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18 December 2014
Eight Members of Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization Operating in Atlanta Sentenced to Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
ATLANTA, GA – Eight drug traffickers have been sentenced to federal prison for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
“These defendants thought that their drug trafficking operations would go unnoticed in Clayton County neighborhoods,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “They were wrong. Due to the outstanding efforts of DEA agents and their local law enforcement partners, these traffickers are off our streets and headed to federal prison.”
“The success of this investigation is a tribute to the strong local, state, and federal partnerships that demonstrate our combined impact on targeting and dismantling those methamphetamine trafficking organizations that peddle poison to our neighborhoods,” said John S. Comer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Division.
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: In or about 2012, Candido Ortuno Alvear, who was on parole in Texas for a cocaine trafficking offense, moved to the Atlanta, Ga. area to set up a methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution organization. Alvear recruited his then 19-year-old son, Victor Ortuno-Penaloza, brother-in-law Vicente Arana Galvan, cousin Tomas Sanchez Juarez, and associate Pablo Maldonado Penalosa to carry out the day-to-day operations of the organization. The organization rented several “stash houses” in Clayton County, Ga., which were used to manufacture, store, package, and distribute large quantities of methamphetamine, including homes on Needle Drive in Forest Park, Ga., and on Maple Avenue in Morrow, Ga. Alonso Alfonso Rivera, who resided in a home on Brian Court in Forest Park, served as a methamphetamine distributor for the organization.
On January 18, 2013, agents observed Maldonado Penalosa meet with Robert Dale Penland at the Maple Avenue residence in Morrow, to provide Penland with a quantity of methamphetamine. After Penland departed the residence, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of Penland on Interstate 75 in Henry County, Ga., and located approximately 10 pounds of “ice” methamphetamine under the back passenger seat. Penland was traveling in the vehicle with his wife and ten-month-old grandson, who had in fact accompanied Penland into the garage of the Maple Avenue residence earlier that day.
Several days later, on January 22, 2013, Maldonado provided Octavio Cruz Albar with a quantity of methamphetamine outside of the Maple Avenue residence. Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of Albar, who was traveling in a taxi, and located approximately two pounds of “ice” methamphetamine inside a shoebox where Albar had been seated. The investigation revealed that Juarez had manufactured the seized “ice” methamphetamine in the Needle Drive residence in Forest Park, in coordination with Alvear, Ortuno-Penaloza, and Galvan.
Later that evening, agents executed federal search warrants at the Maple Avenue and Needle Drive residences, and located methamphetamine and methamphetamine processing materials inside both houses. Agents also executed a search warrant at Rivera’s Brian Court residence, in Forest Park arrested Rivera, and located a 9mm Beretta 92FS handgun under a couch cushion. Agents arrested Juarez and Ortuno-Penaloza in a nearby motel and Galvan, Alvear, and Maldonado in a residence on Kennesaw Drive in Forest Park.
- Candido Ortuno Alvear, 40, of Forest Park, Ga., was sentenced to 21 years and ten months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
- Victor Ortuno-Penaloza, 21, of Forest Park, Ga., was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
- Vicente Arana Galvan, 44, of Morrow, Ga., was sentenced to ten years and eight months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
- Tomas Sanchez Juarez, 27, of Forest Park, Ga., was sentenced to twelve years and seven months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
- Pablo Maldonado Penalosa, 30, of Forest Park, Ga., was sentenced to nine years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
- Octavio Cruz Albar, 29, of Atlanta, Ga., was sentenced to six years and six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
- Robert Dale Penland, 55, of Asheville, NC., was sentenced to eight years and five months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
- Alonso Alfonso Rivera, 31, of Forest Park, Ga., was sentenced to ten years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In addition to the methamphetamine conspiracy charge, Rivera was sentenced on the charge of possession of a firearm by an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.
All defendants were convicted of the above charges upon their pleas of guilty last year. They were sentenced by United States District Judge Amy Totenberg.
This case was investigated by DEA Special Agents and Task Force Officers with valuable assistance provided by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, MCS (Marietta Cobb Smyrna) Narcotics Unit, Flint Circuit Drug Task Force, Georgia State Patrol, Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, Henry County Sheriff’s Office, and Henry County Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael Herskowitz prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.com.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney's Public Information Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.
Downtown Sioux City Developer Pleads Guilty to Violation of Clean Air ActRead the Press Release
A man who purchased the old YMCA building in 2009, learned it contained asbestos, and knowingly mishandled the asbestos during the demolition and renovation of the building pled guilty on December 17, 2014, in federal court in Sioux City.
Larry Wolf, age 54 from Dakota City, Nebraska, was convicted of one count of violating the work practice standards of the Clean Air Act by failing to thoroughly inspect the old YMCA (which he knew contained some asbestos) to ascertain the amount of asbestos, and whether that amount was sufficient to subject the demolition project to regulation.
At the plea hearing, Wolf admitted he learned the building contained asbestos and regulated asbestos-containing material when he, within six months of his purchase of the building in the summer of 2009, was told the building contained asbestos and regulated asbestos-containing material by the building's former custodian (who actually showed Wolf around the building while telling him about the asbestos). Wolf also admitted that on or about September 21, 2010, representatives of an environmental remediation and demolition firm provided him with an asbestos abatement estimate of $171, 792.00 for asbestos removal and related activities.
Wolf also admitted that despite knowing the old YMCA contained asbestos and regulated asbestos-containing material, from about July 1, 2009, until about March 31, 2011, Wolf himself, and others at his direction, violated the Clean Air Act Work-Practice Standards by demolishing, renovating, removing, disposing of and/or disturbing asbestos and regulated asbestos-containing material from the old YMCA. For example, during the above-referenced time period, defendant Larry Wolf sold copper, brass, aluminum, and other metals from the old YMCA after he had removed regulated asbestos-containing material wrappings from the metals. Defendant Larry Wolf boasted he made $80,000.00 or more from the old YMCA this way.
In addition Wolf admitted that in the summer of 2010, when asked by one of his employees if the building was safe to work in, he said the building had been abated for asbestos, when he knew it had not been abated for asbestos.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Wolf remains free on bond previously set; pending sentencing. Wolf faces a possible maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and up to 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case was investigated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 14-4055.District Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Shooting That Seriously Wounded Eight-Year-Old GirlGunfire Followed Attempted Robbery in Middle of Afternoon at Southeast Washington Apartment BuildingRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Karie Brown, 20, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for a shooting outside an apartment building in Southeast Washington that seriously wounded an eight-year-old girl, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Brown pled guilty in October 2014, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to charges of aggravated assault while armed; assault with intent to rob while armed, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The plea, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for a sentence of 14 ½ to 21 ½ years in prison. The Honorable Rhonda Reid Winston accepted the plea and sentenced Brown today. Upon completion of his prison term, Brown will be placed on five years of supervised release.
A co-defendant, Nathaniel Patten, 22, also of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in November 2014 to charges of assault with intent to commit robbery while armed and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is to be sentenced March 5, 2015.
“An innocent eight-year-old girl, playing in the snow on a day off from school, was struck by a bullet of a man trying to rob a marijuana dealer,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “She was nearly killed by the reckless actions of violent men with no regard for the safety of others. We only hope that this sentence brings some comfort and closure to this little girl, her family, and our community.”
According to the government’s evidence, Brown and Patten decided on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 14, 2014 to rob an individual they believed sold marijuana. Brown and Patten were armed with a .22-caliber Ruger semi-automatic pistol, which Brown was carrying. The men headed to the 1200 block of Valley Avenue SE, an area they knew that the individual had frequented.
Brown and Patten pretended to be waiting to gain access to a locked apartment building on the block. The eight-year-old girl – who was going outside to play in the snow - held the door open for them. Brown and Patten then followed the individual who they were targeting into the building as he went upstairs. They then attempted to rob him and gain access to an apartment that he was about to enter. The individual escaped and ran downstairs. Brown shot once at the individual while inside the building and then fired multiple shots at him outside.
The shots missed the individual, but hit the girl in the torso.
The bullet that hit the child struck inches from her heart. It caused severe bleeding, and she was rushed to an emergency room and placed in critical care. She required immediate surgery and could have died but for the timely intervention of medical assistance.
According to the government’s evidence, Brown and Patten fled together, not stopping to provide any assistance to their young victim, and Brown discarded the firearm, which was found by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The defendants were both found and arrested soon after the shooting in the 3500 block of Wheeler Road SE. After his arrest, Brown gave an interview to law enforcement and admitted that he had attempted to rob the individual and that he shot at that person outside the building.
The firearms charge stemmed from the fact that Brown had previously been convicted of a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery, in an unrelated case.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Muyiwa Bamiduro; Paralegal Specialist Theresa Nelson; Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark, and Victim/Witness Security Specialist Tanya Via. Finally, he expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tejpal S. Chawla and Kendra Briggs, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
14-278District Heights Woman Pleads Guilty in Scheme to use Counterfeit Checks to Buy Store Merchandise and Gift CardsRead the Press Release
Conspirators Presented Over 1,400 Counterfeit Checks to Target Stores in Over Two Years, Resulting in a Loss of at Least $485,000
Greenbelt, Maryland – Ebony Nicole Ruffin, age 28, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud Target Corporation.The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Michalko of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office.
According to her plea, from September 2011 to November 2013, Ruffin, Nichelle Rogers, Sheree Brown and others conspired to use counterfeit personal checks and false identifications to fraudulently obtain Visa gift cards and other merchandise from Target stores in Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Ruffin and her co-conspirators presented over 1,400 counterfeit checks at Target stores as payments for merchandise and gift cards, resulting in a total loss to Target of at least $485,000.
Ruffin used the Visa gift cards to buy items from Target for herself, and to buy merchandise from other retailers, such as Nordstrom, and later returning the merchandise for cash.
Ruffin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow scheduled her sentencing for March 23, 2015, at 3:00 p.m.
Sheree Lanet Brown, age 35, and Nichelle Nicole Rogers, age 28, both of Washington, D.C., previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the scheme and are scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 and March 23, 2015, respectively.
Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since the inception of FFETF in November 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 12,841 financial fraud cases against nearly 18,737 defendants including nearly 3,500 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Secret Service for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O'Connell Hayes and Thomas P. Windom, who are prosecuting the case.
Department of Justice Takes Legal Action to Address Pattern and Practice of Excessive Force and Violence at NYC Jails on Rikers Island that Violates the Constitutional Rights of Young Male InmatesRead the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder, Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York announced today that the United States has taken legal action to ensure that critically important reforms are put in place to address conduct at Rikers Island that has violated the constitutional rights of New York City’s youngest inmates, who are between the ages of 16 and 18 (“young inmates”). Specifically, the Department of Justice has filed a motion seeking the court’s permission to join and become a plaintiff in a pending class action lawsuit against New York City, Nunez v. City of New York (the “Nunez Action”), which alleges that the Department of Correction (“DOC”) has engaged in a pattern and practice of using unnecessary and excessive force against inmates. The department has taken this legal step as part of its ongoing effort to ensure that DOC implements all needed institutional reforms promptly, and that these reforms are lasting, verifiable and enforceable through the judicial process.
"With this filing, the Department of Justice is taking an important step to ensure the safety and constitutional rights of young people incarcerated at Rikers Island," said Attorney General Holder. "We've seen alarming evidence of unnecessary and excessive use of force against juveniles, as well as a systemic failure to protect them from violence and deeply troubling -- and potentially scarring -- use of solitary confinement. This action allows the Justice Department to seek necessary reforms to remedy these unlawful conditions, to ensure fair treatment, and to provide all incarcerated young people with the protections, and opportunities to build better futures, that they deserve."
“Today we are taking legal action to ensure that critically important reforms are put in place to address the culture of violence and overuse of punitive segregation at Rikers Island that has violated the constitutional rights of New York City’s youngest inmates,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Gupta. “We stand ready to work with the city to remedy these deeply disturbing conditions for the safety of confined youth, remedies that will ultimately also promote public safety and the safety of correctional officers.”
“Sometimes it’s the case that bureaucracy can get in the way of reform-minded thinking and comprehensive cultural change,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “We hope that won’t be the case here. We welcome the aspirations articulated by Commissioner Ponte but we hope those aspirations will find concrete expression in the form of permanent, enforceable, and verifiable terms in a court-approved settlement agreement. The devil, as they say, is in the details and we have come to the conclusion that joining the pending case as a formal party is the best and most efficient way to get those details done. That is why we are now taking the steps necessary to carry out our responsibility under the law. Given the longstanding sad state of affairs at Rikers Island, our impatience is more than understandable. As I’ve said before, one way or another, we will get enduring and enforceable reform at Rikers Island.”
On August 4, 2014, the department issued a report that concluded that “a deep-seated culture of violence is pervasive throughout the adolescent facilities at Rikers, and DOC staff routinely use force not as a last resort, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior.” The report urged the city to adopt and implement over 70 specific remedial measures. Although DOC’s new leadership has taken some positive steps in response to the report with respect to the 16 and 17-year old population, including reducing the inmate-to-staff ratio, developing new programming, and moving towards eliminating the use of punitive segregation, much more needs to be done.
The department’s proposed 36-page complaint-in-intervention (“complaint”), filed today along with a motion to intervene in the Nunez action, alleges that the city has engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the constitutional rights of young inmates, and that the city’s deliberate indifference to these constitutional rights has caused these inmates serious physical, psychological, and emotional harm. Like the August 4, 2014, report, the complaint focuses on use of force by staff, inmate-on-inmate violence, and the use of punitive segregation.
Specifically, the complaint alleges:
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Staff use force against young inmates with alarming frequency.In Fiscal Year 2014, there were 553 reported staff use of force incidents involving young inmates at the Robert D.Davoren Center (“RNDC”) and the Eric M.Taylor Center (“EMTC”), the two facilities that housed most young inmates.These incidents resulted in 1,088 injuries.
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Inmate-on-inmate fights and assaults are pervasive in large part because inmates are inadequately supervised by inexperienced and poorly trained officers.In Fiscal Year 2014, there were 657 reported inmate-on-inmate fights involving young inmates at RNDC and EMTC.
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Staff use of force and inmate-on-inmate fights and assaults have resulted in an alarming number of serious injuries to young inmates, including broken jaws, broken orbital bones, broken noses, long bone fractures, and lacerations requiring stitches.
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Staff frequently punch, strike, or kick young inmates in the head or facial area.
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Force is used as a means to punish young inmates, and staff unnecessarily continue to use force against inmates who already have been restrained.
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Force is used in response to inmate verbal taunts and insults.
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Specialized response teams, including probe and cell extraction teams, use excessive force.
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Staff regularly tell inmates to “stop resisting,” even though the inmate has been completely subdued, to justify the use of force.
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Use of excessive force is common in areas outside video surveillance coverage.DOC recently transferred many 18-year old inmates to housing units that have no video surveillance at all.
The complaint further alleges that, notwithstanding a long and troubled history of pervasive use of force against inmates at Rikers, the city has for years failed to address systemic deficiencies, including:
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Failure to ensure that use of force is accurately reported, and allowing a powerful code of silence to persist.
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Failure to conduct thorough and comprehensive investigations into use of force incidents.
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Failure to appropriately discipline staff for using excessive and unnecessary force.
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Failure to ensure that inmates are adequately supervised.
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Failure to implement an adequate age-appropriate classification system.
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Failure to provide staff with effective training on the proper use of force and how to appropriately manage youth.
In addition, the complaint asserts that the city has engaged in a pattern and practice of placing young inmates in punitive segregation at an alarming rate and for excessive periods of time.
Since issuing its report in August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has had several meetings with the city’s Law Department regarding the U.S. Attorney’s Office proposed remedial measures. Some of these discussions have included attorneys representing the Nunez plaintiffs, who have been engaging in settlement discussions with the city for several months. However, thus far, although there has been some constructive dialogue, the city has been unwilling to commit to an enforceable agreement including the type of reforms and oversight that are necessary to fully address the long-standing problems at Rikers and safeguard the constitutional rights of inmates.
U.S. Attorney Bharara thanked the Board of Correction for its continuing assistance in connection with this matter.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey K. Powell and Emily E. Daughtry are in charge of the case.
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Department of Justice Takes Legal Action to Address Pattern and Practice of Excessive Force and Violence at Rikers Island Jails That Violates the Constitutional Rights of Young Male InmatesRead the Press Release
Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Vanita Gupta, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights for the Department of Justice, announced today that the United States has taken legal action to ensure that critically important reforms are put in place to address conduct at Rikers Island that has violated the constitutional rights of New York City’s youngest inmates, who are between the ages of 16 and 18 (“Young Inmates”). Specifically, the Department of Justice has filed a motion seeking the Court’s permission to join and become a plaintiff in a pending class action lawsuit against New York City, Nunez v. City of New York (the “Nunez Action”), which alleges that the Department of Correction (“DOC”) has engaged in a pattern and practice of using unnecessary and excessive force against inmates. The Department has taken this legal step as part of its ongoing effort to ensure that DOC implements all needed institutional reforms promptly, and that these reforms are lasting, verifiable, and enforceable through the judicial process.
Attorney General Eric Holder said: “With this filing, the Department of Justice is taking an important step to ensure the safety and constitutional rights of young people incarcerated at Rikers Island. We’ve seen alarming evidence of unnecessary and excessive use of force against juveniles, as well as a systemic failure to protect them from violence and deeply troubling -- and potentially scarring -- use of solitary confinement. This action allows the Justice Department to seek necessary reforms to remedy these unlawful conditions, to ensure fair treatment, and to provide all incarcerated young people with the protections, and opportunities to build better futures, that they deserve.”
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Sometimes it’s the case that bureaucracy can get in the way of reform-minded thinking and comprehensive cultural change. We hope that won’t be the case here. We welcome the aspirations articulated by Commissioner Ponte but we hope those aspirations will find concrete expression in the form of permanent, enforceable, and verifiable terms in a court-approved settlement agreement. The devil, as they say, is in the details and we have come to the conclusion that joining the pending case as a formal party is the best and most efficient way to get those details done. That is why we are now taking the steps necessary to carry out our responsibility under the law. Given the longstanding sad state of affairs at Rikers Island, our impatience is more than understandable. As I’ve said before, one way or another, we will get enduring and enforceable reform at Rikers Island.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said: “Today we are taking legal action to ensure that critically important reforms are put in place to address the culture of violence and overuse of punitive segregation at Rikers Island that has violated the constitutional rights of New York City’s youngest inmates. We stand ready to work with the City to remedy these deeply disturbing conditions for the safety of confined youth, remedies that will ultimately also promote public safety and the safety of correctional officers.”
On August 4, 2014, the Department issued a report that concluded that “a deep-seated culture of violence is pervasive throughout the adolescent facilities at Rikers, and DOC staff routinely use force not as a last resort, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior.” The report urged the City to adopt and implement over 70 specific remedial measures. Although DOC’s new leadership has taken some positive steps in response to the report with respect to the 16- and 17-year-old population, including reducing the inmate-to-staff ratio, developing new programming, and moving toward eliminating the use of punitive segregation, much more needs to be done.
The Department’s proposed 36-page Complaint-in-Intervention (“Complaint”), filed today along with a motion to intervene in the Nunez Action, alleges that the City has engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the constitutional rights of Young Inmates, and that the City’s deliberate indifference to these constitutional rights has caused these inmates serious physical, psychological, and emotional harm. Like the August 4, 2014, report, the Complaint focuses on use of force by staff, inmate-on-inmate violence, and the use of punitive segregation.
Specifically, the Complaint alleges:
- Staff use force against Young Inmates with alarming frequency. In Fiscal Year 2014, there were 553 reported staff use of force incidents involving Young Inmates at the Robert D. Davoren Center (“RNDC”) and the Eric M. Taylor Center (“EMTC”), the two facilities that housed most Young Inmates. These incidents resulted in 1,088 injuries.
- Inmate-on-inmate fights and assaults are pervasive in large part because inmates are inadequately supervised by inexperienced and poorly trained officers. In Fiscal Year 2014, there were 657 reported inmate-on-inmate fights involving Young Inmates at RNDC and EMTC.
- Staff use of force and inmate-on-inmate fights and assaults have resulted in an alarming number of serious injuries to Young Inmates, including broken jaws, broken orbital bones, broken noses, long bone fractures, and lacerations requiring stitches.
- Staff frequently punch, strike, or kick Young Inmates in the head or facial area.
- Force is used as a means to punish Young Inmates, and staff unnecessarily continue to use force against inmates who already have been restrained.
- Force is used in response to inmate verbal taunts and insults.
- Specialized response teams, including probe and cell extraction teams, use excessive force.
- Staff regularly tell inmates to “stop resisting,” even though the inmate has been completely subdued, to justify the use of force.
- Use of excessive force is common in areas outside video surveillance coverage. DOC recently transferred many 18-year-old inmates to housing units that have no video surveillance at all.
The Complaint further alleges that, notwithstanding a long and troubled history of pervasive use of force against inmates at Rikers, the City has for years failed to address systemic deficiencies, including:
- Failure to ensure that use of force is accurately reported, and allowing a powerful code of silence to persist.
- Failure to conduct thorough and comprehensive investigations into use of force incidents.
- Failure to appropriately discipline staff for using excessive and unnecessary force.
- Failure to ensure that inmates are adequately supervised.
- Failure to implement an adequate age-appropriate classification system.
- Failure to provide staff with effective training on the proper use of force and how to appropriately manage youth.
In addition, the Complaint asserts that the City has engaged in a pattern and practice of placing Young Inmates in punitive segregation at an alarming rate and for excessive periods of time.
Since issuing its report in August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has had several meetings with the City’s Law Department regarding the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s proposed remedial measures. Some of these discussions have included attorneys representing the Nunez plaintiffs, who have been engaging in settlement discussions with the City for several months. However, thus far, although there has been some constructive dialogue, the City has been unwilling to commit to an enforceable agreement including the type of reforms and oversight that are necessary to fully address the long-standing problems at Rikers and safeguard the constitutional rights of inmates.
Mr. Bharara thanked the Board of Correction for its continuing assistance in connection with this matter.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey K. Powell and Emily E. Daughtry are in charge of the case.
Nunez v. City of NY, et al. U.S. Motion to Intervene Notice of Motion
Nunez v. City of NY, et al. US Motion to Intervene Memorandum of Law
Nunez v. City of NY, et al. US Complaint-In-Intervention
Nunez v. City of NY, et al. U.S. Complaint-in-Intervention Exhibit ADanbury Man Sentenced to More Than 10 Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Oxycodone and CocaineRead the Press Release
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Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that DEMETRIOS PAPADAKOS, also known as “Jimmy,” 67, of Danbury, was sentenced yesterday by Senior U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton in Bridgeport to 121 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for heading a Fairfield County narcotics trafficking ring.
This matter stems from a year-long investigation headed by the DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and Norwalk Police Department into the distribution of oxycodone, cocaine and marijuana in Fairfield County. Sixteen individuals were charged and convicted as a result of this investigation.
According to court documents and statements made in court, PAPADAKOS and Alfred Catino, also of Danbury, were long-time associates who headed the narcotics trafficking ring. The investigation revealed that PAPADAKOS facilitated the purchase and distribution of more than 6,800 oxycodone 30mg pills and more than a kilogram of cocaine. PAPADAKOS traveled to Florida to purchase wholesale quantities of oxycodone and traveled to New York to acquire oxycodone and cocaine, received prescriptions for oxycodone from a corrupt doctor to whom he had loaned a large sum of money, and obtained oxycodone from a co-defendant who had obtained pills from people with legitimate prescriptions in exchange for cash.
PAPADAKOS has been detained since arrest on May 8, 2012. On June 23, 2014, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana.
PAPADAKOS’ criminal history spans approximately 40 years and includes six federal felony convictions, one state felony conviction and multiple misdemeanor convictions, most of which are related to drug trafficking.
Catino has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
This matter was investigated by the DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Norwalk Police Department, with assistance provided by the Connecticut State Police and the Bridgeport, Stamford, Stratford and Westport Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vanessa Richards and Michael Runowicz.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722 [email protected]Criminal Charges Filed Against U.S. Citizen in Connection with a Multi-Million Dollar International Cyber Counterfeiting Scheme Based in UgandaRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton for the Western District of Pennsylvania and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Eric P. Zahren of the Pittsburgh Field Office today announced the filing of a criminal complaint in Pittsburgh charging a U.S. citizen with leading an international counterfeit currency operation headquartered in the Republic of Uganda.
Ryan Andrew Gustafson, aka Jack Farrel, aka Willy Clock, 27, a U.S. citizen currently residing in Kampala, Uganda, was charged with conspiracy and counterfeiting acts committed outside of the U.S. When he lived in the United States, he mainly resided in Texas and Colorado.
“This complicated, international cyber counterfeiting conspiracy was broken as a result of expert investigation by the Secret Service and a total commitment of all cooperating law enforcement to reject the premise that criminals committing cybercrimes in the U.S. – but who reside outside our borders – cannot be reached,” stated U.S. Attorney Hickton. “We will hold cyber criminals accountable and bring them to justice no matter where they reside.”
“This investigation involves the manufacture of counterfeit U.S. currency, which has been the Secret Service’s core mission since 1865,” said Special Agent in Charge Zahren. “Add to that the modern elements of an international counterfeiting conspiracy utilizing new-age, cyber technology, and it represents the full evolution and unique investigative capabilities of today’s Secret Service.”
As detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, in December 2013, the Secret Service began investigating the passing of counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs), believed to be manufactured in Uganda, at Pittsburgh-area retail stores and businesses. Agents determined that an individual identified as J.G. had passed these notes and was renting a postal box at The UPS Store on Pittsburgh’s South Side. On Feb 19, 2014, law enforcement learned that J.G. received three packages addressed from Beyond Computers, located in Kampala, Uganda. Agents executing a search warrant on the packages found $7,000 in counterfeit $100, $50 and $20 FRNs located in two hidden compartments within the packaging envelopes. A fingerprint on a document inside one of the packages was identified as belonging to Ryan Andrew Gustafson.
The Secret Service subsequently worked with Ugandan authorities to identify the source of the counterfeit FRNs. Their efforts led to A.B., who admitted to sending the packages, explaining that an American named “Jack Farrel,” and another person, provided him the counterfeit notes to ship. Based on information provided by A.B., the Secret Service used facial recognition to identify Jack Farrel as Ryan Andrew Gustafson.
According to the affidavit, J.G. met “Willy Clock” on an online criminal forum called Tor Carding Forum. Through private messaging, J.G. and Clock discussed counterfeit currency and J.G. agreed to purchase counterfeit FRNs.
In January 2014, Clock told J.G. that he had established his own online forum called Community-X, a website dedicated to the selling of counterfeit reserve notes. The forum requires a username and password to access the site, and individuals must be invited and approved by Clock to become members. Secret Service used an undercover operative to communicate with Clock through the website, to purchase additional counterfeit $100 FRNs, and to become a re-shipper of counterfeit notes.
In November 2014, the Secret Service executed a search warrant at the residence of another re-shipper, who had been an active member of Community-X. This person cooperated and provided information that a forum member had traveled to Uganda and brought back more than $300,000 in counterfeit notes.
The Secret Service, working with Ugandan authorities, engaged yet another confidential informant, in Uganda, who had knowledge of Jack Farrel and his counterfeiting operations. On Dec. 11 2014, this confidential informant called Farrel to arrange to purchase counterfeit FRNs. The informant met Farrel’s associate and made the buy. Two trusted sources followed the associate back to Farrel’s home and reported the location to the Secret Service who turned it over to the Uganda Special Investigations Unit. Their search of Farrel’s residence netted two million Ugandan shillings from the buy; $180,420 in counterfeit FRNs; counterfeit Euros, Indian Rupees, Ugandan Shillings, Congo Francs, and Ghana Cedis; computers and printers; inks and ink jet cartridges; paper cutters; glue sticks; “Give a Child Hope Today” pamphlets with counterfeit FRNs in between glued together pages; and a pair of “Anon Hands.” Anon Hands are life-like rubber molds that fit like gloves over the user’s hands and are meant to conceal the wearer’s fingerprints. As noted above Farrel has been identified as Gustafson. Evidence collected at the scene also allowed investigators to identify Gustafson as Willy Clock.
Gustafson was charged by Ugandan authorities on Dec. 16 with conspiracy, possession of counterfeit, selling/dealing in counterfeit, and unlawful possession of ammunition. He was brought before the court that day to be informed about the charges; he also is being represented by counsel in Uganda.
U.S. Secret Service estimates $1.8 million in counterfeit FRNs have been seized and passed in Uganda. The total amount of Ugandan-made counterfeit FRNs seized or passed domestically was approximately $270,000. This amount was limited due to early detection by the Secret Service.
U.S. law provides for a maximum total sentence of 25 years in prison, a fine of $500,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
U.S. Attorney Hickton commended numerous agencies and organizations for conducting the investigation leading to charges in this case, including the Directorate of Public Prosecution, the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, the Special Investigations and Intelligence Unit, and Stanbic Bank in Uganda; various domestic and foreign Secret Service Field Offices, including the Rome, Italy, Field Office and the Criminal Investigative Division in Washington, D.C.; the U.S. State Department; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shardul S. Desai is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
A criminal complaint contains charges and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Criminal Charges Filed Against U.S. Citizen in Connection with A Multi-Million Dollar International Cyber Counterfeiting Scheme Based in UgandaRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania David J. Hickton and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Eric P. Zahren today announced the filing of a criminal complaint in Pittsburgh charging a U.S. citizen with leading an international counterfeit currency operation headquartered in the Republic of Uganda.
Ryan Andrew Gustafson, aka Jack Farrel, aka Willy Clock, 27, a U.S. citizen currently residing in Kampala, Uganda, was charged with conspiracy and counterfeiting acts committed outside of the U.S. When he lived in the United States, he mainly resided in Texas and Colorado.
“This complicated, international cyber counterfeiting conspiracy was broken as a result of expert investigation by the Secret Service and a total commitment of all cooperating law enforcement to reject the premise that criminals committing cybercrimes in the U.S. – but who reside outside our borders – cannot be reached,” stated U.S. Attorney Hickton. “We will hold cyber criminals accountable and bring them to justice no matter where they reside.”
“This investigation involves the manufacture of counterfeit U.S. currency, which has been the Secret Service’s core mission since 1865,” said Special Agent in Charge Zahren of the Pittsburgh Field Office. “Add to that the modern elements of an international counterfeiting conspiracy utilizing new-age, cyber technology, and it represents the full evolution and unique investigative capabilities of today’s Secret Service.”
As detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, in December 2013, the Secret Service began investigating the passing of counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs), believed to be manufactured in Uganda, at Pittsburgh-area retail stores and businesses. Agents determined that an individual identified as J.G. had passed these notes and was renting a postal box at The UPS Store on Pittsburgh’s South Side. On Feb 19, 2014, law enforcement learned that J.G. received three packages addressed from Beyond Computers, located in Kampala, Uganda. Agents executing a search warrant on the packages found $7,000 in counterfeit $100, $50 and $20 FRNs located in two hidden compartments within the packaging envelopes. A fingerprint on a document inside one of the packages was identified as belonging to Ryan Andrew Gustafson.
The Secret Service subsequently worked with Ugandan authorities to identify the source of the counterfeit FRNs. Their efforts led to A.B., who admitted to sending the packages, explaining that an American named “Jack Farrel”, and another person, provided him the counterfeit notes to ship. Based on information provided by A.B., the Secret Service used facial recognition to identify Jack Farrel as Ryan Andrew Gustafson.
According to the affidavit, J.G. met “Willy Clock” on an online criminal forum called Tor Carding Forum. Through private messaging, J.G. and Clock discussed counterfeit currency and J.G. agreed to purchase counterfeit FRNs.
In January 2014, Clock told J.G. that he had established his own online forum called Community-X, a website dedicated to the selling of counterfeit reserve notes. The forum requires a username and password to access the site, and individuals must be invited and approved by Clock to become members. Secret Service used an undercover operative to communicate with Clock through the website, to purchase additional counterfeit $100 FRNs, and to become a re-shipper of counterfeit notes.
In November 2014, the Secret Service executed a search warrant at the residence of another re-shipper, who had been an active member of Community-X. This person cooperated and provided information that a forum member had traveled to Uganda and brought back more than $300,000 in counterfeit notes.
The Secret Service, working with Ugandan authorities, engaged yet another confidential informant, in Uganda, who had knowledge of Jack Farrel and his counterfeiting operations. On Dec. 11 2014, this confidential informant called Farrel to arrange to purchase counterfeit FRNs. The informant met Farrel’s associate and made the buy. Two trusted sources followed the associate back to Farrel’s home and reported the location to the Secret Service who turned it over to the Uganda Special Investigations Unit. Their search of Farrel’s residence netted two million Ugandan shillings from the buy; $180,420 in counterfeit FRNs; counterfeit Euros, Indian Rupees, Ugandan Shillings, Congo Francs, and Ghana Cedis; computers and printers; inks and ink jet cartridges; paper cutters; glue sticks; “Give a Child Hope Today” pamphlets with counterfeit FRNs in between glued together pages; and a pair of “Anon Hands”. Anon Hands are life-like rubber molds that fit like gloves over the user’s hands and are meant to conceal the wearer’s fingerprints. As noted above Farrel has been identified as Gustafson. Evidence collected at the scene also allowed investigators to identify Gustafson as Willy Clock.
Gustafson was charged by Ugandan authorities on Dec. 16 with conspiracy, possession of counterfeit, selling/dealing in counterfeit, and unlawful possession of ammunition. He was brought before the court that day to be informed about the charges; he also is being represented by counsel in Uganda.
U.S. Secret Service estimates $1.8 million in counterfeit FRNs have been seized and passed in Uganda. The total amount of Ugandan-made counterfeit FRNs seized or passed domestically was approximately $270,000. This amount was limited due to early detection by the Secret Service.
U.S. law provides for a maximum total sentence of 25 years in prison, a fine of $500,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
U.S. Attorney Hickton commended numerous agencies and organizations for conducting the investigation leading to charges in this case, including the Directorate of Public Prosecution, the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, the Special Investigations and Intelligence Unit, and Stanbic Bank in Uganda; various domestic and foreign Secret Service Field Offices, including the Rome, Italy, Field Office and the Criminal Investigative Division in Washington, D.C.; the U.S. State Department; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shardul S. Desai is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
A criminal complaint contains charges and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Collin County Man Sentenced for Sherman Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
Department of Justice
Office of Public AffairsSHERMAN, Texas – A 47-year-old McKinney, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.
Elijah El-Jihad pleaded guilty on May 29, 2014 to bank robbery and was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison on Dec. 17, 2014 by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.According to information presented in court, on Mar. 31, 2014, El-Jihad entered the Woodforest National Bank located in the Kroger supermarket at 1820 Loy Lake Road in Sherman, Texas, and presented the teller with a note demanding money. El-Jihad fled the bank with approximately $800.00. He was seen entering his vehicle by witnesses after he exited the supermarket. El-Jihad was arrested in McKinney, Texas on Apr. 1, 2014 and admitted to robbing the bank. A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Apr. 9, 2014, charging El-Jihad with bank robbery.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William R. Tatum.
Chicago Travel Agent Arrested on Federal Fraud Charge for Allegedly Swindling Muslim Pilgrims of Hajj Travel PackagesRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A Chicago travel agent was arrested today on a federal fraud charge for allegedly cheating at least 50 customers of approximately $525,000 by misrepresenting his ability to sell travel packages for the Hajj that included the visa required to enter Saudi Arabia.
The defendant, RASHID MINHAS, 42, of Chicago, was charged with mail fraud in a criminal complaint that was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court and unsealed this morning following his arrest. He was scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan in Federal Court.
Minhas was arrested without incident by FBI agents at his residence on the north side of Chicago. Agents also executed a federal search warrant at his business, Light Star Hajj Group, located at 5801 Northwest Hwy., Chicago. Minhas previously operated a travel agency in Chicago called City Travel & Tours.
According to the complaint affidavit, between March and November 2014, Minhas falsely represented that Hajj travel packages for September and October of this year included required Saudi Arabia entry visas. Minhas allegedly knew that Light Star Hajj was not authorized by Saudi Arabia to obtain visas and that he did not intend to obtain the required Hajj visas. He sold travel deals to at least 50 customers and deposited approximately $525,000 he collected into Light Star’s bank accounts, and then commingled those funds with other deposits and used the money to make partial refunds to customers, to transfer funds to Pakistan, and to pay personal expenses, the complaint alleges.
The affidavit describes the Hajj as an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims, and must be carried out at least once in a lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey. This year, the Hajj pilgrimage was from Oct. 2-7, and each year, approximately two million pilgrims attend the Hajj.
The complaint states that agents reviewed Light Star’s bank records and determined that approximately $525,000 was deposited this year from the sale of Hajj travel packages. An additional $586,000 was deposited from other sources, including the sale of Umrah travel packages, cash deposits and transfers. Agents determined that approximately $745,000 was spent on expenditures that were not related to Hajj travel packages, including $159,000 in checks to cash, $339,000 in transfers to individuals in Pakistan, approximately $49,000 in checks to Minhas’ former wife, and other expenses.
The arrest and charges were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert J. Holley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Kenneth E. Yeadon and Kathryn Malizia.
A complaint contains only charges and is 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.
Complaint
Chattanooga Man Sentenced to 200 Months for Possession of A Firearm by A FelonRead the Press Release
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.-- Terrell Buford, 27, of Chattanooga, Tenn., was sentenced to serve 200 months in prison by the Honorable Harry S. Mattice, Jr., U.S. District Judge. Upon his release from prison Buford will be subject to supervised release by the U.S. Probation Office for three years. There is no parole in the federal system.
In March 2014, law enforcement found Buford in possession of a firearm while executing a narcotics search warrant at his place of business. In May 2014, he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Buford’s prior felony charges included multiple counts of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, as well as aggravated assault and possession of cocaine for resale.
Law enforcement agencies participating in the investigation included the Rhea County Sheriff’s Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith J. Edwards represented the United States.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a comprehensive national strategy that creates local partnerships with law enforcement agencies to effectively enforce existing gun laws. It provides more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences. PSN gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.
Centralia Man Indicted on Federal Charges for Burglarizing Gun DealerRead the Press Release
Follow @SDILNewsA Centralia resident charged by criminal complaint on December 3, 2014, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday, December 16, 2014, for burglarizing a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Dakota R. Moss, 19, faces four felony charges for his role in burglarizing the Buchheit of Centralia Farm and Home Supply Store and stealing thirty nine (39) guns. The charges against Moss in the indictment are the same as those originally brought in the criminal complaint. Moss’ accomplice was not identified because that person is a juvenile under federal law.
The complaint affidavit previously filed in the district court stated that on November 29, 2014, the Buchheit of Centralia Farm and Home Supply Store was burglarized and thirty nine (39) firearms were stolen, along with at least one thousand rounds of ammunition. The burglary was accomplished using a full size pickup truck, which was stolen from the Centralia, Illinois High School. The suspects utilized the stolen truck to ram the locked security gate to make entry onto Buchheit’s parking lot, where the suspects then broke out store windows to make entry into the store. The surveillance video established that the initial burglary occurred at approximately 2:40 am. However, the video evidence revealed that the two suspects left the scene and returned to steal additional firearms and ammunition on two occasions - thereby making a total of three separate entries into the FFL between 2:40 am and 4:00 am.
The complaint affidavit said that Moss and his juvenile accomplice were armed while inside of Buchheit’s and intended to shoot anyone who interrupted the burglary – including police. The complaint alleged that Moss and his accomplice stole the firearms in order to sell the guns; and that Ferguson, Missouri was among the planned potential destinations for the weapons. The affidavit also states that the two planned on participating in the looting of businesses in the Ferguson, Missouri area, however the plan did not materialize.
Centralia Police and agents from the ATF identified the suspects soon after the burglary and have recovered 37 of the 39 stolen guns as of this date. Anyone with knowledge of the remaining stolen firearms or the ammunition is encouraged to call law enforcement.
US Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton credited the law enforcement response when he stated, “The ATF and the Centralia police department are to be commended for having already recovered 37 of the stolen firearms. They have kept those guns out of the hands of criminals.” US Attorney Wigginton also praised the cooperation from Clinton County State’s Attorney John Hudspeth noting, “The State’s Attorney has been a valuable partner in this investigation. He personally ensured that these two suspects remained in custody while the federal investigation was ongoing. We look forward to continuing this joint investigation to ensure that everyone who participated in the crime is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The indictment charges Moss with stealing firearms from a FFL, possession of stolen firearms, being a felon in possession of firearms, and with carry and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. The first three charges are all punishable by not more than 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and not more than 5 years supervised release. Carry and use of a firearm during a crime of violence carries an additional mandatory consecutive sentence of not less than 5 years. However, as in any case, the United States Sentencing Guidelines must be applied to the case and considered by the Court during sentencing.
The investigation is being conducted by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Centralia Police Department, along with the Clinton County State’s Attorney’s office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.
An Indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.
Cedar Rapids Man Charged with Fraud and Identity TheftRead the Press Release
Terry L. Gantt, 28, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been charged with one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud. The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed today in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The Indictment alleges that, between October 2012 and February 2013, Gantt used the identities of other individuals to apply for credit cards without their permission.If convicted on all charges, Gantt faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 22 years’ imprisonment. He could also be fined up to $500,000, and a term of supervised release could be ordered upon conviction of any of the counts.
Gantt appeared today in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was released on bond. Gantt’s trial is set for the two-week period beginning February 17.
As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jacob Schunk and was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 1:14-cr-00142.
Carbondale Resident Sentenced for Crack Cocaine OffenseRead the Press Release
Follow @SDILNewsOn December 16, 2014, Johnathan T. Buck, a/k/a “Buffalo,” 40, of Carbondale, Illinois, was sentenced on a federal crack cocaine violation, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Buck, who had previously pled guilty to a one-count indictment, charging conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years’ supervised release, and fined $200.00. The offense occurred between 2013 and March 2014, in Jackson County. Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings established that Buck was involved with co-defendant Maurice Christian, a/k/a “Reece,” and others in the distribution of crack cocaine in Carbondale. Buck and his associates were transporting crack cocaine from northern Illinois to Carbondale for distribution. On multiple occasions, Buck sold crack cocaine to a confidential source working for law enforcement. At sentencing, the district court found that Buck was responsible for 638 grams of crack cocaine. Buck’s sentence was enhanced because he possessed a firearm during his participation in the crack cocaine offense. Christian has pled guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group, Carbondale Police Department, and Drug Enforcement Administration. The Jackson County State’s Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation.
The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Amanda A. Robertson for prosecution.
Carbondale Man Sentenced for Firearm OffenseRead the Press Release
Follow @SDILNewsOn December 16, 2014, Travis D. Bailey, 30, was sentenced for a federal firearm violation, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Bailey, who had previously pled guilty to a one-count indictment, charging Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, was sentenced to 84 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and fined $200.00. Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings established that, on March 7, 2014, Carbondale police officers executed a search warrant at Bailey’s Carbondale residence. In Bailey’s backpack, officers located approximately three pounds of marihuana and a stolen firearm. At the residence, officers also located additional marihuana, packaged for distribution, along with digital scales, drug packaging materials, and United States currency. At the time of the March 2014 offense, Bailey had three prior felony marihuana convictions and was prohibited from possessing firearms.
The investigation was conducted by the Carbondale Police Department. The Jackson County State’s Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.
The case was assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Amanda A. Robertson for prosecution.
Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Making False StatementsRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y.–U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Christian Dean Reid, 39, a citizen of Canada, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara to making false statements. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who is handling the case, stated that on October 12, 2014, Reid, a native of England, told an officer of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that he had not previously been arrested, even though the defendant knew this statement was false. Reid was arrested and convicted of a drug trafficking offense which affects his admissibility into the United States.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the United States Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Randy Howe, Director of Field Operations.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 18, 2014, at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara.
Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Making False StatementsRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y.–U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Christian Dean Reid, 39, a citizen of Canada, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara to making false statements. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who is handling the case, stated that on October 12, 2014, Reid, a native of England, told an officer of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that he had not previously been arrested, even though the defendant knew this statement was false. Reid was arrested and convicted of a drug trafficking offense which affects his admissibility into the United States.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the United States Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Randy Howe, Director of Field Operations.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 18, 2014, at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara.
California Man Sentenced for Transporting Marijuana CashRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that on December 18, 2014, a California man was sentenced to 12 months plus one day in prison for interstate travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises. Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf also ordered Ryan William Perich, 30, of Elk Grove, California, to pay a fine of $6,000 and to serve three years on supervised release after completing his prison term.
On January 24, 2014, Perich was stopped on westbound I-80 near Lincoln by Lancaster County Sheriff’s Deputies for following a semi-tractor trailer truck too closely. He consented to a search of his rental vehicle, and a total of $934,722 in cash was found. Perich told the deputies he knew the money came from marijuana sales, and said he was transporting the cash to California from the east coast at the direction of other persons. Perich said the money did not belong to him. Papers found in the vehicle contained addresses and entry code numbers for storage units on the east coast and notes believed to contain records of drug debts and/or money collected. Homeland Security Investigations Agents served search warrants at several east coast storage facilities referenced in the notes found in Perich’s rental vehicle and obtained security videos and other information. Security video from one of those facilities showed Perich taking a number of boxes into the storage facility and leaving them there. The $934,722 cash was confiscated and was administratively forfeited to the United States of America by the Department of Homeland Security in April of 2014.
Information obtained from the Drug Enforcement Administration, (DEA), indicated that high-grade, indoor-grow marijuana would sell for approximately $4,500 per pound on the east coast. Based on that estimate, the $934,772 in cash would be roughly equivalent to 94 kilograms or approximately 208 pounds of marijuana.This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
California Man Sentenced for Role in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy and Bank FraudRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that THEODORE PLATANITIS, age 44, of Rancho Cordova, California, was sentenced yesterday after having previously pled guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud and bank fraud.
U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt sentenced PLATANITIS to serve 5 months probation and ordered restitution to the victim in the amount of $16,302.
According to court documents, PLATANITIS worked as a money carrier in an organization that hacked into the e-mail accounts of victims and then used that access to cause sums of money to be wired out of the victim’s bank accounts. PLATANITIS was recruited by unknown individuals to open bank account(s) in the United States to receive fraudulent wire transfers from the bank accounts of victims.
On August 24, 2011, the office manager for a New Orleans physician (“Doctor A”) received an e-mail from Doctor A’s America Online e-mail account requesting that the office manager wire $32,300 from Doctor A’s bank account to PLATANITIS’S bank account. In fact, it was not Doctor A who sent the email, but rather another individual had taken control of Doctor A’s e-mail account, and, without Doctor A’s authorization, drafted and sent the e-mail to Doctor A’s office manager purporting to be Doctor A. Doctor A’s office manager complied with the e-mail, and the money was wired to PLATANITIS’S account.
Once the deposit in the amount of approximately $32,000 had been fraudulently deposited into PLATANITIS’S account, PLATANITIS withdrew approximately $16,150 in cash and, acting upon instructions given to him, took the cash to various Western Union locations in Rancho Cordova, California. He then wired different amounts to different locations in Malaysia in amounts not more than $5,000. Shortly thereafter, PLATANITIS returned to a bank branch and attempted to withdraw the remainder of the funds he had fraudulently obtained from Doctor A from his business account.
U.S. Attorney praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg was in charge of the prosecution.
California Investment Manager Sentenced to 225 Months in Prison for $33 Million Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A California investment manager was sentenced yesterday to serve 225 months in prison for orchestrating a $33 million Ponzi scheme resulting in $15.2 million in losses to investors.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen of the District of Utah, Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and Special Agent in Charge John Collins of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.
Robert L. Holloway, 57, of San Diego, California, was found guilty on Aug. 5, 2014, after a seven-day jury trial, of four counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false income tax return. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby of the District of Utah ordered Holloway to pay $15.2 million in restitution.
Evidence presented at trial established that Holloway served as the chief executive officer and managing partner of US Ventures LC between May 2005 and April 2007. From October 2005 until at least April 2007, Holloway recruited investors by making false representations, including that US Ventures used proprietary trading software that was consistently profitable, that US Ventures generated returns of 0.8 percent per trading day and that US Ventures would retain a 30 percent share of investors’ profits as a management fee.
The evidence also showed that Holloway generated and distributed reports to investors showing false daily returns on their investments. Indeed, between October 2005 and April 2007, contrary to the returns shown on the false reports, US Ventures lost more than $10 million in trading, and the “profit” figures on the investor reports were entirely fabricated. US Ventures raised more than $33 million from investors for its purported trading activities.
Evidence at trial further demonstrated that Holloway and US Ventures made “profit distributions” to investors from funds solicited from new investors, and that Holloway misappropriated investors’ funds for a variety of personal expenses, including supporting his then-wife’s eBay business, and purchasing hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry. During 2006 alone, Holloway diverted more than $1.2 million in investor funds to a “business” account that he used as a personal account. During that same year, Holloway falsely claimed a gross income of only $27,500 on his personal tax return.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and the IRS-CI’s Las Vegas Field Office. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission also provided assistance in the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Thomas B.W. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason R. Burt of the District of Utah.
California Investment Manager Sentenced to 225 Months in Prison for $33 Million Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
SALT LAKE CITY - A California investment manager was sentenced late Wednesday afternoon to 225 months in prison for orchestrating a $33 million Ponzi scheme resulting in $15.2 million in losses to investors. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby imposed the sentence in federal court in Salt Lake City.
Robert L. Holloway, 57, of San Diego, California, was found guilty on Aug. 5, 2014, after a seven-day jury trial, of four counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false income tax return. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Shelby also ordered Holloway to pay $15.2 million in restitution.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen of the District of Utah, Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and Special Agent in Charge John Collins of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.
Evidence presented at trial established that Holloway served as the chief executive officer and managing partner of US Ventures LC between May 2005 and April 2007. From October 2005 until at least April 2007, Holloway recruited investors by making false representations, including that US Ventures used proprietary trading software that was consistently profitable, that US Ventures generated returns of 0.8 percent per trading day and that US Ventures would retain a 30 percent share of investors’ profits as a management fee.
The evidence also showed that Holloway generated and distributed reports to investors showing false daily returns on their investments. Indeed, between October 2005 and April 2007, contrary to the returns shown on the false reports, US Ventures lost more than $10 million in trading, and the “profit” figures on the investor reports were entirely fabricated. US Ventures raised more than $33 million from investors for its purported trading activities.
Evidence at trial further demonstrated that Holloway and US Ventures made “profit distributions” to investors from funds solicited from new investors, and that Holloway misappropriated investors’ funds for a variety of personal expenses, including supporting his then-wife’s eBay business, and purchasing hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry. During 2006 alone, Holloway diverted more than $1.2 million in investor funds to a “business” account that he used as a personal account. During that same year, Holloway falsely claimed a gross income of only $27,500 on his personal tax return.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and the IRS-CI’s Las Vegas Field Office. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission also provided assistance in the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Thomas B.W. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason R. Burt of the District of Utah.
Business Partners Plead Guilty to Running Multi-million Dollar Foreclosure Rescue Scam in Bakersfield, Visalia and SalinasRead the Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. — Juan Ramon Curiel, 36, of Visalia, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud in connection with a foreclosure rescue scheme he orchestrated, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Curiel’s co-defendant and business partner, Santiago Palacios-Hernandez, 45, of Salinas, pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge last week.
According to court documents, Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez operated Star Reliable Mortgage, with offices in Bakersfield, Visalia and Salinas. Between August 2010 and October 2011, Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez conspired to defraud homeowners and lenders by offering clients a purported “loan elimination” program that would enable homeowners to own their homes “free and clear” of any loans or mortgages.
Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez charged clients upfront fees ranging from $2,500 up to $4,500 and additional monthly fees and told their clients to stop paying their mortgages. Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez filed various fraudulent documents at county recorders’ offices on behalf of the clients supposedly replacing the legitimate trustees with fictitious trusts affiliated with the defendants or documents that transferred the property to a bankruptcy debtor all in an effort to “cloud title” and halt or stall the foreclosure process. Because foreclosures were stalled, clients continued to pay the monthly fees to defendants believing that their services were legitimate and successful. Instead of owning their homes “free and clear,” however, many of the clients lost their homes in foreclosure.
Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez admitted in their plea agreements that their criminal conduct caused losses of more than $2.5 million. Curiel separately admitted in his plea agreement that he fraudulently filed bankruptcy for one of his clients.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Baker and Patrick Delahunty are prosecuting the case.
Curiel and Palacios-Hernandez are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill on March 9, 2015, and February 23, 2015, respectively. The maximum statutory penalty they face for conspiracy to commit mail fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Curiel additionally faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the bankruptcy fraud conviction. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This announcement was done in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
Bismarck Woman Sentenced for Role in Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
FARGO – U.S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on Dec. 18, 2014, Nicole Marie Speed, 35, from Bismarck N.D., was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson to serve Judge Erickson sentenced Speed to 60 months’ probation on condition she be placed on 12 months of home confinement with electronic monitoring and complete 750 hours community service. Speed had previously pled guilty to Accessory after the Fact in connection with the bank robbery of the Northland Financial bank in Medina, North Dakota. She was also ordered to pay restitution of $2670 and a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund.
On Oct. 25, 2013, Speed provided a handgun to Satrone Boyd which was used in the bank robbery of Northland Financial Bank Medina, N.D. On October 25, 2013, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Boyd and codefendant Rendell Charles Hardy forcefully robbed Northland Financial in Medina, N.D. wearing clown masks. Hardy, in possession of a handgun, demanded money from bank employees after which the two men fled the scene.
Boyd and Hardy later changed vehicles southwest of Medina, N.D., before being identified at a truck stop near the Star Lite Motel in Jamestown, N.D. A surveillance video showed Boyd throwing the masks and a set of keys into the dumpster by the Star Lite Motel. Boyd was later apprehended in Fargo, North Dakota. Judge Erickson previously sentenced Hardy to serve 12 1/2 years in prison for bank robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Boyd was sentenced to serve 7 ½ years in prison for the bank robbery.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation together with the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office, the North Dakota Highway Patrol, the Dickinson Police Department and the Fargo Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Reisenauer prosecuted the case.
Baltimore Couple Sentenced to Prison for Armed Robbery of a Convenience StoreRead the Press Release
Also Robbed Three More Convenience Stores at Gunpoint
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Brandon Ferrell, age 23, and Stephanie Amber Smith, age 24, both of Baltimore to 20 years in prison and thirteen years in prison, respectively, each followed by three years of supervised release, for the armed robbery of a convenience store on September 27, 2013, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The couple admitted that they committed three additional armed convenience store robberies two days later. Ferrell was sentenced on December 17, 2014 and Smith was sentenced today.
The sentences were 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; Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.According to their plea agreements, on September 27, 2013, Ferrell and Smith stole approximately $160 from a convenience store located in the 3500 block of Boston Street in Baltimore. Ferrell entered the store first, grabbed an iced-tea and walked to the counter. Then Smith entered the store, pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the clerk, and demanded money. Ferrell removed the money from the cash drawer located behind the counter. Ferrell and Smith then fled the store.
Ferrell and Smith robbed three other convenience stores at gunpoint on September 29, 2013.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney James G. Warwick, who prosecuted the case.
Auburn Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Lying to Obtain Workers’ Compensation FundsRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bruce Lee Cearlock, 79, of Auburn, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley to 18 months in prison for making false statements to obtain federal employee’s compensation, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Cearlock was also ordered to pay restitution of over $73,000.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Sacramento; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS); and the United States Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Jean M. Hobler prosecuted the case.
According to court documents, Cearlock received workers’ compensation benefits under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) for an injury that he suffered as a civilian employee for the U.S. Navy on August 26, 1987. When filing the periodic reports required by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP) to justify continued payments, between 2006 and 2008, Cearlock stated under penalty of perjury that he was neither self-employed nor involved in “any business enterprise.”
However, from at least 1999 until 2011, Cearlock was involved in operating “Fuse,” a bar in San Francisco, and ran various businesses prior to Fuse dating back to 1987. In his role in operating Fuse, Cearlock hired and fired employees, made decisions on capital expenditures, and interacted with private citizens and public officials as the owner of Fuse. In addition, during this time period, Cearlock was the president and secretary of a privately held corporation, Alleycorp Inc., whose sole purpose was to own the Fuse nightclub. Shares in Alleycorp were split equally between Cearlock and his wife. On the basis of his statements to OWCP that he was not involved in any business enterprise, and his continuing statements that he was incapable of earning wages due to his 1987 injury, Cearlock continued to receive federal disability benefits.
Attorney Who Helped Owner of Marijuana Stores Launder Illegal Proceeds Pleads Guilty in Federal Money Laundering CaseRead the Press Release
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USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA - 164SANTA ANA, California – An attorney who engaged in a conspiracy that allowed the owner of a chain of marijuana stores to hide some of his income has pleaded guilty to federal financial offenses.
Guilty pleas by Richard C. Brizendine, 59, of Long Beach, were entered Monday by United States District Judge James V. Selna. Monday’s action concludes proceedings in which Brizendine pleaded guilty to two counts: money laundering and conspiracy to structure cash deposits to avoid federal reporting requirements.
Brizendine was an attorney for John Melvin Walker, who operated marijuana stores across Los Angeles and Orange counties and generated approximately $25 million in income over a six-year period. Brizendine conspired with Walker and others to accept cash from the marijuana operation and invest the funds into several corporations. According to court documents, Brizendine agreed to accept more than $10,000 in cash and then make smaller deposits into different bank accounts so as to not trigger federal requirements that financial institutions report currency transactions of more than $10,000 (this process is called structuring cash transactions). By pleading guilty, Brizendine specifically admitted that he structured approximately $389,700 for Walker.
The case against Brizendine was announced today after Judge Selna unsealed documents associated with the case.
Last year, Walker was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison for operating a chain of marijuana and failing to reporter millions of dollars in revenues was on his taxes (see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/2013/096.html).
Judge Selna is scheduled to sentence Brizendine on May 4, 2015. At that time, Brizendine will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Until that time, he will remain free on a $500,000 bond.
The investigation of Brizendine and the marijuana operation was conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; IRS-Criminal Investigation; the California Board of Equalization; the Orange County District Attorney’s Office; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Release No. 14-164
Attorney General Holder Directs Department to Include Gender Identity Under Sex Discrimination Employment ClaimsRead the Press Release
New Memo Applies to All Department of Justice Components and U.S. Attorneys
Attorney General Holder announced today that the Department of Justice will take the position in litigation that the protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to claims of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status. Attorney General Holder informed all Department of Justice component heads and United States Attorneys in a memo that the department will no longer assert that Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex excludes discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender discrimination, reversing a previous Department of Justice position. Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate in the employment of an individual “because of such individual’s…sex,” among other protected characteristics.
“This important shift will ensure that the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are extended to those who suffer discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status,” said Attorney General Holder. “This will help to foster fair and consistent treatment for all claimants. And it reaffirms the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”
The Attorney General’s memo is designed to foster consistent treatment of claimants throughout the government and reduce confusion. In addition to applying to the department’s civil obligations in defending federal interests, this memo clarifies the Civil Rights Division’s ability to file Title VII claims against state and local public employers on behalf of transgender individuals. The Department of Justice does not have authority to file suit against private employers.
Atlanta Internet Entrepreneur Convicted of Hiding Income and Assets in Swiss Bank AccountRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – Gregg A. Kaminsky has pleaded guilty to one count of wilfully failing to file a Foreign Bank Account Report with the U.S. Department of Treasury in connection with his concealment of income and assets in accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Thailand over several years, as well as his failure to report certain income earned in the virtual world, “Second Life.”
“This prosecution is a yet another reminder that the days of Americans hiding income and assets overseas are over,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “It also sends a strong message that U.S. taxpayers are required to report all of their taxable income to the IRS, whether that income is earned in the real world or in a virtual world.”
“U.S. citizens who seek to avoid their tax obligations by hiding income in undeclared bank accounts abroad should by now be fully on notice that they will be held accountable for their actions, both civilly and criminally,” stated IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge, Veronica F. Hyman-Pillot. “Americans who file accurate, honest and timely returns can be assured that the government will hold accountable those who don’t.”
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: Citizens and residents of the United States who have a financial interest in, or signature authority over, a financial account in a foreign country with an aggregate value of more than $10,000 at any time during a calendar year are required to file with the U.S. Department of Treasury a “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts,” commonly referred to as the “FBAR.” The FBAR for the applicable year must be filed by June 30 of the following year.
Kaminsky is an Internet entrepreneur who serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Circlenet LLC, based in Atlanta, Ga. From 2000 through 2008, Kaminsky owned and controlled a foreign bank account with Union Bank of Switzerland AG (“UBS”), one of the biggest banks in Switzerland and largest wealth managers in the world. By 2006, Kaminsky’s UBS account held approximately $1.1 million. From time to time between 2002 and 2009, Kaminsky caused funds to be wire-transferred from his UBS account in Switzerland to other foreign bank accounts controlled by him in Thailand and Hong Kong. Also during that time, Kaminsky caused his income from at least two different U.S. companies to be direct-deposited into his UBS account in Switzerland.
Yet, over this period, Kaminsky did not disclose his UBS account or other foreign financial accounts to the U. S. Treasury Department as required, and thereby concealed several hundred thousand dollars in taxable income, interest, and dividends from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
In addition, in 2007 and 2008, Kaminsky omitted his UBS account and associated income from Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) that he electronically filed with the U.S. Department of Education in order to qualify for need-based federal financial aid assistance to fund his tuition for an Executive MBA program at Emory University. At the time of the FASFA applications, Kaminsky controlled over a half million dollars in his UBS account, which would have made him ineligible for federal student loan assistance.
On June 30, 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice sought court approval to compel UBS to disclose the identities of U.S. accountholders who may be using UBS accounts to hide assets overseas and thereby evade U.S. taxes. The request and the order authorizing it were widely reported by the media throughout the United States, which coverage continued throughout 2008 and 2009 as the U.S., UBS, and Switzerland negotiated a resolution and UBS began disclosing U.S. account holders to the IRS.
Following this news, Kaminsky closed his UBS account and transferred the balance of his UBS account to an account that he controlled at HSBC Bank in Hong Kong. Further, in spring 2010, Kaminsky filed FBARs for his Swiss and Hong Kong accounts for the very first time, also filing amended individual income tax returns for 2007 and 2008 that disclosed the previously unreported income in his UBS account. However, in his amended 2007 and 2008 returns, and in his subsequently filed returns for 2009 through 2011, Kaminsky still failed to report nearly $150,000 in taxable income earned from his business activities in the virtual world, “Second Life.”
Participants in Second Life, referred to as “residents,” can engage in a wide variety of business activities, including buying, renting, and sub-leasing virtual land and buying and selling other virtual goods, services, and experiences for their “avatars.” Transactions are conducted using a virtual currency, “Linden Dollars.” Linden Dollars can be bought and traded on the “Linden Exchange,” and are redeemable for cash.
Including his virtual world income, Kaminsky failed to report over $400,000 in income to the IRS between 2000 and 2012, resulting in a loss to the IRS of over $100,000.
Kaminsky, 46, of Atlanta, Ga., faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a criminal fine of up to $250,000. In addition, as part of his plea agreement with the United States, Kaminsky has agreed to pay a civil penalty to the IRS in the amount of $250,635.20, which is equivalent to fifty percent of the value of the balance in Kaminsky’s HSBC account in Hong Kong as of June 30, 2009.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 4, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. before Senior United States District Judge Willis B. Hunt.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Criminal Investigation division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Valuable assistance has also been provided by Special Agents of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General.
Assistant United States Attorney David M. Chaiken is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.
Alexander County Man Sentenced for Federal Firearm OffenseRead the Press Release
Follow @SDILNewsOn December 16, 2014, Keithy D. Carter, a/k/a “Darnell K. Carter,” 21, of Tamms, IL, was sentenced for a federal firearm violation, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Carter, who had previously pled guilty to a one-count indictment, charging Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, was sentenced to 70 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years’ supervised release, and fined $200.00. Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings established that, on January 14, 2014, Carter possessed a Hi-Point, model C9, 9mm Luger semiautomatic pistol, in Tamms, Alexander County. The firearm had been used the day before by another individual to commit a homicide in Jackson County. Because Carter had previously been convicted of a felony, he is prohibited from possessing firearms.
The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The Carbondale Police Department and Jackson County State’s Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.
The case was assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Amanda A. Robertson for prosecution.
Albuquerque Man Sentenced to Twenty Years for Conviction on Robbery, Carjacking and Firearms ChargesRead the Press Release
Co-Defendant Previously Sentenced to Eighteen Years in Prison; Case Prosecuted Under Federal “Worst of the Worst” Anti-Violence Initiative
ALBUQUERQUE – Joel Meeks, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced late this afternoon to 20 years in federal prison for his conviction on robbery, carjacking and firearms charges. Meeks will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence. His co-defendant, Raul Ortega, 22, also of Albuquerque, previously was sentenced in Aug. 2014, to 18 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. The two men jointly are required to pay $2,482.04 in restitution to the victims of their criminal conduct.
The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Carol K.O. Lee of the Albuquerque office of the FBI, and Chief Gorden Eden, Jr., of the Albuquerque Police Department
Meeks and Ortega were arrested in April 2013, on an eight-count indictment charging the pair with offenses stemming from a series of armed robberies of commercial businesses and home invasions, including armed robbery and carjacking, occurring in Bernalillo County, N.M., from Dec. 6, 2012 to Jan. 17, 2013. According to court filings, Meeks robbed a business called “Up in Smoke” at gunpoint on Dec. 6, 2012. Meeks also robbed a business called “PDQ” at gunpoint on Dec. 7, 2012, and discharged his firearm while committing the crime. Meeks and Ortega jointly committed two carjackings on Jan. 13, 2013 and Jan. 17, 2013, and brandished firearms while committing those crimes.
On April 1, 2014, Meeks entered guilty pleas to Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment, which charged him with robbing the PDQ store on Dec. 7, 2012, and with discharging a firearm while robbing the store. He also pled guilty to Counts 5 and 7, which charged him with the Jan. 13, 2013 carjacking and Jan. 17, 2013 carjacking, respectively.
On Feb. 19, 2014, Ortega pled guilty to Counts 5 and 7 of the indictment, which charged him with the Jan 13, 2013 and Jan. 27, 2013 carjackings. He also pled guilty to Count 6, which charged him with using a firearm during the Jan 13, 2013 carjacking.
This case was brought who brought this case as part of a law enforcement initiative launched in July 2012, by the FBI’s Violent Crimes and Major Offender Squad and the Albuquerque Police Department’s Armed Robbery Unit that targets suspects implicated in commercial armed robberies. This initiative is part of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under the worst of the worst anti-violence initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from our communities for as long as possible.This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the Albuquerque Police Department, with assistance from the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jon K. Stanford.
Alabama Medical Clerk Sentenced to Prison for Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Scheme that Involved Corrupt U.S. Postal Service EmployeeRead the Press Release
An Alabama woman was sentenced today to serve 70 months in prison for her involvement in a stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) scheme, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek for the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama announced.
Sasha Webb was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following her prison sentence and to pay $528,823 in restitution.
According to court documents and court proceedings in this and related cases, Webb worked as a medical records clerk at an Alabama Department of Corrections facility in Elmore County, Alabama, where she had access to the means of identification of inmates from databases maintained by the Alabama Department of Corrections. On several occasions in 2009 and 2010, Webb stole identities from those databases and sold them to Harvey James and his sister, Jacqueline Slaton, for the purpose of filing false tax returns.
Between 2010 and 2012, James and Slaton used those stolen identities to file false federal and state tax returns. James and Slaton directed some of the false refunds to be sent to either prepaid debit cards or issued via check. James’s brother-in-law, Gregory Slaton, recruited Vernon Harrison, a U.S. Postal Service employee, to the scheme. James directed prepaid debit cards and state tax refund checks to be mailed to addresses that Harrison provided from his postal route. Harrison collected the debit cards and checks and provided them to Gregory Slaton who in turn gave them to James and Jacqueline Slaton. In total, James and Slaton filed more than 1,000 federal and state income tax returns that claimed more than $1 million in fraudulent tax refunds.
On Oct. 31, 2013, Harrison was sentenced to serve 111 months in prison. James was sentenced on April 29, 2014, to serve 110 months in prison and Jacqueline Slaton was sentenced on Oct. 23, 2012, to serve 70 months in prison. Gregory Slaton was sentenced on Oct. 28, 2014, to serve 70 months in prison.
The case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General. Trial Attorneys Jason H. Poole and Michael C. Boteler of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown for the Middle District of Alabama.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at the division website.
Alabama Man Sentenced for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Using Names Stolen from Nursing HomesRead the Press Release
A Pike Road, Alabama, man was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison today for committing stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF) crimes, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek for the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama.
Charlie Jackson pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on May 5, and was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay $98,177 in restitution. According to court documents, from October 2010 up until April 2013, Jackson was involved in SIRF crimes—the use of stolen identities to steal money from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)—by filing fraudulent tax returns claiming refunds in the victims’ names. He admitted to obtaining stolen identities from various sources, including from nursing homes. Altogether, the false tax returns filed by Jackson fraudulently claimed more than $170,000 in refunds. Many of the returns were detected as fraudulent by the IRS and were not issued, however, Jackson was successful in defrauding the IRS of more than $90,000 in illegitimate refunds.
This case was investigated by special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Charles M. Edgar Jr. of the Tax Division prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division website.
Alabama Man Indicted for Stolen Identity Refund FraudRead the Press Release
An Alabama man was indicted for stolen identity refund fraud, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek for the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama announced today following the unsealing of the indictment.
Jerome Marcel Newton was indicted on one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to the indictment, Newton obtained personal identifying information through various means, including by using other individuals to collect identities and by recruiting people to provide their identities. Newton is alleged to have used the identities he obtained to file fraudulent tax returns, directing the refunds claimed on the returns into bank accounts or onto prepaid debit cards.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Newton faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the mail fraud count and a statutory mandatory sentence of two-years in prison for the aggravated identity theft count. The actual sentence imposed on Newton if convicted, however, will be decided by a federal judge after consulting the sentencing guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders. Newton is also subject to fines and mandatory restitution if convicted.
This case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Sheriff’s Office for Douglas County, Georgia. Trial Attorneys Jason Poole and Michael Boteler of the department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
66-Count Indictment Charges Rhode Island Businessman with Aggravated Identity Theft, Filing False Tax Returns Seeking $3.56 Million in Tax RefundsRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Anthony Delfarno, 52, of East Greenwich, R.I., was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Providence today on a 66-count federal indictment which alleges that Delfarno used personal identifying information of his minor and adult children, his former spouse and a girlfriend, along with information from more than a dozen corporations that he created, to file fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $3.5 million dollars in tax refunds.
According to the indictment returned on Wednesday and unsealed today, it is alleged that between April 2009 and September 2013, Delfarno repeatedly made false representations on personal and business tax documents he filed with the IRS seeking $3,557,653 in tax refunds, when in fact the true holdings by the IRS totaled $15,544.02.
The indictment alleges that Delfarno opened numerous bank accounts in Rhode Island, into which he directed that the refunds be deposited. According to information presented to the court, it is alleged that Delfarno collected more than $1.4 million dollars in tax refunds to which he was not entitled.
The indictment and arrest of Anthony Delfarno is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation; and Colonel Steven G. O’DonnellSuperintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
The 66-count indictment charges Anthony Delfarno with 11 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of aggravated identity theft and 52 counts of false claims against the United States. An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Delfarno was arrested this morning by agents from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Rhode Island State Police. Delfarno was released to home detention with GPS monitoring and $100,000 unsecured bond following his arraignment before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan. A not guilty plea was entered on Delfarno’ s behalf.
Wire fraud is punishable by statutory penalties of up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000; false claims against the United States is punishable by a statutory penalty of up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000; and aggravated identity theft is punishable by a statutory penalty of a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, to be served consecutive to all other penalties imposed.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose.
This law enforcement action is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The President established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources.
The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.
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To assist the media and the public, a glossary of federal judicial terms and procedures is available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/justice101/
Contact: 401-709-5357
[email protected]
17 December 2014
Youngstown Man Charged with Failing to Register as a Sex OffenderRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Anthony Rivera-Santana, 38, of Youngstown, with failure to register as a sex offender, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.The indictment charges that beginning on or about May 1, 2013, to December 3, 2014, Rivera-Santana failed to register as a sex offender as required under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, after having traveled in interstate commerce.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the United States Marshals Service. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David M. Toepfer.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Yancey Co. Man Sentenced to More Than 21 Years in Prison Production of Child Pornography ChargesRead the Press Release
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Brian Wayne Moore to 262 months in prison on federal production of child pornography charges, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Moore was also ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life under court supervision after he is released from prison. Judge Reidinger also ordered Moore to have no contact with victims of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas and Sheriff Gary Banks of the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office.
In August 2013, Moore, 28, of Burnsville, N.C., pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. According to filed documents and statements made in court, in May 2012, law enforcement became aware of Moore’s production of child pornography after it was reported by a family member. Law enforcement later searched a cellular phone and computer equipment pursuant to a search warrant. Court records indicate that after producing the child pornography, Moore distributed it to another person he met on the Internet who he believed to be a sixteen year old.
Moore has been in federal custody since February 2013. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation was handled jointly by HSI and the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice, aimed at combating the growing online sexual exploitation of children. By combining resources, federal, state and local agencies are better able to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue those victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Waipahu Man Charged with Producing and Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
HONOLULU -- A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Derek M. West, 32, a resident of Waipahu, Hawaii, with three counts of producing child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography. West was arraigned following the indictment and pled not guilty before Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, who ordered West detained without bail pending trial, scheduled for February 17, 2015 before District Judge Derrick K. Watson.
Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that according to a complaint and affidavit signed on December 16, 2014, the case began with a report to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) that child pornography had been found on West’s cellular telephone. The affidavit alleges HPD detectives obtained a search warrant for the telephone, and found approximately 482 images that depicted children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a two year-old engaged in a sexual act with a person identified as West. HPD detectives then contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because some images were found in a computer application based in Canada. West was arrested on December 16, 2014 by FBI agents and HPD officers.
If convicted of the charges in the indictment, West faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years as to each of the three production of child pornography counts, and up to ten years as to the possession of child pornography count. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and West is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The arrest and charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the HPD, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong.
University of Great Falls Student Sentenced to Six Month in Custody for FAFSA FraudRead the Press Release
GREAT FALLS – Former University of Great Falls student, Brenden James Leischner, 24, now of Indio, California, was sentenced to six months in federal custody for Federal Student Financial Aid Fraud, by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris. The United States Attorney’s Office announced that today’s sentence also included five years’ probation, $82,237 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Education, $2500 in payment for court-appointed counsel to the U.S. District Court, and a $25 special assessment.
At an earlier hearing, federal prosecutors told the Court that Brenden Leischner, son of Mark and Tammy Leischner, who have also plead guilty to multiple felonies involving embezzlement of federal funds, bankruptcy fraud, obstruction of justice and federal student financial aid fraud, applied for admission and was accepted to the University of Great Falls (UGF) in the Fall of 2009 as a Criminal Justice major. While enrolled at UGF, Leischner and his parents completed multiple Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications in which they concealed significant income that would have disqualified them for student and parental loans and grants.
On August 29, 2012, Mark Leischner applied for a PLUS Loan (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Student) which was declined the next day due to lack of credit-worthiness. A week later, on September 8, 2012, Mark Leischner filed an Endorser Addendum for Federal Direct PLUS Loan and listed his son-in-law, as a co-signer for the $17,500 loan. The son-in-law had sufficient credit worthiness so the loan was approved, obligating the son-in-law to pay the debt. Brenden’s sister, told law enforcement that Brenden stayed with them for a portion of that summer and had a bedroom downstairs where the family file cabinet was kept and had access to her husband’s social security number. The son-in-law later filed an identity theft complaint with Yellowstone County for his father-in-law’s use of his name and social security account number to obtain the loan and harm his credit. The son-in-law had discovered the theft of his identity when he had attempted to get new mortgage financing and had been denied because of the PLUS loan.
This loan was processed through the University of Great Falls. When the money arrived Brenden went to the Financial Aid office and asked for the entire amount—less what the college retained to pay his bills to them—and they wrote him a check for $13,374 which Brenden took to his bank and converted all but $1000 into cash; of which, according to Brenden, he gave $6000 to Mark Leischner to pay on a past due mortgage payment and other bills, all unassociated with Brenden’s educational expenses. After becoming aware of the federal student aid fraud investigation, Mark Leischner called the Financial Aid office and said something to the effect of “I think Brenden may have made off with the money from that loan.”
By 2013, Brenden Leischner was an emancipated adult and filed his own FAFSA—without having to disclose any income or assets but his own, on May 2, 2013, for aid in the 2013-2014 academic year. He claimed to be married and may have or not had a legally recognizable marriage under common law. There is no evidence that he and his girlfriend were ever married by license or ceremony. On her FAFSA, his then girlfriend indicated they were married as well. Independent married students get more federal aid than unmarried students.
Brenden Leischner failed to disclose that he had received a $105,000 medical malpractice insurance payment two months earlier, in February 2013. Leischner deposited $50,000 of his medical settlement with the investment company Waddell and Reed and then made withdrawals totaling $16,000 from the investment in the form of checks issued payable to him in April ($3,500), May ($7,500) and June 2013 ($5,000). After reviewing these check disbursements, Brenden admitted he had cash funds available in May 2013. Investigation disclosed that after receiving the $105,000, Brenden Leischner bought himself a Hummer and took an extended vacation to Hawaii with his girlfriend.
Mark and Tammy Leischner, and Brendon Leischner’s uncle, James Eastlick, Jr. are scheduled for sentencing in federal court in March 2015. Brenden’s grandfather, James Eastlick, Sr., was sentenced to a year in federal prison in September 2014 for his role in the embezzlement of $311,000 of federal funds.The case was brought by the federal agents of the Guardians Project and was investigated by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Interior, with the support of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education.
United States Announces over $100,000 in Civil Fines for Three Remaining Defendants in CHG Time Card Fraud CaseRead the Press Release
Spokane – Today, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington announced that a former supervisor and two former managers of CH2M Hill Hanford Group Inc., (CHG) would each be required to pay tens of thousands of dollars in civil fines for their roles in the multimillion dollar CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme. Collectively the civil fines for these three remaining defendants totals over $100,000. The CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme involved routine and systematic inflation of overtime hours claimed by CHG workers over nearly a decade. The inflated hours were paid for directly by the Department of Energy (DOE) with taxpayer money. In addition to these civil fines, the investigation and prosecution of the scheme has resulted in 11 guilty pleas to felony conspiracy charges, two by former CHG supervisors, as well as an $18.5 million settlement with CHG, which itself admitted to the routine and systematic practice of defrauding the government with inflated labor hours.
In October a jury returned verdicts of not guilty for four former supervisors, known as Persons in Charge or PICs, for their alleged role in the CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme. The settlements with three of the remaining defendants: a former supervisor, Stephanie Hilton Livesey; and two former managers, Ryan Albert Dodd and Terrence Leroy Hissong; were part of individual global resolutions in which the pending criminal charges against them are anticipated to be dismissed.
“While we respect the decision of the jury in the PIC time card fraud trial, we do not understand it to be a rejection of what nearly a dozen former employees, including supervisors, have admitted to along with their former employer CHG- that there was a systemic pattern of time card fraud at CHG that stole millions from the taxpayers,” stated Michael C. Ormsby United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington. “Today’s resolution of three of the remaining defendants should serve as a further warning to those who would assist fraud at Hanford in any way- we will aggressively use all tools at our disposal to appropriately hold you accountable,” said Mr. Ormsby.
Ryan Albert Dodd was a Vice President at CHG during the time card fraud scheme and was placed on notice of the fraud as early as 2004, according to court documents filed by the United States Attorney. According to the civil settlement agreement, the United States contended that Mr. Dodd knowingly utilized the false time card information to justify inflated payments from DOE as well as to obtain corporate bonuses for himself. Under the terms of the settlement agreement Mr. Dodd did not admit to the allegations. Mr. Dodd has paid his fine of $44,000.00 in settlement of the allegations that he knowingly participated in the CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme.
Terrence Leroy Hissong worked for CHG as a Single Shell Tank Retrieval Director and as Tank Farms Management Director. Similar to Mr. Dodd, the United States contended that Mr. Hissong knowingly authorized overtime hours that he knew would not be fully worked but that would be charged nonetheless to the Department of Energy. The United States further contended that Mr. Hissong also knew that some workers, while not leaving the Tank Farms early, nonetheless lied on their time cards claiming that they were working a particular job when in fact they were doing busy work or no work at all while just running out the clock. As a result of his participation in the fraud, the United States claims Mr. Hissong received corporate bonuses that he otherwise would not have. Under the terms of the settlement agreement Mr. Hissong did not admit to the allegations. Mr. Hissong has paid a fine of $44,000.00 in settlement of the allegations that he knowingly participated in the CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme.
Stephanie Hilton Livesey worked for CHG as a first line manager with time card approval authority. The United States contended that she knowingly approved false time cards of the hourly workers below her which allowed them to be paid by DOE for hours they did not work. Unlike, Mr. Dodd and Mr. Hissong, Ms. Livesey did not receive corporate bonuses while at CHG. Ms. Livesey did not admit to the allegations under the terms of the settlement agreement. Ms. Livesey agreed to pay a fine of $22,000.00 in settlement of the allegations that she knowingly participated in the CHG Time Card Fraud Scheme.
The United States’ criminal case against these three defendants was captioned as United States of America vs. Ryan Albert Dodd, Terrence Leroy Hissong, and Stephanie Hilton Livesey, CR-13-6016-EFS. The United States’ civil settlements with those three defendants is available upon request to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
U.S. Broker-Dealer CEO and Managing Director Plead Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to Massive International Bribery SchemeRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Leslie R. Caldwell, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice, announced the guilty pleas of BENITO CHINEA and JOSEPH DEMENESES , the former Chief Executive Officer and former Managing Director, respectively, of a United States broker-dealer (the “Broker-Dealer”), on felony charges arising from a conspiracy to pay bribes to Maria De Los Angeles Gonzalez De Hernandez (“Gonzalez”), who was a senior official in Venezuela’s state economic development bank, Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (“BANDES”). CHINEA and DEMENESES, working with others, arranged the bribe payments to Gonzalez in exchange for her directing BANDES’s financial trading business to the Broker-Dealer. CHINEA and DEMENESES pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court before United States District Judge Denise L. Cote.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “In exchange for overseas trading business for their brokerage firm, Benito Chinea and Joseph Demeneses arranged millions of dollars in bribe payments to an officer at a state-run economic development bank of Venezuela. With their guilty pleas today, they are the latest defendants to answer for their roles in this massive international bribery conspiracy.”
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said: “Benito Chinea and Joseph DeMeneses are the fifth and sixth defendants to plead guilty in connection with this far-reaching bribery scheme, which ranged from Wall Street to the streets of Caracas. The guilty pleas and the forfeiture of assets once again demonstrate that the Department is committed to holding corporate executives who engage in foreign bribery individually accountable and to deny them the proceeds of their corruption.”
According to the allegations in the Indictment and other documents previously filed in Manhattan federal court:
Background on the Broker-Dealer and BANDES
At all times relevant to the charges, CHINEA was the chief executive officer and DEMENESES was a managing director in the Broker Dealer, which was headquartered in New York, New York, with offices in Miami, Florida. In 2008, the Broker-Dealer established a group called the Global Markets Group, which included DEMENESES, Lujan, and Clarke, and which offered fixed income trading services to institutional clients. One of the Broker-Dealer’s clients was BANDES, which operated under the direction of the Venezuelan Ministry of Finance. The Venezuelan government had a majority ownership interest in BANDES and provided it with substantial funding. Gonzalez was a BANDES official and oversaw the development bank’s overseas trading activity. At her direction, BANDES conducted substantial trading through the Broker-Dealer. Most of the trades executed by the Broker-Dealer on behalf of BANDES involved fixed income investments for which the Broker-Dealer charged BANDES a mark-up on purchases and a mark-down on sales.
The Bribery Scheme
From late 2008 through 2012, CHINEA and DEMENESES, together with three Miami-based Broker-Dealer employees, Ernesto Lujan, Tomas Alberto Clarke Bethancourt, and Jose Alejandro Hurtado, participated in a bribery scheme in which Gonzalez directed trading business she controlled at BANDES to the Broker-Dealer, and in return, agents and employees of the Broker-Dealer split the revenue the Broker-Dealer generated from this trading business with Gonzalez. During this time period, the Broker-Dealer generated over $60 million in commissions from trades with BANDES.
In order to conceal their conduct, CHINEA, DEMENESES and their co-conspirators routed the payments to Gonzalez, frequently in six-figure amounts, through third-parties posing as “foreign finders” and into offshore bank accounts. In several instances, CHINEA personally signed checks worth millions of dollars that were made payable to one of these purported “foreign finders” and later deposited in a Swiss bank account.
As further alleged in court documents, as a result of the bribery scheme, BANDES quickly became the Broker-Dealer’s most profitable customer. As the relationship continued, however, Gonzalez became increasingly unhappy about the untimeliness of the payments due her from the Broker-Dealer, and she threatened to suspend BANDES’s business. In response, DEMENESES and Clarke agreed to pay Gonzalez approximately $1.5 million from their personal funds. CHINEA and DEMENESES agreed to use Broker-Dealer funds to reimburse DEMENESES and Clarke for these bribe payments. To conceal their true nature, CHINEA and DEMENESES agreed to hide these reimbursements in the Broker-Dealer’s books as sham loans from the Broker-Dealer to corporate entities associated with DeMeneses and Clarke.
CHINEA, 48, of Manalapan, New Jersey, and DEMENESES, 46, of Fairfield, Connecticut, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to violate the Travel Act. Each defendant faces a maximum term of five years in prison. The statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge. CHINEA and DEMENESES have also agreed to pay $3,636,432 and $2,670,612 in forfeiture, respectively, which amounts represent their earnings from the bribery scheme.
Each defendant also faces pending civil charges filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Gonzalez, Clarke, Hurtado, and Lujan have also pled guilty in connection with the scheme.
Mr. Bharara praised Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work in the investigation. He also thanked the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission for its assistance in this case.
Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since the inception of FFETF in November 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 12,841 financial fraud cases against nearly 18,737 defendants including nearly 3,500 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Harry A. Chernoff and Jason H. Cowley, and Fraud Section Senior Deputy Chief James Koukios are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Carolina Fornos is responsible for the forfeiture aspects of the case.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be
found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.
Two Sentenced in Drug Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Raymundo Done, 24, and Jorge Marcano, 30, of Providence, have been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence for their roles in a heroin trafficking conspiracy in Pawtucket and Providence, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Michael Ferguson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England field division; and Pawtucket Police Chief Paul King.
Raymundo Done was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith to 24 months probation, the first 6 months to be served in home confinement. Jorge Marcano was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on January 27, 2014, to 36 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years supervised release.
Marcano pleaded guilty on September 24, 2013, as charged in a federal indictment, to one count each of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, possession with the intent to distribute heroin and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. Done pleaded guilty on September 8, 2014, as charged in the indictment, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, an investigation by DEA agents and Pawtucket Police in February, March and April 2013, determined that Marcano and Done were joined in a heroin distribution operation. The investigation included law enforcement and electronic surveillance of Marcano and Done’s drug trafficking activities and numerous controlled purchases of heroin. The investigation revealed that heroin sales were arranged through Marcano and that the drugs were delivered by Done at Marcano’s direction, often times in Pawtucket.
On April 7, 2013, law enforcement executed court authorized search warrants at four Providence residences connected to the defendants, on vehicles operated by Marcano and Done and the persons of Marcano and Done. Approximately 23 grams of heroin, 17 grams of cocaine and $7,400 in cash were seized. More than 14 grams of heroin and nearly 3 grams of cocaine were seized from inside a hide in a vehicle operated by Marcano, and approximately 9.5 grams of heroin, more than 13 grams of cocaine and $7,400 in cash were seized from Marcano’s residence. Also seized were items used in the packaging and distribution of illicit drugs.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr.
Providence Police assisted the DEA and Pawtucket Police in the execution of the search warrants at the four Providence residences.###
To assist the media and the public, a glossary of federal judicial terms and procedures is available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/justice101/
Contact: 401-709-5357
[email protected]Two Charged in Conspiracy to Defraud the United States for More Than $10 MillionRead the Press Release
Health care fraud conspiracy lasted more than 10 Years
United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger today announced the indictment of THURLEE BELFREY, 48, and ROYLEE BELFREY, 48, for conspiracy to defraud the United States and healthcare fraud. For more than 15 years the BELFREYS own and operate businesses in Minnesota that provide healthcare services including nursing and home care. A significant portion of their revenue came from Medicaid. A separately charged defendant, KENNETH FRANK HARYCKI, 51, is charged by information for conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing tax forms for the BELFREYS which he knew to be fraudulent.1 THURLEE and ROYLEE BELFREY made initial appearances in United States District Court in St. Paul, Minn., on December 16, 2014.
“These defendants are charged with conspiring to obtain significant amounts of money from the United States by fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Luger. “When individuals steal from government agencies like Medicaid, they are effectively taking money from us all to line their own pockets. It is critically important that law enforcement actively investigate and prosecute healthcare fraud. I thank my partners at the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General for the hard work they all put into this case. ”
“The Special Agents of IRS Criminal Investigation are committed to protecting the integrity of our system of taxation by investigating tax and accounting professionals who conspire with others to violate the tax laws,” said Special Agent in Charge Shea Jones of IRS Criminal Investigation St. Paul Field Office. “All tax professionals, including CPA Kenneth Harycki, have a duty to their clients to prepare accurate and complete tax returns that comply with the law.”
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, THURLEE and ROYLEE BELFREY owned, managed, and participated in the operation of multiple businesses in Minnesota, including Royal Health Care (Royal), Model Health Care (Model), and Integrated Health Care Services (Integrated). On October 5, 2001, investigators from the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the State of Minnesota executed a search warrant at Royal, and interviewed the BELFREYS. On June 10, 2003, THURLEE BELFREY pleaded guilty and was convicted of theft by false representation for more than $35,000 relating to Royal’s participation in the Medicaid program. Under Medicaid rules, a person convicted of a health care offense may be barred from participating in any capacity or profiting from healthcare services compensated by all Federal health care programs, including Medicaid. On February 20, 2004, THURLEE BELFREY was suspended for a period of 20 years from participation of the Minnesota Health Care Program, which administers Medicaid in Minnesota. On September 30, 2004, THURLEE BELFREY was excluded from participating in all Federal health care programs for at least 10 years.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, sometime in 2002, THURLEE and ROYLEE BELFREY recruited a relative to be named as the owner of Model, in order to conceal THURLEE BELFREY’S role with the new company. From 2002 until at least March 20, 2014, the BELFREYS conspired to defraud Medicaid by causing THURLEE BELFREY to operate, manage, and profit from Model and other health care businesses, in violation of his suspension by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Model illegally submitted thousands of fraudulent claims and received millions of dollars in fraudulent proceeds from Medicaid during the course of the conspiracy.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, in order to conceal their fraudulent activity, the BELFREYS moved the proceeds of their fraudulent Medicaid claims between other businesses and bank accounts. During the conspiracy, the BELFREYS and the businesses they managed were associated with no less than 138 personal and business bank accounts, which they regularly opened and closed. They used funds paid from State and Federal health care programs for personal expenses, including $3,376.82 for Royal Caribbean Cruises, $7,276 for Sun Country Airlines, $991.12 at the W Hotel, $8,548.21 at the Trump International Resort in Miami, Fla., $2,360 at Louis Vuitton, $5,730.16 at the Dara Condo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., $6,378.78 to Alaska Air, $3,458.70 at the Lavo Las Vegas Restaurant, and $9,364.20 for Delta Airlines. The BELFREYS or a family member also made cash withdrawals of at least $48,783.50.
According to the HARYCKI information and documents filed in court, KENNETH FRANK HARYCKI was a certified public accountant. From at least 2007 until at least 2014, HARYCKI owned and operated a business that provided bookkeeping, payroll, and accounting services, including tax-related services. In 2007, HARYCKI began providing services to THURLEE AND ROYLEE BELFREY, including tax-related services. HARYCKI regularly prepared Model’s IRS quarterly Form 941, which reports an employer’s payroll and FICA tax liabilities to the IRS. HARYCKI knew that the BELFREYS were deducting and collecting payroll taxes from their employees, but not paying those funds to the government. HARYCKI made no attempt to correct the forms, and instead fabricated entries onto the forms to match other records and assist the BELFREYS to avoid detection by the government.
According to the HARYCKI information, on February 18, 2010, HARYCKI created the entity MKH Holdings, Inc., to assume control over bank accounts used to fund Model and other businesses operated by the BELFREYS. MKH Holdings was used to cause funds not accurately reported on income tax returns to be paid to the BELFREYS and others. During the course of the conspiracy, HARYCKI also incorporated other businesses, obtained employer identification numbers, paid for personal expenses, and opened and used numerous bank accounts for the benefit of the BELFREYS in order to avoid payment of taxes.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lewis.
Defendant Information: THURLEE BELFREY, 48
Saint Paul, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, 1 count
• Health Care Fraud, 1 count
ROYLEE BELFREY, 48
Saint Paul, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, 1 count
• Health Care Fraud, 1 count
KENNETH FRANK HARYCKI, 51
Stillwater, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, 1 countBelfrey Indictment
Harycki Information
The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Two Bridgeport Men Admit Roles in Robbery SpreeRead the Press Release
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Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that LANCELOT SUPERSAD, 19, and ANTHONY SANTIAGO, 21, both of Bridgeport, have pleaded guilty in Bridgeport federal court to conspiring to commit multiple robberies earlier this year.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on April 26, 2014, SUPERSAD and others committed an armed robbery of the CVS Pharmacy on Grasmere Avenue in Fairfield, stealing approximately $2,376. On May 3, 2014, SUPERSAD and others attempted an armed robbery of the Mobil Gas station on Noble Avenue in Bridgeport. On May 10, 2014, SUPERSAD and others committed an armed robbery of a Webster Bank branch on Main Street in Bridgeport, stealing approximately $4,170. On June 1, 2014, SUPERSAD and others committed an armed robbery of a Pizza Hut on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, stealing approximately $250. On June 26, 2014, SUPERSAD, SANTIAGO and others committed an armed robbery of the Residence Inn on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton, stealing approximately $200. On July 2, 2014, SUPERSAD, SANTIAGO and others attempted an armed robbery of the Sikorsky Financial Credit Union on Oronoque Lane in Stratford. Also on July 2, 2014, SUPERSAD, SANTIAGO and others committed an armed robbery of the TD Bank located on Post Road East in Westport.
SUPERSAD and SANTIAGO were arrested on July 2, 2014, and are detained.
On December 15, 2014, SUPERSAD waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to affect commerce by robbery, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. SANTIAGO waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to the same charge today.
This case has been assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven. Sentencing dates are not yet scheduled.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Westport, Shelton, Fairfield, Stratford, and Bridgeport Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Felice M. Duffy.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722 [email protected]Tulalip Tribal Chief Judge Theresa Pouley Visits U.S. Attorney's Office to Celebrate Native American -- Alaska Native Heritage MonthRead the Press Release
In honor of Native American/Alaska Native Heritage Month, Tulalip Tribal Chief Judge Theresa Pouley spoke to the U.S. Attorney’s Office about justice in Indian Country. The Tulalip Tribes are one of three tribal entities in the country that were authorized by Attorney General Holder to set up a pilot program to prosecute domestic violence cases involving non-native defendants in tribal court under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2013. Judge Pouley noted that over the last nine months five cases have been brought as part of the pilot project with three convictions, one dismissal and one case scheduled for trial in January 2015. More on VAWA is available here.
Judge Pouley is also the Associate Justice of the Colville Court of Appeals, and is the former Chief Judge of the Lummi Tribal Court. Judge Pouley was appointed to the Indian Law & Order Commission by President Obama in 2011. Judge Pouley graduated from Wayne State University Law School in 1987 and is admitted to the Michigan and Washington Bars. She is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in eastern Washington. More on Judge Pouley is available here.
Tilghman Island Fisherman Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Fish Harvesting in the Chesapeake BayRead the Press Release
William J. Lednum, 41, of Tilghman Island, Maryland, was sentenced today in federal court in Baltimore to a year and day in prison, respectively followed by six months of home detention as part of three years of supervised release, for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and to defraud the United States through their illegal harvesting and sale of 185,925 pounds of striped bass. Lednum was also ordered to pay $498,293.40 in restitution to the State of Maryland for the damage caused to the Striped Bass fishery. In addition, Judge Bennett ordered Lednum to pay a fine of $40,000.
According to their plea agreements, Lednum and his co-defendant, Michael D. Hayden, were “captains” on fishing vessels owned by them, William J. Lednum Fisheries, d/b/a, Michael D. Hayden, Jr., and Michael D. Hayden, Jr., Inc. The defendants also employed numerous “helpers” as part of this scheme, including, co-defendants Kent Sadler and Lawrence Daniel Murphy.
From at least 2007 to 2011, Hayden and Lednum engaged in a scheme to illegally poach tens of thousands of pounds of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay in violation of Maryland regulations relating to harvest method, amounts, tagging, and reporting. In an effort to conceal their crimes, Hayden and Lednum falsified paperwork related to their harvests and submitted those falsified documents to the state of Maryland. The state of Maryland in turn submits such paperwork to numerous Federal and interstate agencies responsible for setting harvest levels all along the eastern seaboard. Hayden and Lednum shipped and sold the striped bass to wholesalers in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, receiving a total of $498,293.47 for the poached fish.
The investigation in this case started in February 2011 when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found tens of thousands of pounds of striped bass snagged in illegal, anchored nets before the season officially reopened. The conspirators were seen on the water in the vicinity of the illegal nets. The subsequent investigation unveiled a wider criminal enterprise for which Hayden and Lednum were sentenced today.
Co-defendants Michael D. Hayden, 43, of Tilghman Island, Lawrence “Daniel” Murphy, 37, of St. Michaels, Maryland, and Kent Conley Sadler, 31, of Tilghman Island, previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy. Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced on December 19, 2014, Sadler is scheduled to be sentenced on January 7, 2015 and Hayden is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27, 2015.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The prosecution was handled by Todd W. Gleason and Shennie Patel of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Michael Cunningham.
Tilghman Island Fisherman Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Fish Harvesting in the Chesapeake BayRead the Press Release
Ship Captain Poached Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds of Striped Bass
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced William J. Lednum, age 41, of Tilghman Island, Maryland, today to a year and a day in prison, followed by six months of home detention as part of three years of supervised release, for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and to defraud the United States through the illegal harvesting and sale of 185,925 pounds of striped bass. Judge Bennett also ordered Lednum to pay $498,293.40 in restitution to the State of Maryland for the damage caused to the Striped Bass fishery. In addition, Judge Bennett ordered Lednum to pay a fine of $40,000.The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division Sam Hirsch; Secretary Joe Gill of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR); and Honora Gordon, Regional Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We are very pleased with today's court decision,” said DNR Secretary Joe Gill. “This individual was stealing from Maryland citizens and law-abiding waterman. We are proud of the great work done by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers.”
According to his plea agreement, Lednum and his co-defendant, Michael D. Hayden, were “captains” on fishing vessels owned by them, William J. Lednum Fisheries, d/b/a, Michael D. Hayden, Jr., and Michael D. Hayden, Jr., Inc. The defendants also employed numerous “helpers” as part of this scheme, including, co-defendants Kent Sadler and Lawrence Daniel Murphy.
From at least 2007 to 2011, Lednum and Hayden engaged in a scheme to illegally poach at least 185,925 pounds of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay in violation of Maryland regulations relating to harvest method, amounts, tagging, and reporting. In an effort to conceal their crimes, Lednum and Hayden admitted that they falsified paperwork related to their harvests and submitted those falsified documents to the State of Maryland. The State of Maryland in turn submits such paperwork to numerous Federal and interstate agencies responsible for setting harvest levels all along the eastern seaboard. Lednum and Hayden shipped and sold the striped bass to wholesalers in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, receiving a total of $498,293.47 for the poached fish.
The investigation in this case started in February 2011 when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found tens of thousands of pounds of striped bass snagged in illegal, anchored nets before the season officially reopened. The conspirators were seen on the water in the vicinity of the illegal nets. The subsequent investigation unveiled a wider criminal enterprise for which Hayden and Lednum were sentenced today.
Co-defendants Michael D. Hayden, age 43, of Tilghman Island, Lawrence “Daniel” Murphy, age 37, of St. Michaels, Maryland, and Kent Conley Sadler, age 31, of Tilghman Island, previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy. Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced on December 19, 2014, Sadler is scheduled to be sentenced on January 7, 2015 and Hayden is scheduled to be sentenced on February 27, 2015.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Todd W. Gleason and Shennie Patel of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Michael Cunningham, who prosecuted the case.Three Defendants Sentenced in Vehicle Insurance Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that three defendants in an insurance fraud scheme were sentenced and one ordered to pay more than $190,000 for staging automobile accidents in order to collect insurance payments.
Oliver Lockett, 44, of Breaux Bridge, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $193,074.86 restitution; Aleric Johnson, 50, of New Iberia, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $62,492.30 restitution; and Buddy Estelle, 53, of New Iberia, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Each was sentenced for one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. District Judge Richard T. Haik presided over the hearings.
According to evidence presented at the guilty pleas, the defendants admitted to roles in vehicle accidents between sometime in 2003 until March 10, 2010. Lockett admitted to planning accidents where members of the scheme served either as a driver causing the accident or a witness. As a result, Lockett made multiple claims to insurance companies for property damage and personal injury. The accidents were staged in Lafayette Parish and surrounding areas.
The Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly P. Uebinger prosecuted the case.
Ten People Indicted for Attending Dog-Fighting Venture in AkronRead the Press Release
Ten people were indicted in federal court for attending an animal-fighting venture, law enforcement officials said.
Indicted are: Alvin Banks, 56, of Akron; Carlton Davis and Anthony L. Harris, both 41 and both of Gary, Ind.; Donell Higginbotham, 35, of Pittsburgh; Mark Terrell McCraw, 29, of Hersporia, Calif.; Samuel G. Mobley, 38, of Gastonia, N.C.; Corey B. Moorefield, 45, of Pittsburgh; Darius D. Muse, 24, of Victorville, Calif.; Ryan A. Sadler, 32, of Gastonia, N.C. and Tommy L. Walker, 60, of East Chicago, Ind.
The indictment was announced by Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cleveland Office, Akron Police Chief James Nice, Summit County Sheriff Steve Barry and Summit County Prosecutor Sherry Bevan Walsh.
Banks and McCraw face additional counts of sponsoring and exhibiting a canine in an animal fighting venture, as well as buying, selling, delivering, possessing, training and transporting canines for participation in an animal fighting venture.
Banks has also been charged with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, possession with intent to manufacture and distribute less than 50 marijuana plants or less than 50 kilograms of marijuana, and for possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Federal and local authorities raided a home on Cordova Avenue in Akron on Nov. 15, 2014 as part of an investigation into dog fighting. In addition to firearms, narcotics and more than $52,000 in cash, investigators discovered a blood-stained 16x16 foot ring used as part of an animal fighting venture, as well as two “break sticks” used to pry a dog’s mouth and teeth off another dog when the fight is finished. They also found eight pit bull or pit bull mixes, two of which were covered in blood and had fresh wounds from a fight that occurred just prior to the execution of the search warrant, according to court documents.
If convicted, a defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal records, if any, a defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Akron Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office and the Humane Society of Greater Akron. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Linda H. Barr.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Task Force Busts Credit Union Robbery RingRead the Press Release
Joint investigation leads to multiple arrests and a federal complaint.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles announced today federal charges against multiple individuals in connection with eight robberies of credit unions, following an investigation by a state and federal violent crime task force. Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings, Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski, Michigan State Police Captain Monica Yesh and FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate joined in the announcement.
Angelo George Mitchell, Allante Williams, Terrell Reese, James Steen, Defonta Howard and Jonathan Daffin have been federally charged with conspiracy to rob a credit union, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Robbery of a credit union is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The affidavit in support of the federal complaint references eight robberies of credit unions and one attempted robbery that took place at various times between September 9 and December 11, 2014. The affidavit explains that on December 11, a surveillance team instigated a traffic stop by Michigan State Police Troopers of the six men. The complaint affidavit alleges the men were wearing makeup on their faces consistent with that seen by witnesses to prior credit union robberies and that the six men were on their way at the time to rob the DFCU Financial on Lake Lansing Road in Lansing, Michigan.
The other alleged victim credit unions identified in the affidavit are:
- Astera Credit Union, located at 301 East Jolly Road, Lansing, Michigan (twice);
- Lake Trust Credit Union, located at 300 North Clippert Street, Lansing, Michigan;
- Genisys Credit Union, located at 207 Huron Boulevard, Marysville, Michigan;
- CASE Credit Union, located at 4316 South Pennsylvania Avenue, Lansing, Michigan (twice);
- Lake Trust Credit Union, located at 2180 West Stadium Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
- Community Choice Credit Union located at 34930 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, Michigan.
The arrests and charges are the result of a collaborative effort by a violent crime task force comprised of the Lansing Police Department, the Michigan State Police, the FBI, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan.
Following a preliminary hearing today in federal court, U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Brenneman found probable cause supporting the charge as to each defendant and all six were detained pending further proceedings. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tim VerHey and Russell Kavalhuna indicated that they expect to present the matter to a federal grand jury for possible indictment in the coming weeks.The complaint and affidavit further allege that a Scantavia Ronda Isaac was involved in the conspiracy. She has not been arrested and anyone with information regarding her whereabouts should contact Detective St. Aubin at the Lansing Police Department. He can be reached at (517) 483-6862.
Charges in a complaint or indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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