 2013 and Dec. 2013, he knowingly received child pornography on his computer.
Weatherman has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Weatherman faces imprisonment for a period not less than five years and not more than 20 years followed by a period of supervised release to be determined by the court. Weatherman will have to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico Regional Forensic Laboratory, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob A. Wishard.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 74 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the NMAGO. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.
Albert Entera Pingul Sentenced in U.S. District Court for Abusive Sexual ContactRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that ALBERT ENTERA PINGUL was sentenced today by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, in the U.S. District Court of Guam, to thirty seven months incarceration, and five years supervised release.
Defendant PINGUL pled guilty on March 25, 2014, to one count of Abusive Sexual Conduct in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2244(a)(1). Defendant PINGUL, a Manager at the Orote Point Bowling Lanes on the U.S. Naval Base, coerced a female employee to enter a mechanic room where he engaged in sexual contact through the use of force. Defendant PINGUL was ordered to register with the Sex Offender Registry wherever he lives, works or attends school for the duration of his life. PINGUL was also ordered to undergo a sex offender assessment.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco states, “The aggressive prosecution of all sexual offenses is a priority of the United States Attorney’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office acknowledges the victim’s courage and strength in coming forward and reporting to law enforcement the unwanted sexual contact.”
The U.S. Attorney notes that defendants who have committed sexual abuse of adults or children, have a duty to register and keep their registration current with the Sex Offender Registry in their jurisdiction. Sex offenders who travel to Guam and who reside on Guam must inform the Guam Sex Offender Registry where they reside, work, or attend school - they must also periodically update their registration information. The Sex Offender Registry was created in order to protect the public by protecting victims, preventing further victimization and informing the public of the whereabouts of sex offenders. Guam’s Sex Offender Registry can be found online at www.guamcourts.org.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also notes that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative, a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute defendants who engage in the sexual victimization of children and adults, possess or receive child pornography, and sex offenders who fail to register with the jurisdiction’s Sex Offender Registry.
The investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS). The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. San Nicolas.
Tuesday 9 December 2014
Yuba City, California, Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Racially Motivated Attack on White Man and African-American WomanRead the Press Release
Anthony Merrell Tyler, 34, of Yuba City, California, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez to serve 46 months in prison for violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The crime involved a racially motivated attack by Tyler and two co-defendants, Billy Hammett, 30, and Perry Jackson, 29, on a white man and an African-American woman in Marysville, California, in 2011. In addition to his term of incarceration, Tyler was ordered to serve three years of supervised release upon his release from prison and to pay $175 in restitution.
According to documents filed with the court, around 10:45 p.m. on April 18, 2011, a white man and an African-American woman parked their car at a convenience store in Marysville. Shortly afterward, the three defendants attacked the man and woman because of their race. Jackson punched him twice in the head through the open passenger window. At the same time, Hammett opened the driver-side door and kicked the woman in the chest. Seconds later, Tyler smashed the car’s windshield with a crowbar, sending shattered glass into the passenger compartment. As the attack continued, the woman managed to take refuge inside the convenience store and the man struggled to get away. All three assailants then descended upon the male victim and began attacking him in the parking lot. He sustained abrasions on his right forearm and knees, while the woman suffered bruising to her chest. None of the defendants knew their victims.
In today’s hearing, and during Hammett and Jackson’s proceedings, Judge Mendez considered the defendants’ backgrounds and criminal histories. Tyler has the words “white pride” tattooed down the backs of his arms and a swastika on his left upper arm. He has previously acknowledged being a member of the Yuba County Peckerwoods, a local white supremacist group. Hammett, who has a tattoo of the words “white power” across his abdomen, was previously convicted for the unprovoked assault on a 72-year-old African-American man and was sentenced on March 25, 2014, to 87 months in prison. Jackson, who has the words “white power” tattooed in block letters down his shins, was sentenced on April 29, 2014, to 70 months in prison. Tyler entered his guilty plea on March 11, 2014.
“These three defendants targeted the victims because of their race,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “This type of attack causes harm not only to the immediate victims, but tears at the fabric of our communities and society itself. The department will continue to vigorously prosecute such acts of racial violence.”
“Racially motivated violence not only threatens the harmony of our diverse communities, it undermines the principle of equality under law, which is a foundation of our society,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner for the Eastern District of California. “For these reasons, prosecuting hate crimes will continue to be one of our highest priorities.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office and the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Wagner and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Yuba City Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Racially Motivated Attack on White Man and African-American WomanRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Anthony Merrell Tyler, 34, of Yuba City, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to serve 46 months in prison for violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The crime involved a racially motivated attack by Tyler and two co-defendants, Billy Hammett, 30, and Perry Jackson, 29, on a white man and an African-American woman in Marysville in 2011. In addition to his term of incarceration, Tyler was ordered to serve three years of supervised release upon his release from prison and to pay $175 in restitution.
According to documents filed with the court, around 10:45 p.m. on April 18, 2011, a white man and an African-American woman parked their car at a convenience store in Marysville. Shortly afterward, the three defendants attacked the man and woman because of their race. Jackson punched him twice in the head through the open passenger window. At the same time, Hammett opened the driver-side door and kicked the woman in the chest. Seconds later, Tyler smashed the car’s windshield with a crowbar, sending shattered glass into the passenger compartment. As the attack continued, the woman managed to take refuge inside the convenience store, and the man struggled to get away. All three assailants then descended upon the male victim and began attacking him in the parking lot. He sustained abrasions on his right forearm and knees, while the woman suffered bruising to her chest. None of the defendants knew the victims.
In today’s hearing, and during Hammett and Jackson’s proceedings, Judge Mendez considered the defendants’ backgrounds and criminal histories. Tyler has the words “white pride” tattooed down the backs of his arms and a swastika on his left upper arm. He has previously acknowledged being a member of the Yuba County Peckerwoods, a local white supremacist group. Hammett, who has a tattoo of the words “white power” across his abdomen, was sentenced on March 25, 2014, to 87 months in prison. He was previously convicted for the unprovoked assault on a 72-year-old African-American man. Jackson, who has the words “white power” tattooed in block letters down his shins, was sentenced on April 29, 2014, to 70 months in prison. Tyler entered his guilty plea on March 11, 2014.
“These three defendants targeted the victims because of their race,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “This type of attack causes harm not only to the immediate victims, but tears at the fabric of our communities and society itself. The department will continue to vigorously prosecute such acts of racial violence.”
“Racially motivated violence not only threatens the harmony of our diverse communities, it undermines the principle of equality under law, which is a foundation of our society,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner for the Eastern District of California. “For these reasons, prosecuting hate crimes will continue to be one of our highest priorities.”
“No person should be victimized by another, let alone suffer an unprovoked, violent attack at the hands of a group motivated solely by hatred and prejudice,” said Special Agent in Charge Monica M. Miller of the Sacramento FBI. “Such bias-motivated crimes should be an unfortunate mark of the past; however, the FBI will thoroughly investigate such allegations to ensure justice is served.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office and the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Wagner and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Tri State Metal Company, Inc. Charged with Federal Tax and Currency Crimes Involving Millions of Dollars in Cash DealsRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A Chicago company dealing in scrap metal has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax and currency transaction charges alleging that it engaged in cash transactions that resulted in underreporting its corporate income and underpaying its payroll taxes. The defendant, TRI STATE METAL COMPANY, INC., was charged in a criminal information filed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The case is the first prosecution resulting from an ongoing investigation of cash transactions in the local scrap metal industry being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
Tri State Metal, located at 1745 West Fulton St., in Chicago, was charged with one count of corruptly obstructing and endeavoring to obstruct and impede the IRS, and one count of structuring cash transactions in amounts less than $10,000. Through its attorneys, Tri State authorized the government to disclose that it will plead guilty to the charges. The company will be arraigned on a date to be determined in Federal Court.
The charges also include a forfeiture allegation claiming that $1.85 million in cash that was seized from a bank account and $118,420 in cash that was seized from Tri State’s offices, both in October 2012, are subject to criminal forfeiture.
According to the charges, between September 2008 and September 2012, Tri State obtained cash by negotiating checks made payable to fictitious individuals and used that cash to pay vendors and cash wages to employees, as well as to provide cash for the personal benefit of the deceased owner and president of Tri State, who was not named and was identified in the charges as Individual A. The cash transactions were designed to assist the vendors, employees and Individual A in understating their income on federal tax returns, the charges allege.
As part of the corrupt endeavor, Tri State sold scrap to another scrap metal dealer, identified as Business A and, in return, allegedly received approximately 769 checks from Business A, all made payable to fictitious individuals in amounts less than $10,000. Tri State allegedly failed to record these sales or the receipt of funds from Business A and failed to report the income on its corporate tax returns.
Individual A allegedly directed Tri State employees to issue checks payable to fictitious persons to obtain cash to pay vendors and employee wages. Tri State paid certain vendors with both cash and checks, with vendors indicating how much they wanted to be paid in cash, and Tri State employees allegedly manipulated documents to conceal the cash payments. During the four-year period, Tri State paid approximately 15 scrap metal vendors more than $6.17 million in cash, the charges allege.
The company also paid employees a portion of their wages with both cash and checks. Tri State issued tax forms to its employees and filed quarterly returns with the IRS that allegedly falsely underreported the amount of wages paid by failing to include the amount of cash. In total, Tri State allegedly paid its employees cash wages totaling more than $1.47 million and failed to collect and pay the IRS federal income tax withholdings, FICA taxes, and Medicare withholdings on the cash wages.
The charges further allege that Tri State cashed more than $6.41 million in checks drawn on its bank account and payable to fictitious payees at an unnamed currency exchange in Chicago. Tri State also allegedly cashed at the currency exchange more than $2.92 million in checks issued by Business A to Tri State in the name of fictitious payees.
Tri State allegedly filed false federal corporate income tax returns for 2009, 2010, and 2011, that understated its gross receipts or sales by more than $2.92 million. In addition, Tri State failed to report or otherwise account for approximately $840,720 in cash expenditures for the benefit of deceased Individual A, the charges allege.
The tax offense carries a maximum penalty of five years’ probation and a $500,000 fine, and the structuring offense carries a maximum penalty of five years’ probation and a $1 million fine, and each count carries an alternate maximum fine totaling twice the loss or twice the gain, whichever is greater. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The charges were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and James C. Lee, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago. The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick King.
The public is reminded that criminal charges are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Information
Three Sentenced for Involvement in Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Racketeering ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Three Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) gang members and associates from Houston and Dallas were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in the violent ABT enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.
Today, James Francis Sampsell, 44, of Waco, Texas, Rusty Eugene Duke, 32, of Dallas, Texas, and Steven Worthey, 42, of Houston, Texas, were sentenced to serve respective terms of 140 months, 216 months and 240 months, in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas.
According to information presented in court, the three men were admitted members of ABT, a powerful race-based organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States. Along with other ABT gang members and associates, they agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang. ABT gang members met on a regular basis at various locations throughout Texas to report on gang-related business, collect dues, commit disciplinary assaults against fellow gang members and discuss acts of violence against rival gang members, among other things.
The ABT was established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system. The gang modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s. Previously, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism, but over time, the ABT has expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit, according to court records.
In order to be considered for ABT membership, a person must be sponsored by another gang member. Once sponsored, a prospective member must serve an unspecified term, during which he is referred to as a prospect, while his conduct is observed by the members of the ABT.
Court documents allege that the ABT enforced its rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violated the rules or posed a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”
The defendants sentenced this week are three of 36 defendants convicted of conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise, among other charges. The last defendants are set for sentencing next week.
This Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; Texas Rangers; Texas Department of Public Safety; Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Office of Inspector General; Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Atascosa County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Orange County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Waller County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Alvin, Texas, Police Department; Carrollton, Texas, Police Department; Mesquite, Texas, Police Department; Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office; and the Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted by David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ed Gallagher and Tim Braley of the Southern District of Texas.
- Three Sentenced for Involvement in Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Racketeering Conspiracy
Three Men Indicted on Charges Related to the Armed Robberies of 10 Cell Phone StoresRead the Press Release
Allegedly Robbed Stores in Virginia and in
Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Montgomery Counties in Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland - A federal grand jury has indicted Parris Benjamin Chisholm, age 24, of Millersville, Maryland; Donald Scott Deans, age 22, of Largo, Maryland; and Tyran Antwain Lane, age 22, of New Carrollton, Maryland, on charges related to the robberies of 10 cell phone stores. The second superseding indictment was returned on December 2, 2014, and unsealed today upon the arrest of Lane. The second superseding indictment adds Lane as a defendant and adds additional robberies discovered during the ongoing investigation.The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Anne Arundel County Police Chief Tim Altomare; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.
According to the 18-count second superseding indictment, from January 29, 2013 through July 4, 2014, the defendants participated in a conspiracy to rob cell phone stores in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Montgomery Counties, as well as Alexandria and Springfield, Virginia.The indictment alleges that the defendants planned and organized the theft of cash, credit cards, cell phones, portable electronic communications devices, and tablet computers from businesses, their employees and customers. The defendants planned to sell the stolen property. According to the indictment, the defendants conducted surveillance at the businesses prior to the robberies in order to determine whether it was an appropriate establishment to rob. In nine of the 10 robberies, the indictment alleges that the defendants used and brandished a gun to intimidate the employees during the robberies. The defendants and others allegedly used duct tape to restrain employees and used plastic trash bags to carry the stolen cellphones and electronic devices from the premises. The defendants used Chisholm’s car to travel to and from the robberies and to transport the stolen property and guns used during the robberies
The defendants each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy and each of the robbery counts, and a minimum of seven years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, and up to life in prison for possessing and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Lane has his initial appearance today in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, December 12, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner. Chisholm and Deans previously had their initial appearance and were detained pending trial.An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County Police Departments, for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney John F. Purcell, Jr., who is prosecuting the case.
Third Person Returns to U.S. to Plead Guilty in A False Income Tax Refund SchemeRead the Press Release
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Suheidy A. Warner, 31, of Columbus pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false claims for federal income tax refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Warner faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office; and Christopher White, Assistant Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced the guilty plea entered before U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost.
According to court documents, between February 2010 and June 2010 Warner abused her position of trust as a Chase Bank teller by cashing approximately 36 federal income tax refund checks she knew were fraudulently obtained. Warner was not given authorization by Chase Bank to cash these checks and was subsequently terminated.
The tax refund checks were given to Warner by a man who identified himself as Rafael Mota. Rafael Mota told her that the checks needed to be cashed for people that did not have identification, so they could cash the refund checks themselves.
The income tax refund checks were mailed to pre-arranged addresses, usually apartments in New York, New Jersey and other nearby states. The addresses contained on many of the income tax refund checks often shared the same street address, but different apartment numbers. This made it easier to collect the income tax refund checks from one location. The income tax refund checks were collected by corrupt postal workers, apartment superintendents, or other perpetrators who simply waited for the checks to be delivered by unknowing mail carriers. The perpetrators then used couriers to travel to surrounding states, including to Columbus, Ohio, to cash the checks at various check-cashing service businesses, including San Isidro Cargo. The owners of San Isidro Cargo were Mercedes Emelinda-Silie, Warner’s sister, and Jose Martinez, a family friend.
Warner used various Chase Bank customer accounts to cash the income tax refund checks. Warner deposited the funds into two prearranged accounts. One account was that of a co-conspirator located in New Jersey. The second was the account of Alberto Rivera Falcon. Nineteen income tax refund checks totaling $126,108.30 were deposited into Falcon’s account. Seventeen income tax refund checks totaling $62,107 were deposited into the account of the co-conspirator located in New Jersey. Warner received approximately $200 to $300 per check.
Warner admitted to hand-carrying these U.S. Treasury checks to work at Chase Bank, using Falcon’s account to deposit them, withdrawing large sums of cash, and leaving the bank with the cash in her possession and providing the currency to other co-conspirators.
The income tax refund checks, and the believed stolen State of New Jersey tax refund checks, were the sole sources of deposits into both accounts. Warner received the income tax refund checks with the endorsed signature directly from Rafael Mota and Alberto Falcon. None of the income tax refund checks bore Warner’s name, Falcon’s name, Mota’s name or the New Jersey co-conspirator’s name.
The total tax loss associated with Warner’s involvement in this conspiracy is approximately $188,215.30, which represents the total of the 36 purported income tax refund checks that she helped to negotiate.
On April 4, 2014 Jose Luis Martinez, 48, of Columbus, Ohio was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $4,415,492.58 in restitution to the IRS for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the IRS by filing false claims for federal income tax refunds and for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
On April 24, 2014 Mercedes Emelinda-Silie, 41, of Grove City, Ohio was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost to 36 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $4,415,492.58 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for her role in a conspiracy to defraud the IRS by filing false claims for federal income tax refunds.
"These defendants perpetuated an elaborate scheme driven by insatiable greed and a blatant disregard for the tremendous damage inflicted on innocent victims,” said Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. “Be assured that IRS Criminal Investigation, along with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney's Office, will hold those who engage in identity theft and refund fraud fully accountable."
Stewart commended the investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Service, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Brown, who is representing the United States in this case.
Third Member of Laguna Pueblo Sentenced for Conviction Arising Out of Drive-By Shooting of Acoma Pueblo HomeRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Joseph Edward Lucero, 25, of Laguna Pueblo, was sentenced this morning to 74 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for his assault conviction arising out of the drive-by shooting of an Acoma Pueblo home.
Lucero is the third of four members of Laguna Pueblo to be sentenced in this case. Co-defendants Preston Chino, 22, and Cameron Joseph Kasero, 21, were each sentenced last week to 96 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Lucero, Chino and Kasero, together with co-defendant Andrea Carrillo, 22, were indicted on assault and firearms offenses in July 2013. The indictment alleged that the quartet assaulted two men and a woman on Dec. 9, 2012, by discharging firearms at a residence located in Acoma Pueblo in Cibola County, N.M.Lucero entered a guilty plea to an assault charge on Sept. 9, 2014, and admitted repeatedly discharging a weapon at the victims’ residence.
Chino pled guilty on Aug. 27, 2014, to an assault charge, and admitted aiding Kasero and Lucero in assaulting the three victims by providing them with shotguns and ammunition. He also admitted driving his co-defendants to the victims’ Acoma Pueblo home where they discharged the shotguns multiple times in the direction of the residence.
Kasero pled guilty to an assault charge on Sept. 2, 2014. During his plea hearing, Kasero admitted assaulting the victims by discharging a shotgun at a residence while it was occupied by the victims.Carrillo entered a guilty plea to an assault charge on Sept. 2, 2014, and admitted aiding the assault on the victims by providing her co-defendants with directions to the residence with the understanding that her co-defendants intended to commit an assault at that location. Carrillo is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 20, 2015, when she faces a statutory maximum penalty of ten years in prison.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI, the Laguna/Acoma Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, the Acoma Pueblo Tribal Police and the Pueblo of Laguna Tribal Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback is prosecuting the case.
Suspended Las Vegas Doctor Pleads Guilty to Obtaining Controlled Substances by FraudRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A suspended Las Vegas doctor who was prescribing and obtaining controlled substances at local pharmacies in the name of a deceased patient, pleaded guilty today to the federal felony offense of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada.
Kent Swaine, 50, of Las Vegas, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware, and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 18, 2015. Swaine faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “We are acutely aware that this is a problem which cannot be addressed through law enforcement action alone, and have been working with community partners in three other major areas to prevent and reduce prescription drug abuse, education, monitoring, and medication disposal.”
According to the court records, Swaine was originally licensed to practice medicine in Nevada in July 2001, and operated a medical practice at 5380 S. Rainbow Boulevard in Las Vegas. In January 2014, the Las Vegas DEA initiated an investigation into Swaine following a complaint that Swaine was writing prescriptions and obtaining controlled substances at several Las Vegas pharmacies in the name of a deceased patient. The investigation determined that Dr. Swaine was impersonating a deceased individual in order to obtain controlled substances. Swaine was arrested and charged by federal criminal complaint in August. At the guilty plea today, Swaine admitted that he had been fraudulently writing and filling prescriptions for Hydromorphone (generic Dilaudid), in the name of a patient who died in August 2011, for the purpose of his own drug addiction.
According to the State Medical Board’s website, Swaine’s license to practice is currently suspended indefinitely.
Next Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 17 to Dec. 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is co-sponsoring with the Nevada High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (Nevada HIDTA) an annual training summit in Las Vegas to address prescription drug abuse. In addition to law enforcement, medical, treatment and pharmacy providers, as well as community and family service agency representatives are welcome to attend. For more information and to register go to: http://www.nvhidta.org/default.aspx?menuitemid=694.
The case was investigated by the HIDTA Pharm-Net Task Force, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Crane M. Pomerantz.