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3 December 2014
Milwaukee-Area Attorney Charged in Federal Court with Defrauding Financial Institutions and Clients,Money Laundering, and Filing a False Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
United States Attorney James L. Santelle for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced that, yesterday, a federal grand jury returned a 33-count indictment charging Sarah E.K. Laux a/k/a “Sarah Kitzke” (age 35) of Mequon, Wisconsin, with two counts of bank fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, 20 counts of money laundering, and one count of filing a false tax return. If convicted of bank fraud, Laux faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years’ imprisonment, a $1 million fine, and 5 years on supervised release. If convicted of mail fraud or wire fraud, Laux faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years on supervised release.
The indictment charges Laux with defrauding four different clients to whom Laux provided trust and estates advice and to whose funds Laux gained access through her solo-practice law firm. According to the indictment, Laux defrauded those clients out of more than $2.2 million in funds that Laux then converted to her own use.Specifically, the indictment alleges that, between 2010 and 2012, Laux engaged in a scheme to defraud Carleen Vogel Guenther and her family’s corporation, Eilcar Corporation, by gaining access to their money and then, through misrepresentations and false pretenses, converting more than $1.6 million of their money to her own use. The indictment alleges that Laux used that money to buy residential real property and an insurance business and to pay Laux’s personal bills and bills of Laux’s law firm, Laux Law, LLC.
The indictment alleges that Laux also defrauded Associated Bank, N.A., and its subsidiary Associated Trust, N.A., which served as trustee of a trust of which Carleen Guenther was a beneficiary, by falsely representing to those financial institutions that Carleen Guenther needed a distribution from the trust to buy a condominium in a retirement home; causing those financial institutions to distribute the $450,000 for that purpose; and then converting the $450,000 to her own use. The indictment further alleges that Laux then prepared falsified documents and presented those falsified documents, and made false statements, to Associated Trust and Associated Bank to conceal that Laux had fraudulently converted the $450,000 in distributions from the trust to Laux’s own use.
The indictment also alleges that, during 2013, Laux defrauded two other estate-planning clients, a husband and wife, by embezzling approximately $584,000 of their investment monies after having promised to use their money to buy annuities.
The indictment further alleges that Laux engaged in money laundering transactions using proceeds of these fraud schemes and that Laux also filed a materially false and fraudulent personal income tax return for tax year 2010 on behalf of herself and her husband. According to the indictment, Laux falsely stated that her and her husband’s income for 2010 was $104,249, when in fact the amount was in excess of that amount.
According to United States Attorney Santelle: “The Department of Justice places a high priority on prosecuting financial crimes suspected to have been committed by persons who occupy positions of trust, such as attorneys, who abuse their clients’ trust to commit their offenses. This is especially so when the victims of the suspected offense are vulnerable because of age or infirmity and have relied upon their attorney to faithfully protect their financial interests and well being- only to have that trust exploited and abused." Santelle specifically commended the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their highly professional and comprehensive investigation of this case.
Special Agent in Charge Shea Jones of the IRS Criminal Investigation St. Paul Field Office further stated: “Attorneys, and especially estate-planning attorneys, hold positions of trust in the eyes of their clients. Attorneys who embezzle their clients’ money breach that trust. IRS Criminal Investigation takes such allegations of attorney embezzlements very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating those attorneys who are suspected to have so victimized their clients.”The United States is also seeking forfeiture of residential property located in Mequon, Wisconsin, and two businesses – Lasting Legacy, LLC and Family Foundation, LLC – that Laux allegedly purchased with proceeds of her alleged fraud schemes, as well as the remaining proceeds of those alleged schemes.
The case is being investigated by Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Scott J. Campbell is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely the formal method of charging an individual and does not create an inference of her guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until such time, if ever, that the government establishes his or her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.Miami Resident Pleads Guilty to Unauthorized Possession of Stolen IdentitiesRead the Press Release
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Steve Steinberg, Chief, Aventura Police Department, announce that Perized Oquieno Adams, a/k/a “Kevin Wilson,” 38, of Miami, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(b)(2), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028A(a)(1) and 2. Sentencing is scheduled for February 9, 2015 before U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez. At sentencing, Adams faces up to five years in prison for the unauthorized access device charge, and a mandatory term of two years in prison, consecutive to any other term in prison, for the aggravated identity theft charge.
On April 30, 2014, co-defendant Charles Osasumwen Obasuyi, 39, of Miami, was sentenced to 36 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $110,708.77. Obasuyi previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(b)(2), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028A(a)(1) and 2.
According to court documents, law enforcement observed the defendant approach the Chase Bank ATM machine in the Aventura Mall parking lot and conduct what appeared to be a suspicious transactions. After leaving the ATM machine, the defendant entered the passenger side of a White Chevy Equinox with heavily tinted windows. Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and observed a white envelope on the driver, Obasuyi’s’ lap. The detectives also observed an additional white envelope in the driver’s side door of the vehicle and a bundle of $20.00 bills scattered in the center console of the vehicle. Inside of both envelopes were multiple credit/debit cards and United States currency.
When approached by law enforcement, Adams’ told the officers that his name was “Kevin Wilson”. When his identity could not be confirmed, Adams was taken into custody for obstruction of justice. During an inventory search of the vehicle, officers recovered approximately $8,900.00 in U.S currency from the vehicle and an additional $140.00 in Adams’ pocket. Officers also recovered fifteen debit cards in names other than Adams and Obasuyi and an ATM withdrawal receipt in the amount of $200 from a Regions Bank located in North Miami Beach. Adams’ fingerprints and palm prints were recovered from both envelopes.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the Aventura Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurice A. Johnson.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Selling Fake Identification, Illegal Reentry to the U.S.Read the Press Release
SHREVEPORT, La. –United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Mexican national pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in a scheme to sell counterfeit identification and also to illegally reentering the United States. A second Mexican national pleaded guilty to hiring an illegal alien.
Nazario Flores-Cordero, 44, of Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents; one count of false representation of a Social Security account number; and one count of illegal re-entry to the United States following deportation. Jesus Francisco Herrera-Gonzalez, 36, also of Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of encouraging or inducing Nazario Flores-Cordero, an illegal alien, to reside in the United States by employing him. They pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks.
According to the evidence presented at the guilty pleas, Flores-Cordero sold counterfeited or altered fake permanent resident cards and Social Security cards from October 2011 to May of 2014 in the Shreveport/Bossier City area that were to be used to falsely show that illegal aliens were lawfully in the United States and could be employed. Each counterfeit permanent resident card showed the name of the individual and photograph of the individual to be employed. Each counterfeit Social Security card falsely used and represented a Social Security account number not assigned to the individual named on the card. Flores-Cordero was also found to be illegally in the United States after he was last removed from the United States to Mexico in 2013.
Flores-Cordero faces five years in prison for fraud and for false Social Security number representation, plus two years in prison for illegal re-entry. Herrera-Gonzalez faces five years in prison. Both face one to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for each count. The court can also order them deported. A sentencing date of March 23, 2015 was set.
United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Gillespie Jr. is prosecuting the case.
Metairie Man Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements on Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TIMOTHY DUCKWORTH, age 47, of Metairie, pleaded guilty today to making false statements on income tax returns.
According to court documents, DUCKWORTH made false statements on his tax return for the year 2007 under-reporting his income in the amount of approximately $610,495, which resulted in DUCKWORTH having taxes due and owing in the amount of approximately $213,579.
DUCKWORTH faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years in prison, one year of supervised release after any term of imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle scheduled sentencing for March 25, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.
Maui Resident Sentenced for Fraud and Tax Charges Related to Debt Elimination SchemeRead the Press Release
HONOLULU -- A federal judge sentenced Mahealani Ventura-Oliver, 44, formerly of Maui, to 78 months of imprisonment on December 1, for her role in marketing a debt elimination and tax scheme between 2008 and 2009. District Judge J. Michael Seabright also ordered Ventura-Oliver to pay $424,534 in restitution to the victims of her offenses. In October 2013, after an 11-day trial, the jury found Ventura-Oliver guilty of conspiring to use fictitious financial instruments, 15 counts of mail fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of conspiring to submit false tax returns seeking $1.5 million in refunds from the IRS, and submitting one false tax return.
Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that according to evidence produced in court, Ventura-Oliver and others were part of a group known as Ko Hawaii Pae Aina, the Registry and Hawaiiloa Foundation. Between 2008 and 2009, the group held weekly seminars on Maui, where Ventura-Oliver and others spoke about Hawaiian history and culture, and royal land patents. The evidence showed that, in return for the payment of a fee, the group offered to provide distressed homeowners with “bonds” and other documents that would pay off their mortgages and forestall collection efforts. The “bonds” purportedly directed the United States Treasury Department or the State of Hawaii Comptroller of the Currency to make payments on behalf of the homeowners.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Hawaiiloa Foundation collected approximately $468,000 from approximately 200 individuals who went through the debt elimination process. Many of the individuals tried to use the bonds but ultimately lost their homes through foreclosure, or had to renegotiate loans. The government presented evidence that, as part of its process, the Hawaiiloa Foundation also promoted a tax program whereby participants supposedly could seek refunds from the IRS for debts paid off with the purported bonds.
At yesterday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Seabright said Ventura-Oliver portrayed herself as an expert in Hawaiian culture and history, and “sold herself as wanting to help Native Hawaiians.” The judge found that Ventura-Oliver actually knew that her program did not work but preyed on the vulnerabilities of her participants.
Ventura-Oliver was the last of four defendants sentenced in the case. Her estranged husband, John Oliver, who pled guilty, and Pilialoha Teves were previously sentenced to jail terms of 42 months, and Lehua Hoy was sentenced to a three year term of probation. The court earlier had ordered that certain property derived from the offenses be forfeited to the United States. The property included approximately $84,000 in cash, more than $18,000 seized from bank accounts, gold coins worth over $36,000, and vehicles.
The investigation of this case was conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service -- Criminal Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Maui Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar.
Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling into the District of Columbia to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with A Minor and Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Steven Sollera, Jr., 39, of Edgewood, Md., pled guilty today to charges of traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Sollera entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan is to sentence him on April 7, 2015. Sollera faces a statutory maximum of 30 years of imprisonment for traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct and a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment for possession of child pornography, as well as a fine of $250,000 on each count.
According to the government's evidence, on June 5, 2014, Sollera contacted an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, through a social network site. Over the next few days, Sollera engaged in communications with the undercover officer, whom the defendant believed was the father of an under-aged girl. During this time, Sollera arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the child.
During the course of their communications, Sollera provided links containing 22 still images and 14 videos of child pornography. On June 10, 2014, he traveled from Maryland to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C to have sex with the purported child. When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested.
This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI's Washington Field Office and MPD. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director in Charge McCabe, and Chief Lanier praised the work of the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who is prosecuting the case.
14-268Man Charged and Taken into Custody for Adams County Investment Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
The United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today the unsealing of an indictment of Jorge Salazar, a/k/a J. Michael Salazar, for wire fraud.
Salazar, age 54, a resident of Georgia, was indicted on November 12, 2014 for defrauding approximately ten investors from Adams County, Pennsylvania. The indictment was sealed pending the arrest of Salazar. The investment scheme netted Salazar approximately $350,000 during a six-month period. As part of the scheme, Salazar passed himself off as a licensed attorney and investor from Atlanta, Georgia. According to Salazar, the funds he received were guaranteed to yield a return of three times the initial investment. The money turned over to Salazar was not invested by him, but rather misappropriated for his own personal needs. On November 20, 2014, agents of the FBI and IRS-CI arrested Salazar in Kentucky. A federal Magistrate Judge in Kentucky ordered that Salazar be detained and transported to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to face the federal charges.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph J. Terz.
Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilty is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
In this case, the maximum penalty under the federal statute is 20 years' imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
(Salazar indictment)
Local Businessman Pleads Guilty to Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
SAN DIEGO – Ho Sung Lim, owner of three Cricket Wireless outlets in San Diego County, pleaded guilty in federal court today to a tax evasion charge, admitting that he used a number of methods to avoid paying income and employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to his plea agreement, Lim acknowledged that he failed to report income from his business; he paid employees in cash and underreported their wages to avoid payroll taxes; and he paid personal expenses from a corporate account – all of which lowered his tax bill by more than $160,000 over four years.
Lim’s plea was accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin and is subject to final approval by U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns. He was charged via information today.
“We all have to pay our fair share of taxes,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “Anyone who deliberately shirks this obligation takes a big risk, as Mr. Lim has learned.”
Erick Martinez, IRS Criminal Investigation’s Special Agent in Charge said, “Business owners have a responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes—both income and employment—and remit those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. The failure to do so is a very serious offense. Those Americans who file accurate, honest and timely returns can be assured that the government will hold accountable those who don’t.”
According to his plea agreement, Lim admitted that on several occasions between 2009 and 2012 he skipped his duty to file Employer’s quarterly Federal Tax Return, Form 941 (“Payroll Taxes”), on behalf of his business Telecell, Inc. Lim admitted that he attempted to evade or defeat the payment of Payroll Taxes by various means, including, but not limited to paying employees from his business, Telecell, Inc., in cash, and without reporting to the IRS the full amount of income he paid to those employees.
DEFENDANTS Case Number: 14cr3484-LAB Ho Sung Lim Age: 47 San Diego, California CHARGESTax Evasion – Title 26 U.S.C., Section 7201
INVESTIGATING AGENCY
Maximum Penalty: 5 years’ imprisonment; $100,000 fine; costs of prosecution.Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation
*Indictments and complaints are not evidence that the defendant committed the crime charged. All defendants are presumed innocent until the United States meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Local Businessman Convicted of Transporting and Sexually Assaulting Female Employee
Leader of A Violent Crew Convicted of Racketeering and Six MurdersRead the Press Release
Earlier today, following five weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, returned guilty verdicts against Christian John and Marvin Johnson. John was the leader of a violent criminal enterprise called the “Hull Street Crew,” that was found to be responsible for six murders, two attempted murder, armed robberies, murder-for-hire, narcotics distribution, and gambling on dog fighting, all of which occurred in the Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and East New York areas of Brooklyn. Johnson committed a brutal murder with John that the jury found to have aided the criminal enterprise. When sentenced by United States Senior District Judge Frederic Block, both defendants face mandatory life sentences.
The verdicts were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, George Venizelos, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and William J. Bratton, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.
United States Attorney Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the FBI and the New York City Police Department for their outstanding assistance in this case.
Christian John was found guilty of the 2000 murder of Charlemagne Lormand, the 2008 murder of Barry Haynes, the 2008 murder of Daquane Shelton and the 2011 murders of Jason Bostic and Aaron Formey. Both defendants were found guilty of the 2006 murder of Earle Kevin Obermuller. During the Obermuller murder, the defendants lured the victim to an abandoned building where they duct taped his entire head and watched him suffocate to death. The defendants then set him on fire. During the 2011 murders of Jason Bostic and Aaron Formey, the defendant Christian John ordered his crew members to bind the victims with duct tape and to kill them. Among his many other crimes, Christian John was also found guilty of assaulting a crew member by tying him up and pouring scalding water over his body.
The government’s case was prosecuted by Celia A. Cohen, Soumya Dayananda, and Robert T. Polemeni.
The Defendants:
CHRISTIAN KESTON JOHN
Age: 30
Brooklyn, N.Y.
MARVIN JOHNSON
Age: 30
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Laplace Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulent Claims for Oil Spill CompensationRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that CHARLIE ENGLISH, age 33, a resident of LaPlace, pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to fraudulent applications he made or caused to be made to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) for financial assistance during the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
According to court documents, the GCCF made disaster assistance money available to individuals and businesses affected by the oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The GCCF required individuals to verify loss of income. ENGLISH worked as a claims adjuster for the GCCF. Beginning in or about September 2010, ENGLISH, provided fraudulent documentation to his co-conspirators who posed as claimants, and submitted and/or caused to be submitted, via the internet, false claims for loss earnings representing that the claimants were employed in a commercial fishing business before the oil spill when in fact the claimants did not work in the commercial fishing industry. ENGLISH was to share in the claim proceeds in exchange for his assistance with the claims. Based on the fraudulent documentation, the GCCF issued approximately $257,400 to undeserving individuals.
ENGLISH faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release following imprisonment. U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2015.
This case was brought as part of this District’s partnership with the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF), a nationwide initiative to protect available funds and assistance for those victims of both natural and man-made disasters such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and the recent Gulf oil spill. If you have knowledge of fraud, waste, abuse, or allegations of mismanagement involving disaster relief operations, you can contact the NCDF by either calling the hotline at (866) 720-5721, faxing (225) 334-4707, emailing at [email protected] or in writing to National Center for Disaster Fraud, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4909.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Secret Service in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Evans is in charge of the prosecution.
Lakeville Food Packaging Plant Employee Indicted for Conspiring to Defraud Company for More Than $1.8 MillionRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger today announced the indictment of CHARLES MICHAEL COLES, 43, and others, for conspiring to defraud an Illinois-based food packaging and processing company for more than $1.8 million. COLES was employed as a buyer/inventory coordinator for the Illinois-based company, and was responsible for maintaining the parts inventory of a food packaging plant located in Lakeville, Minn. The defendants are expected to make initial appearances on December 15, 2014, in U.S. District Court in Saint Paul, Minn.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, from at least 2011 until November 14, 2014, COLES was responsible for ordering parts, submitting purchase orders, receiving shipments of parts, and maintaining the parts inventory at the Lakeville, Minn., plant of a food packaging and processing company. COLES devised a scheme to defraud his employer by submitting false invoices for industrial supplies and parts purportedly supplied by several fictitious industrial supply companies.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, COLES conspired with and recruited his co-conspirators, STEVE CROOK, AARON ASH, DARREN GARDNER, JACQUELINE ROBINSON, and WILLIAM DAMPIER, to create fictitious industrial supply companies. COLES then submitted fraudulent purchase orders and invoices to his employer from each of his co-conspirators’ fictitious companies. After COLES’ employer paid the fraudulent invoices, each co-conspirator split the proceeds with COLES.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, between April 2011 and October 2014, CROOK owned a fictitious company called Karlvelous Supply. The only address for Karlvelous Supply was a rented mailbox inside a UPS Store in White Bear Lake, Minn. COLES and CROOK caused approximately $582,224 to be paid to Karlvelous Supply on the basis of false and fraudulent invoices submitted by COLES, and COLES and CROOK split the proceeds of these fraudulent payments.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, between October 2011 and October 2014, ASH owned a fictitious company called Rubber-Steel Products, LLC. The only address for Rubber-Steel Products, LLC, was a rented mailbox inside a UPS Store in Brooklyn Center, Minn. COLES and ASH caused approximately $512,218 to be paid to Rubber-Steel Products on the basis of false and fraudulent invoices submitted by COLES, and COLES and ASH split the proceeds of these fraudulent payments.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, between January 2012 and October 2014, GARDNER owned a fictitious company called DG Automation Controls, LLC. The only address for DG Automation Controls, LLC, was a rented mailbox inside a UPS Store in Eden Prairie, Minn. COLES and GARDNER caused approximately $409,191 to be paid to DG Automation Controls on the basis of false and fraudulent invoices submitted by COLES, and COLES and GARDNER split the proceeds of these fraudulent payments.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, between January 2013 and November 2014, ROBINSON owned a fictitious company called Tessman Industrial Supply, LLC. The only address for Tessman Industrial Supply, LLC, was a rented mailbox inside a UPS Store in Saint Paul, Minn. COLES and ROBINSON caused approximately $253,881 to be paid to Tessman Industrial Supply on the basis of false and fraudulent invoices submitted by COLES, and COLES and ROBINSON split the proceeds of these fraudulent payments.
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, between June 2014 and November 2014, DAMPIER owned a fictitious company called A-Z Industrial Supply Co., LLC. The only address for A-Z Industrial Supply Co., LLC., was DAMPIER’S home address in Phoenix, Ariz. COLES and DAMPIER caused approximately $47,666 to be paid to A-Z Industrial Supply Co., on the basis of false and fraudulent invoices submitted by COLES, and COLES and DAMPIER split the proceeds of these fraudulent payments.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, and the Lakeville Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.
Defendant Information: CHARLES MICHAEL COLES, 43
Otsego, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 5 counts
STEVE KARLVELOUS CROOK, 43
Maplewood, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 1 count
AARON ARTHUR ASH, 42
Minneapolis, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 1 count
DARREN LAMONT GARDNER, 42
Unknown
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 1 count
JACQUELINE ROBINSON, 46
Saint Paul, Minn.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 1 count
WILLIAM CURTIS DAMPIER, 32
Phoenix, Ariz.
Charges: • Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, 1 count
• Mail Fraud, 1 countJustice Department Reaches Settlement with Franciscan St. James Health to Stop Discrimination Against Persons with Hearing DisabilitiesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today a settlement with Franciscan St. James Health (St. James), to ensure that patients and companions who are deaf or hard of hearing receive sign language interpreters and other services necessary to ensure effective communication, in compliance with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). St. James is a healthcare system providing comprehensive healthcare in Illinois including hospitals in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields. This settlement is part of the department’s Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative (initiative), a partnership of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s offices across the nation to ensure that people with disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, who have HIV, and who have mobility disabilities, have equal access to medical services.
The settlement with St. James is the fourth under the initiative since the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2014, joining agreements signed in Edmonds, Washington; Stafford and Lake Ridge, Virginia; and Vero Beach, Florida. Since its launch three years ago, the department has reached 25 agreements under the initiative.
The agreement was reached after the department investigated a complaint that a patient who is deaf was denied a sign language interpreter throughout her four day stay in the hospital. Title III of the ADA requires health care providers to ensure that their communications with people with hearing disabilities are as effective as their communications with people without disabilities.
Under the settlement agreement, St James will ensure that the hospitals:
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Provide auxiliary aids and services, including sign language interpreters, to people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, within prescribed time frames and free of charge;
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Designate an ADA Administrator;
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Utilize their grievance resolution systems to investigate disputes regarding effective communication with deaf and hard of hearing patients;
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Post notices of their effective communication policy;
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Train hospital personnel on the effective communication requirements of the ADA;
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File compliance reports with the Department of Justice; and
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Pay damages in the amount of $70,000.00 to the complainant in this case.
“Next year as we mark the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the ADA, we will celebrate a quarter century of progress in eliminating the barriers that have historically kept people with disabilities from equal access to and the full enjoyment of services readily available to persons without disabilities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “But we must also acknowledge that even after all this time, there is still much to be done. Effective communication in healthcare is one of those critical areas.”
The department has a number of publications available to assist entities to comply with the ADA, including a Business Brief on Communicating with People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Hospital Settings, www.ada.gov/hospcombr.htm, and publications specific to health care providers, HIV discrimination, and effective communication with people with hearing and vision disabilities, as well as publications about tax credits available for providing access.
For more information on the ADA and to access these publications, visit www.ada.gov. For more information on the Barrier Free Health Care Initiative visit www.ada.gov/usao-agreements.htm. Those interested in finding out more about this settlement or the obligations of public accommodations under the ADA may call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov. ADA complaints may be filed by email to [email protected].
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- Jury Convicts Man for Illegally Reentering the United States
Judge Sends 68-Year Old Child Predator to Prison for 15 YearsRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA - Thomas Rafferty, 68, of Levittown, PA, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for taking sexually explicit pictures of young girls. The investigation began when one of the victims reported the abuse nine years after the events. Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations were able to resurrect the “cold case” and obtain a search warrant for the defendant’s residence. In a computer, the agents found the images that the victim had described. Three victims testified at today’s sentencing about the impact of Rafferty’s action on their lives. Rafferty pleaded guilty July 15, 2014.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond ordered three years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael L. Levy.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, EASTERN DISTRICTof PENNSYLVANIA
Suite 1250, 615 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
PATTY HARTMAN, Media Contact, 215-861-8525Jefferson City Man Pleads Guilty to Meth ConspiracyRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jefferson City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
John Albert Overstreet, 35, of Jefferson City, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to the charge contained in a Feb. 12, 2014, federal indictment.
By pleading guilty today, Overstreet admitted that he participated in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Cole County, Mo., in January 2014.
Law enforcement officers, who had conducted several undercover drug transactions with Overstreet, executed a search warrant at two Jefferson City apartments on Jan. 10, 2014. When the door to one of the apartments was breached, Overstreet was seen standing in the hallway. Overstreet ran into a bedroom, where he attempted to conceal something down the front of his pants. Officers removed the object, which was determined to be a bag containing 14 smaller bags of methamphetamine totaling 195 grams.
Overstreet admitted that he traveled to the Joplin, Mo., area twice to receive at least seven ounces of methamphetamine (for which he paid $6,000 per trip) as directed by co-defendant Jose Manuel Escobedo, 40, of Springfield, Mo. Escobedo has also pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy.
Co-defendant Victoria Elizabeth Voisard, 26, of Fulton, Mo., has pleaded guilty to one count of distributing crack cocaine and one count of distributing methamphetamine.
Under federal statutes, Overstreet is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $5 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Zander. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jefferson City, Mo., Police Department and MUSTANG (the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics Group).Investment Managers Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court for Several Hundred Million-Dollar Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that STEPHEN WALSH and PAUL GREENWOOD, investment managers and principals of WG Trading Company, LP, and WG Trading Investors, were sentenced in Manhattan federal court in connection with a fraudulent commodities trading and investment advisory scheme. WALSH was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and GREENWOOD was sentenced to 10 years in prison. WALSH and GREENWOOD ran a fraudulent commodities trading and investment advisory scheme that raised billions of dollars, misappropriated hundreds of millions of those dollars for their own personal benefit, and then created false promissory notes and account statements to conceal their theft. WALSH pled guilty on April 25, 2014, and was sentenced on October 29, 2014, by United States District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum. GREENWOOD pled guilty pursuant to a cooperation agreement on July 28, 2010, and was sentenced today by Judge Cedarbaum.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Stephen Walsh and Paul Greenwood ran an investment operation that purported to follow a conservative strategy but was in fact mostly fictional. They stole hundreds of millions of dollars of investors’ funds – much of it from sophisticated institutional investors – and lied to conceal their theft. Now they are answering for their massive fraud, and they will have to forfeit their ill-gotten gains and their freedom”
According to the Indictment, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made during court proceedings:
From at least 1996 through February 2009, WALSH and GREENWOOD solicited $7.6 billion in investor funds on the understanding that they would invest the funds in a program called “equity index arbitrage,” which they represented was a conservative trading strategy that had outperformed the results of the S&P 500 Index for more than 10 years. As a result, several institutional investors – including charitable and university foundations, retirement and pension plans, and other institutions – invested billions of dollars. Investors either became limited partners in WG Trading Company or received promissory notes issued by WG Trading Investors that WALSH and GREENWOOD represented would pay interest at a rate equal to the investment returns earned by a limited partner of WG Trading Company.
Contrary to their representations to investors, WALSH and GREENWOOD misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds for their own personal use and to satisfy obligations on investments that were unrelated to the “equity index arbitrage” trading business. WALSH and GREENWOOD executed promissory notes in favor of WG Trading Investors to, among other things, conceal trading losses and their misappropriation of investor funds. These promissory notes materially misstated the financial condition of WG Trading Company and misled investors. WALSH and GREENWOOD also created and caused others to create false account statements that were sent to clients to reflect fictitious returns consistent with the returns that had been promised to those clients.
In addition to the prison sentence, WALSH, 69, of Sands Point, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $50,743,779; and GREENWOOD, 67, of Southern Pines, North Carolina, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $83.5 million. The Court further ordered restitution to be paid by both WALSH and GREENWOOD in an amount to be determined.
On July 21, 2009, Deborah Duffy, the former Chief Compliance Office of WG Trading Company, pled guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud, and money laundering for her role in the fraud scheme. Duffy’s sentencing is set for January 8, 2015.
Mr. Bharara praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and thanked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the National Futures Association for their assistance.
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 U.S. Attorneys Jessica A. Masella and Benjamin Naftalis are in charge of the prosecution.
Identity Trafficker in Puerto Rico Sentenced to 81 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
A leader of a Puerto Rican identity trafficking organization was sentenced today to serve 81 months in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas S. Winkowski of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Director Bill A. Miller of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
Enrique Rogelio Mendez-Solis aka Rogelio Quero-Mendez, Roberto Marquez-Prada, 40, a Mexican national formerly of Seymour, Indiana, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez in the District of Puerto Rico for his leading role in trafficking the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens. Judge Pérez-Giménez also ordered the defendant to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit $422,793 in illegal proceeds. Mendez-Solis illegally entered the United States and the government will seek his deportation following the service of his prison sentence. On Dec. 3, 2013, Mendez-Solis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit human smuggling for financial gain and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico, obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents. Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States solicited customers and sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set. The identity brokers in the United States ordered the identity documents from the document suppliers in Savarona on behalf of their customers by making coded telephone calls. The conspirators were charged with using text messages, money transfer services and express priority or regular U.S. mail to complete their illicit transactions.
Court documents allege that some of the conspirators assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation. Their customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and to obtain additional identification documents, such as legitimate state driver’s licenses. Some customers obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and attempted to obtain a U.S. passport. According to court documents, the organization trafficked at least 1,500 identities.
Various identity brokers were operating in Rockford, DeKalb and Aurora, Illinois; Seymour, Columbus and Indianapolis, Indiana; Hartford, Connecticut; Clewiston, Florida; Lilburn and Norcross, Georgia; Salisbury, Maryland; Columbus and Fairfield, Ohio; Dorchester, Lawrence, Salem and Worcester, Massachusetts; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Nebraska City, Nebraska; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Burlington and Hickory, North Carolina; Hazelton and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Abingdon and Albertville, Alabama; and Providence, Rhode Island.
To date, 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identity trafficking scheme. All 49 arrested defendants have pleaded guilty and 46 defendants have been sentenced, including:
• Jorge Luis “Daniel” Mendez, 38, a Dominican national formerly of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 75 months in prison on April 28, 2014, followed by 3 years of supervised release;
• Daniel Aparicio-Lara, 30, a Mexican national formerly of Burlington, North Carolina sentenced to 65 months in prison on Dec. 18, 2012, followed by 3 years of supervised release;
• Rafael Joaquin Beltre-Beltre, 36, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 63 months in prison on Sept. 4, 2012, followed by deportation;
• Wilfredo Blanco-Diaz, 41, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 61 months in prison on March 11, 2014, followed by deportation;
• Jose Sergio Garcia-Ramirez, 39, a Mexican national formerly of Rockford, Illinois, sentenced to 54 months in prison on Nov. 26, 2012, followed by deportation;
• Moises Lara-Ceballos, 37, a Mexican national formerly of Seymour, Indiana, sentenced to 54 months in prison on Jan. 21, 2014, followed by deportation; and
• Wilson Antonio Hernandez-Fernandez, 40, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 48 months in prison on Feb. 4, 2014, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
The charges are the result of Operation Island Express, a nationally coordinated investigation led by the ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ (ICE-HSI) Chicago Office and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices in Chicago, in coordination with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office and the DSS Resident Office in Puerto Rico. The Illinois Secretary of State Police; Elgin, Illinois Police Department; Seymour, Indiana Police Department and Indiana State Police provided substantial assistance. The ICE-HSI Assistant Attaché office in the Dominican Republic and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices around the country provided invaluable support.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James S. Yoon, Hope S. Olds, Courtney B. Schaefer, and Christina Giffin of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Indiana, District of Connecticut, District of Massachusetts, District of Nebraska, Middle District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Middle District of Pennsylvania, District of Rhode Island, Southern District of Texas and Western District of Virginia provided substantial assistance.
Potential victims and the public may obtain information about the case at: www.justice.gov/criminal/vns/caseup/beltrerj.html. Anyone who believes their identity may have been compromised in relation to this investigation may contact the ICE toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) and its online tip form at www.ice.gov/tipline. Anyone who may have information about particular crimes in this case should also report them to the ICE tip line or website.
Anyone who believes that they have been a victim of identity theft, or wants information about preventing identity theft, may obtain helpful information and complaint forms on various government websites including the Federal Trade Commission ID Theft Website, www.ftc.gov/idtheft. Additional resources regarding identity theft can be found at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/pubs/ID_theft/idtheft.html; www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html; www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/identity_theft; and www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=186436,00.html.
Hualapai Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Federal Prison for AssaultRead the Press Release
PHOENIX – Having previously pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury, DeAngelo Logen Walema, 23, of Peach Springs, Ariz. was sentenced on Dec. 1, 2014 by U.S. District Judge Steven P. Loganto 84 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, on July 7, 2013, Walema was at the home of the victim, his former girlfriend, when he became enraged and struck the victim multiple times with his fists causing her to sustain serious bodily injury. The assault occurred in the presence of two minor children. Both, the victim and Walema are members of the Hualapai Indian Tribe.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Hualapai Nation Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Christina J. Reid-Moore, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-14-8217-PCT-SPL
RELEASE NUMBER: 2014-070_WalemaFor more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.Home Care Employee Indicted on Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO –ABSALOM CARLISLE, formerly of St. Louis, was arrested late yesterday on a federal indictment alleging mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with the care of an elderly Clayton man between 2010 and 2013.
According to the indictment, Carlisle arranged to care for the elderly victim, who is now deceased, through a health services company he owned. Soon after beginning to care for the victim, Carlisle added a second American Express card to the victim’s account and began making personal charges. From time to time, Carlisle would steal funds from the victim’s bank accounts to pay down his American Express bills. In all, Carlisle stole more than $50,000 from the victim. Carlisle’s malfeasance was discovered by the victim’s children after his death.
If convicted, mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 and each count of aggravated identity theft carries a penalty of two years and /or fines up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentences, a judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by the Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.Hartford Man Sentenced to 71 Months in Federal Prison for Possessing Heroin, FirearmsRead the Press Release
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Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that JOSHUA SAEZ, 24, of Hartford, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 71 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for possessing heroin, which he stole from a drug dealer, and two handguns.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in January 2013, the DEA’s Hartford Task Force began an investigation into the narcotics distribution activities of Luis Fernandez of East Hartford. The investigation, which included the use of court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases of narcotics, revealed that Fernandez’s family members and associates in southern California shipped heroin, cocaine and marijuana to Fernandez at various addresses in the Hartford area. Fernandez, who also was supplied with narcotics from individuals in New York, sold the drugs locally to other dealers and customers.
During the course of the investigation, SAEZ and Eric Colon made arrangements to obtain approximately 140 grams of heroin from co-defendant Jose Rivera-Baron. While under law enforcement surveillance, Rivera-Baron met with Colon and SAEZ in the parking lot of a restaurant on Franklin Avenue in Hartford. Following the meeting, Colon drove away at high rate of speed. Investigators believed that Rivera-Baron had been robbed and pursued Colon’s car. SAEZ exited the car and was taken into custody. A search of his person revealed two handguns and 138.1 grams of heroin.
The investigation revealed that SAEZ and Colon had stolen the heroin from Rivera-Baron.
The quantity of heroin that SAEZ possessed would have produced nearly 7000 individual dosage bags and had a street value of approximately $35,000.
Prior to August 2013, SAEZ had been convicted of a felony assault charge. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
SAEZ has been detained since his arrest. On September 9, 2014, he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.
More than 20 individuals have been charged with narcotics distribution and related offenses as a result of this investigation. Fernandez, Colon and Rivera-Baron have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
This investigation has been led by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force, including personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office and the Bristol, Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Newington, and Wethersfield Police Departments. Agencies assisting the investigation include the DEA in New Haven, Bridgeport, Los Angeles and Panama, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut State Police, State of Connecticut Office of Adult Probation, and the Hartford, East Hartford and New Britain Police Departments.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Dave Vatti and Gabriel J. Vidoni.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722 [email protected]Gregg County Businesses Busted in Synthetic Drug OperationRead the Press Release
Department of Justice
Office of Public AffairsLONGVIEW, Texas – U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced today that three individuals have been arrested following a lengthy investigation into a synthetic drug operation in the Eastern District of Texas.
On Dec. 3, 2014, a combined task force of federal, state and local law enforcement executed federal arrest warrants and search warrants in Longview, Texas as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Tyler Task Force. In April 2014, law enforcement agencies, initiated an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into a synthetic marijuana trafficking organization based in the East Texas area. This investigation involved extensive surveillance and controlled purchases of controlled substances, controlled substance analogues, and drug paraphernalia. To date, law enforcement officials have seized several products containing illegal synthetic drugs.
The operation resulted in the arrest of Jeremy Chad Tidwell, 39, of Gilmer, Texas, his wife, Shanna Peek Tidwell, 36, of Gilmer, and Jeremy’s brother, Brian Tidwell 42, of Arlington, Texas. Four retail stores, all located in Longview, were searched as part of the law enforcement operation. Approximately $1 million cash and two vehicles were seized, as well as synthetic drugs during the operation.
The defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 12, 2014 and charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute synthetic drugs containing Schedule I controlled substances and controlled substance analogues, one count of conspiracy to offer for sale misbranded or altered drugs, one count of conspiracy to sell drug paraphernalia, and one count of conspiracy to money launder. The defendants appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love today for an initial appearance.
If convicted, the defendants each face up to 20 years in federal prison.“Today’s enforcement operations are indicative of the DEA’s commitment to rid East Texas communities of dangerous and unpredictable substances such as K2, also known as Spice (synthetic cannabinoids), that were being distributed by an organization that generated tremendous illicit profits from sales to multiple users,” said the DEA Dallas Division’s Special Agent in Charge Daniel R. Salter. “Citizens in East Texas can rest assured that the DEA and our law enforcement partners are determined to ensure that Gregg County and the surrounding communities remain a safe place to live. The success of this intensive and thorough investigation is an outstanding example of cooperative law enforcement efforts and determination.”
The DEA Task Force in Tyler includes officers from the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson Police Department, Kilgore Police Department, Smith County Sheriff’s Office, and Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, as well as DEA Special Agents.
Other agencies assisting in the joint investigative effort included the U.S. Attorney’s Office - Eastern District of Texas, DEA Tyler Task Force, Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, Gregg County Organized Drug Enforcement Unit (CODE), Longview Police Department, Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, Kilgore Police Department, Lakeport Police Department, Gladewater Police Department, Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals ServiceAn indictment or arrest is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Gloucester County, New Jersey, Man Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Conspiring to Distribute OxycodoneRead the Press Release
CAMDEN, N.J. – A Gloucester County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for conspiring to distribute 5,000 oxycodone pills, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Kristopher Williams, 29, of Glassboro, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel H. Hillman to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Judge Hillman imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Williams admitted that he and his conspirator, Corey Glenn, sought to obtain 5,000 oxycodone 30 milligram tablets in exchange for $30,000 in April 2012. Glenn previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced on August 18, 2014, to 132 months’ in prison, followed by four years’ supervised release.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Williams to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the DEA, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.The government is represented by Attorney in Charge R. Stephen Stigall of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
14-423
Defense counsel: Nino V. Tinari Esq. Philadelphia
Glen Dale, WV Man Charged with Oxycodone TraffickingRead the Press Release
1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Tara Tighe, Public Affairs SpecialistWHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Jacob Kessler, 25, of Glen Dale, West Virginia, was arrested today after a federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment charging him with oxycodone trafficking, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II announced today.
An investigation by the Ohio Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, revealed that Kessler repeatedly sold oxycodone throughout 2013. In February 2013, he was discovered selling painkillers near West Virginia Northern Community College. At least once, Kessler traveled between Bellaire, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia to distribute oxycodone.
Kessler is charged with:
• One count of “Interstate Travel in Aid of Racketeering.” He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.00.
• Four counts of “Use of a Telephone Facility to Facilitate the Distribution of Oxycodone.” He faces up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.00 on each count.
• Three counts of “Distribution of Oxycodone.” He faces up to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.00 on each count.
• One count of “Distribution of Oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a Protected Location.” He faces up to forty years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000,000.00.Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Bernard is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Frisco Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Enticement of A MinorRead the Press Release
DALLAS, Texas — Matthew Jarmon, 24, of Frisco, Texas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney to one count of attempted enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Jarmon faces a statutory penalty of not less than ten years and a maximum term of life in federal prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2015.
According to the factual resume filed in the case, in June 2014, Jarmon used his computer to engage in a number of sexually explicit “chat” conversations with a minor under the age of 17 years old. Jarmon made plans to meet the minor and to engage in sexual activity. Upon arriving at the pre-arranged location on June 18, 2014 Jarmon was arrested by law enforcement.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”
The case was investigated by the Garland Police Department and the United States Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is prosecuting.
Former Orleans Criminal District Court Employee Pleads Guilty to Role in Bail Bonds FraudRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that PATRICIA TATE, age 50, of New Orleans, pled guilty today to a one-count Bill of Information charging conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.
According to court documents, TATE accepted cash payments to facilitate an illegal bail bonding business located at 538 S. Broad Street in New Orleans. TATE’s activities included accessing official-use criminal justice records, delivering pre-certified bail bonds to the bail business, and other activities to assist the business outside the scope of her official duties.
U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2015. TATE faces a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Metropolitan Crime Commission, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael B. Redmann and Mark A. Miller are in charge of the prosecution.
Former New Jersey Chiropractor Sentenced to Prison for FraudRead the Press Release
A man formerly of Neptune, New Jersey, was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to serve 54 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.
In February 2014, a jury convicted David Moleski, a pilot and former chiropractor, of 14 counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede Internal Revenue laws and three counts of submitting false claims for tax refunds. Moleski was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, who also ordered that Moleski pay a $10,000 fine and, as a condition of release, $48,199 in restitution.
According to the evidence presented in court, Moleski submitted three false tax returns in 2009 for tax years 2006 through 2008 that collectively requested more than $1.3 million in income tax refunds to which he was not entitled. Prior to filing these returns, Moleski failed to file tax returns from 1999 through 2005, even though he was legally required to file. When the IRS assessed taxes for those years and began collecting, Moleski obstructed the collection efforts and demanded that a third-party financial institution not comply with an IRS levy. In addition, Moleski attempted to pay credit card bills and other debts with fake financial instruments that claimed to draw on an account at the U.S. Treasury that did not actually exist. For instance, Moleski sent a fake financial instrument for $500,000 in alleged payment of a mortgage debt.
The case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Tino M. Lisella and Yael T. Epstein of the Tax Division prosecuted the case, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Former New Britain Resident Pleads Guilty to Violating Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification ActRead the Press Release
Follow @USAO_CTDeirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that CHRISTOPHER T. AGRITELLY, 30, formerly of New Britain, Conn., and Tempe, Ariz., pleaded guilty yesterday in Hartford federal court to failing to register as a sex offender.
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), which was passed by Congress in 2006 as part of the Adam Walsh Act, provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States and seeks to strengthen the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs. In part, SORNA requires registered sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or go to school.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in September 2007, AGRITELLY was convicted in Connecticut Superior Court in New Britain of first degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to a term of incarceration of 15 years, execution suspended, seven years to serve, followed by 15 years of probation and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration. When he was released from prison in February 2013, AGRITELLY was informed of his registration obligations under SORNA.
AGRITELLY initially complied with Connecticut Sex Offender Registry requirements while he resided in New Britain after his release from prison. However, in August 2013, he failed to respond to an address verification request and a subsequent Notice of Violation sent by the Sex Offender Registry Unit.
AGRITELLY also failed to report to his state probation officer and the state obtained an arrest warrant for him for a violation of the terms and conditions of his probation.
On January 29, 2014, AGRITELLY was arrested by law enforcement in Tempe, Ariz., pursuant to the probation violation warrant issued in Connecticut. He never registered as a sex offender in Arizona.
AGRITELLY has been detained since his arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson on February 27, 2014, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
This matter was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Slater.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722 [email protected]Former Logan County assessor pleads guilty to Federal Banking Law violationRead the Press Release
Charleston, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that Russell R. Grimmett, also known as Rick Grimmett, 51, of Man, West Virginia, pled guilty today to violating federal banking laws. Grimmett is the former Logan County Assessor.
Banks are required by federal law to report all cash transactions in excess of $10,000. Grimmett admitted that he and an associate withdrew cash from the Logan Bank and Trust in Man, West Virginia in amounts less than $10,000 to prevent triggering the reporting requirement. This practice, known as “structuring,” is a federal crime. He further admitted that between early 2009 through December 2012, he and his associate structured more than $366,000 in cash from various banks.
As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Grimmett agreed to resign his position as Assessor. He also agreed to forfeit $150,000.
Grimmett faces up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on March 11, 2015.
Today’s charge stems from an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Meredith George Thomas is handling the prosecution.
Former KC Attorney Sentenced for Money Laundering, took $800,000 from ClientsRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former Kansas City, Mo., attorney was sentenced in federal court today for money laundering.
James C. Wirken, 70, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to one year and one month in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Wirken to pay a fine of $4,000.
Wirken was a lawyer and principal at The Wirken Law Group until he surrendered his law license in 2012 and was disbarred by the Missouri Supreme Court. On May 12, 2014, Wirken pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering.
Wirken admitted that he withdrew money from his law firm’s trust account, which was being held for the benefit of a client, and deposited the funds into his law firm’s operating account. Wirken wrote six checks between December 2009 and Jan. 13, 2010, totaling $116,730. Wirken then used the funds for his personal benefit. All of the transactions were conducted without the client’s consent.
According to court documents, Wirken’s law firm was engaged in a long-term, unethical, unsustainable Ponzi-type business model that spanned over many years. As early as 2007, Wirken began improperly borrowing substantial amounts of money from clients, and then he refused to pay his clients back. Wirken borrowed over $800,000 from at least seven clients from 2007 to 2012, according to court documents.
For example, court documents cite one instance when Wirken borrowed $100,000 from a client and refused to make payments on the loan even when his client was diagnosed with cancer and needed money to pay for the treatments. Wirken’s client later died from the disease.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roseann A. Ketchmark. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.Former Head of Anti-Poverty Agency Sentenced to Prison for Accepting BribesRead the Press Release
The former head of a Cleveland-area anti-poverty agency was sentence to 30 months in prison for accepting more than $23,000 in cash, home renovations and other things of value in exchange for steering work to specific contractors, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office, and Lamont Pugh III, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General – Chicago Region.
Jacqueline K. Middleton, 69, of Shaker Heights, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of honest services fraud, one count of bribery in federally funded programs and one count of Hobbs Act Conspiracy.
“Middleton violated the trust of taxpayers and the people she had pledged to serve,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
“Middleton padded her pocket with monies for federally funded contracts she awarded,” Anthony said. “Law enforcement will continue to root out individuals illegally capitalizing on their trusted position. ”
“Ms. Middleton held a position of trust and was expected to be a good steward in her utilization of taxpayer funds. She chose otherwise and was held accountable for her actions” Pugh said. “The OIG will continue to investigate allegations involving the misuse or misappropriation taxpayer funds in concert with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to ensure that those who breech the public’s trust are held accountable.”
Middleton served as president and chief executive officer of the Council of Economic Opportunities of Greater Cleveland. The CEOGC was organized with the purpose of serving low-income people of Cuyahoga County and Greater Cleveland. The CEOGC administered several federal, state and local programs designed to address the needs of low-income individuals, including Head Start, the Community Services Block Grant program and the Home Energy Assistance program.
From 2008 through around August 7, 2012, Middleton used her official position to enrich herself by soliciting and accepting gifts, payments and other things of value from contractors who did business with CEOGC. These gifts and payments were made in exchange for favorable action from Middleton for the payors and their companies, according to the information.
Middleton solicited and accepted gifts, payments and other things of value totaling more than $12,017 from a person identified as Contractor No. 1 and totaling approximately $11,200 from a person identified as Contractor No. 2. The things of value included kickbacks from CEOGC payments, home renovation work and payments to vendors for related supplies on her behalf, according to the information.
Middleton provided official favorable action Company No. 1 and Contractor No. 2 as requested and as opportunities arose. That included authorizing CEOGC contracts which retained Contractor No. 2 for consulting services and which retained Company No. 1 for work including parking lot renovations, classroom remodeling and flooring remodeling at various sites and offices administered by CEOGC, according to the information.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Collyer following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services—Office of Inspector General.
Former Elementary School Principal Convicted of Attempting to Entice A MinorRead the Press Release
ATLANTA - John Harold McGill, the former principal of Mt. Carmel Elementary School in Douglas County, Ga., has been convicted after a jury trial, of using emails and text messages to attempt to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
“The idea that an elementary school principal would attempt to have sex with a thirteen-year-old girl is disgraceful,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “McGill violated a public trust and all sense of common decency, and a jury has held him criminally responsible.”
J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated: “The FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children program, along with the FBI Atlanta based Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation (MATCH) Task Force, remains ever vigilant for individuals such as Mr. McGill, who not only represent a threat to our children, but who are also in a position of trust over those very children. The conviction by jury trial of Mr. McGill, a former elementary school principal, on federal charges of attempting to entice a minor child for sex removes a very real and serious threat from our community. The FBI and its MATCH Task Force will continue to work with its area law enforcement partners as it maintains it’s much needed vigilance in protecting our children from those who would exploit them.”
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and evidence presented in court: On Saturday, March 1, 2014, McGill responded to an Internet advertisement named “casual encounters” purportedly posted by a mother who was seeking a man to introduce her thirteen-year-old daughter to sexual intercourse. McGill communicated with who he thought was the girl’s mother by email and texts throughout the evening and into early Sunday morning, March 2, 2014. With his wife out of town at a conference, McGill put his children to bed, and then drove more than 50 miles from Douglasville, Ga., to Lithonia, Ga. He arrived at the “mother’s” house at 1:45 a.m., with a condom in his pants pocket. However, the “mother” was an FBI Task Force Officer, and McGill was arrested.
McGill, 57, of Douglasville, Ga., was the principal of Mt. Carmel Elementary School in Douglas County, Ga., until he was arrested on March 2, 2014. He was convicted after a two-day trial. Federal District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr., remanded McGill into custody and set sentencing at 9:30 a.m. on February 6, 2015.This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Cobb County Police Department, and the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office.
Assistant United States Attorney William G. Traynor prosecuted the case.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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/.
Five Northern California Real Estate Investors Indicted for Bid Rigging and Fraud at Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned a nine-count indictment against five real estate investors for their role in bid rigging and fraud at foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.
The indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, California, charges Northern California real estate investors John Michael Galloway, Nicholas Diaz, Glenn Guillory, Thomas Joyce and Charles Rock with participating in a conspiracy to rig bids and a scheme to defraud mortgage holders and others. The indictment alleges that the defendants agreed not to compete at public foreclosure auctions in Contra Costa County, California, and diverted money to themselves and others that should have gone to mortgage holders and other beneficiaries.
To date, 50 individuals have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges as a result of the department’s ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging and fraud at public foreclosure auctions in Northern California. In addition, 21 real estate investors have been charged in five multi-count indictments for their roles in bid rigging and fraud schemes at foreclosure auctions in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties.
“The Antitrust Division will continue to cooperate with its law enforcement partners to bring to justice those who undermine the competitive market for foreclosed properties,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Public auctions are meant for the public, not for an elite group conspiring together for their own profit.”
The indictments allege, among other things, that as early as June 2008 until about January 2011, the defendants conspired to rig bids to obtain numerous properties sold at foreclosure auctions in Contra Costa County, negotiated payoffs for agreeing not to compete, held second, private auctions known as “rounds,” concealed those rounds and payoffs, and, in the process, defrauded mortgage holders and other beneficiaries.
“These charges demonstrate our continued commitment to investigate and prosecute individuals and organizations responsible for the corruption of the public foreclosure auction process,” said David J. Johnson, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Office. “The FBI is committed to work these important cases and remains unwavering in our dedication to bring the members of these illegal conspiracies to justice.”
Each violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. Each count of mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The government can also seek to forfeit the proceeds earned from participating in the mail fraud schemes. The maximum fine for the Sherman Act charges may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than $1 million.
Today’s charges are the latest filed by the department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, California. These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300, or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.
The charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’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. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
First Defendant Sentenced in Traffic Court Ticket Fixing SchemeRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA – Robert Mulgrew, 57, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for lying about ticket fixing at Philadelphia’s former Traffic Court. A federal jury, on July 23, 2014, found Mulgrew, a former traffic court judge, guilty of committing perjury before the federal grand jury investigating the case.
Mulgrew was already serving a 30 month prison sentence for defrauding the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (“DCED”). Mulgrew pleaded guilty in that case on September 19, 2013 to filing a false tax return, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and was sentenced August 6, 2014. U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel ordered today’s sentence to run consecutive to the previous prison term.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Denise S. Wolf and Anthony J. Wzorek.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, EASTERN DISTRICTof PENNSYLVANIA
Suite 1250, 615 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
PATTY HARTMAN, Media Contact, 215-861-8525Federal Grand Jury Criminal Indictments AnnouncedRead the Press Release
TULSA, Okla. — The results of the December 2014 Federal Grand Jury were announced today by Danny C. Williams Sr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
The following individuals have been charged with violations of United States law in indictments returned by the Grand Jury. The return of an indictment is a method of informing a defendant of alleged federal crimes which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome a defendant’s presumption of innocence.
Mahcoe Jamar Knapper. Embezzle, Steal, Purloin and Knowingly Convert Public Monies. Knapper, 35, of Tulsa, is charged with stealing and converting to his own use money in excess of $1,000 belonging to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from January 2012 to August 2012. If convicted, the statutory maximum penalty is not more than 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Department of Veterans Affairs-Office of Inspector General is the investigating agency.
Pablo Antonio Lopez-Acosta. Reentry of Removed Aliens. Lopez-Acosta, 30, was arrested and is charged with having returned to the United States unlawfully after being deported in August 2012 near Hidalgo, Texas. If convicted, the statutory maximum penalty is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement is the investigating agency.
Cesar Zuniga-Acosta. Reentry of Removed Aliens. Zuniga-Acosta, 20, was arrested and is charged with having returned to the United States unlawfully after being deported in June 2013 near Del Rio, Texas. If convicted, the statutory maximum penalty is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement is the investigating agency.
Essex County, New Jersey, Lawyer Admits Smuggling Marijuana into Federal Pretrial Detention FacilityRead the Press Release
TRENTON, N.J. – An attorney from Maplewood, New Jersey, today admitted his involvement in a scheme to smuggle contraband, including marijuana and tobacco, into the Essex County Jail, a federal pretrial detention facility, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Brian Kapalin, 67, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to smuggle contraband into a federal detention facility.
According to the documents filed in this case and other cases and statements made in court:
From September 2013 to May 2014, Kapalin accepted packages of contraband containing marijuana and tobacco from Vladimir Sauzereseteo, 40, of East Orange, New Jersey. In exchange for cash payments from Sauzereseteo, Kapalin agreed to smuggle the contraband to federal pretrial detainees at the Essex County Jail, including Sauzereseteo’s brother, Muhammad Subpunallah, 32.
In January 2014 Subpunallah gave Kapalin $500 to deliver a package of marijuana to another inmate. Kapalin met with the inmate at the jail’s attorney conference room and gave him the contraband. Kapalin admitted delivering multiple packages of marijuana to a third inmate at the Essex County Jail between August 2013 and May 2014 in return for $500 per package.
The conspiracy charge to which Kapalin pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for March 18, 2015.
Sauzereseteo previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to smuggle contraband into a federal detention facility and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 4, 2014. Charges against Subpunallah are still pending and he is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, and investigators with the Internal Affairs Division of Essex County Jail, under the leadership of Warden Roy Hendricks, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rahul Agarwal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division and Rob Frazer of the Criminal Division, Organized Crime/Gangs Unit, in Newark.
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Defense counsel: Michael Pedicini Esq., Chatham, New JerseyKapalin, Brian Information
Eight United States Postal Workers Arrested on Long Island for Mail Theft and Marijuana Distribution ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Eight United States Postal Service employees at the Logistical and Distribution Priority Mail Processing Center in Bethpage, Long Island (“Bethpage L&DC”) were arrested last night and charged with theft of mail and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 129 pounds of marijuana over a six-month period. The criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Central Islip charging Kempleton Nash, Jr., Eugene Williams, Timothy Marshall, Jerrod Rollerson, Tanicha Grenald-Allen, Sherwin Parkes, Lloyd Johnson and Jose Hurtado. The defendants are scheduled to appear this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Gary Brown at the United States Courthouse, 100 Federal Plaza, Central Islip, New York.
The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Rafael Medina, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, and James J. Hunt, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, New York. The investigation was conducted by the USPS-OIG and the DEA’s Long Island District Office Task Force, which is comprised of agents and officers from the DEA, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and the Hempstead Police Department.
As detailed in the criminal complaint, U.S. Priority Mail shipping is increasingly becoming a method of transporting and delivering controlled substances across the United States. In this case, rather than alerting law enforcement agents to the presence of suspicious packages, the defendants allegedly stole the parcels from the processing line and placed them in a corridor outside the Bethpage L&DC accessed by a fire exit door whose alarm had been disabled. The defendants then retrieved the parcels from the corridor and carried the packages out of the building through the lobby of the adjacent business park. The defendants were also observed removing parcels from the processing line, and then attaching new labels re-directing delivery to alternative addresses. After “overlabeling” the parcels, the defendants allegedly reinserted the parcels into the normal line for delivery to the new destination. Between September and November, federal agents obtained search warrants for 12 of the “overlabeled” parcels, which resulted in the seizure of some 129 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value ranging from $100,000 to $930,000.
“Abusing their positions of trust as postal employees, the defendants allegedly stole hundreds of packages to further their drug dealing efforts,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “We and our partners in law enforcement are committed to ensuring that government employees act with the degree of integrity that the public expects and deserves.” Ms. Lynch also thanked the United States Postal Inspection Service, the New York State Police and the Suffolk County Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.
“The conduct alleged in the criminal complaint is beyond disgraceful and our office will continue to tirelessly investigate those postal service employees who violate the public’s trust,” stated USPS-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Medina. “The dedicated work of the hundreds of thousands of postal service employees should never be overshadowed by those who compromise their integrity for personal gain.”
“By allegedly targeting and stealing suspiciously shaped priority packages sent from the West Coast to further their drug trafficking network, the defendants became targets of investigation themselves. Not only did the defendants allegedly abuse their positions as Postal Service employees, but in doing so they endangered the security of the postal service facility and their coworkers,” stated DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Hunt. “I applaud the work of the USPS-OIG and the federal, state and local law enforcement partners who worked on this investigation.”
The charges in the complaint are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles N. Rose.
The Defendants:
KEMPLETON NASH, JR.
Age: 29
Cambria Heights, New York
EUGENE WILLIAMS
Age: 37
Brentwood, New York
TIMOTHY MARSHALL
Age: 28
Far Rockaway, New York
JERROD ROLLERSON
Age: 25
Hempstead, New York
TANICHA GRENALD-ALLEN
Age: 36
Brooklyn, New York
SHERWIN PARKES
Age: 36
Brooklyn, New York
LLOYD JOHNSON
Age: 34
St. Albans, New York
JOSE HURTADO
Age: 43
North Bellmore, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-MJ-1014
Eastern District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects 12,075,779.92 in Civil and Criminal Actions for U.S. Taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2014Read the Press Release
RALEIGH – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced today that the Eastern District of North Carolina collected $12,075,779.92 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2014. Of this amount, $7,766,083.07 was collected in criminal actions and $4,309,696.85 was collected in civil actions.
Additionally, the Eastern District worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $6,085,249.57 in cases pursued jointly with these offices. Of this amount, $4,942.19 was collected in criminal actions and $6,080,307.38 was collected in civil actions.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced on November 19, 2014 that the Justice Department collected $24.7 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014. The more than $24 billion in collections in FY 2014 represents nearly eight and a half times the appropriated $2.91 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.
“Every day, the Justice Department’s prosecutors and trial attorneys work hard to protect our citizens, to safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and to provide a valuable return on investment to the American people,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Their diligent efforts are enabling us to achieve justice and recoup losses in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy. And as a result, I can report today that – during Fiscal Year 2014 – the Justice Department collected a total of $24.7 billion in civil and criminal actions.”
“The United States Attorney’s Office has made the efficient and effective collection of restitution on behalf of victims of crime a top priority”, stated Mr. Walker. “Collection of restitution on behalf of the United States is essential during the current budgetary restraints.”
During the past fiscal year the Eastern District of North Carolina has returned millions of dollars to victims of crime. In one such case, due to fraudulent billing practices of the defendant in USA v. Johnson-Hunter, a total restitution of $452,039.00 was returned to Medicare and Medicaid. Recovering monies stolen from programs such as Medicare and Medicaid helps ensure that the programs are available when needed. The office was also successful in recovering $217,823.72 in back child support payments from an NBA pension account in the USA v. Williams case.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of North Carolina, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $2,380,412 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2014. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
Dunkirk Man Sentenced on Drug and Gun ChargesRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Christopher Marcinkowski, 28, of Dunkirk, N.Y., who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, was sentenced to 78 months in jail, by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handled the case, stated that on February 9, 2012, Dunkirk Police and New York State Parole executed a search warrant at 531 Columbus Avenue, Dunkirk, NY, the residence of the Marcinkowski and Jessica Mann. Just prior to the execution of the warrant, officers observed the defendant toss a sawed-off shotgun from a second story window. Officers later found a marijuana grow operation in the residence, as well as quantity of cocaine and drug packaging materials.
Jessica Mann was convicted of maintaining a drug-involved premises and was sentenced to time served and three years supervised release.
The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge James S. Higgins, and the New York State Division of Parole, under the direction of Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci, and the Dunkirk Police Department, under the direction of Chief David C. Ortolano.
District Man Found Guilty of Murder and Other Charges in 2000 Slaying of Government Witness-Victim Was Kidnapped and Executed-Read the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Anthony Gray, 36, has been found guilty by a jury of charges stemming from the July 2000 murder of a government witness, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Robert D. MacLean, Acting Chief of the United States Park Police.
Gray, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty on Dec. 2, 2014, of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, kidnapping, and felony murder while armed, as well as the aggravating circumstances that the murder was committed during the course of a kidnapping and was committed because the victim was a government witness. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Gray is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2015 before the Honorable Rhonda Reid-Winston.
According to the government’s evidence, Gray was part of a violent crew that operated in the Alabama Avenue SE area, known as “Simple City,” in the mid to late 1990s-2000s. The crew focused on selling drugs, committing violent crimes, and intimidating witnesses. Gray played an active role in the crew and committed a number of crimes on its behalf.
Specifically, in 1999, a murder was committed by two crew members in the area of Texas Avenue SE. Robert McManus, 20, was a reluctant witness to this murder. On July 5, 2000, as trial was approaching for the two crew members, Anthony Gray and another crew member kidnapped Mr. McManus from his bicycle for the purpose of preventing him from testifying at the trial. After kidnapping Mr. McManus, Gray and the other crew member drove him to the 4800 block of E Street SE, marched Mr. McManus into the woods, and shot him one time in the head. The following day, Mr. McManus’s body was recovered in a wooded area, executed.
Two other members of the crew pled guilty in recent weeks to charges stemming from other murders. Cedrick Shuler, 38, and Keith Fogle, 42, both formerly of Washington, D.C., pled guilty to charges on Nov. 6, 2014, as they were about to stand trial along with Gray.
Shuler pled guilty to one count of second-degree murder while armed for the March 1999 murder of Edward Gray and one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed for the February 1999 murder of Kelvin Howard. Fogle pled guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed for his role in the slaying of Mr. Gray. (Edward and Anthony Gray are not related).
According to the government’s evidence, Mr. Howard, 18, was not part of the feud involving rival crews. He was fatally shot as he was parked at a stop sign in his Chevrolet Tahoe. His car then crashed into a wooded area near 51st and C Streets SE. The jury acquitted Anthony Gray of charges related to Mr. Howard’s murder.
Like Mr. Howard, Edward Gray, 29, was an innocent victim of retaliatory violence by Shuler, who this time acted along with Fogle. Mr. Gray and his fiancé were attacked by gunfire at 8:45 p.m. on March 22, 1999, as they were in their Chevrolet Tahoe truck in the 4800 block of Alabama Avenue SE. According to the government’s evidence, because the Tahoe was moving so slowly, and circling the area, Shuler and Fogle mistakenly believed the occupants were members of a rival gang. They opened fire, killing Mr. Gray. The fiancé was not injured.
In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen, Chief Lanier, and Acting Chief MacLean commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines, who indicted the matter; Lead Paralegal Specialist Phil Aronson; Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Sharon Newman; Paralegal Specialists Meridith McGarrity, Fern Rhedrick, and Vanessa Trent-Valentine; Intelligence Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Supervisory Witness Security Specialist Michael Hailey; Witness Security Specialists Debra Cannon and Wanda Queen, and Information Technology Specialist Leif Hickling.
Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura R. Bach and Shana L. Fulton, who tried the case.
14-266Dave Conner, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Career Prosecutor, Dies Peacefully at Home After 15-Year Fight with CancerRead the Press Release
Please click here for a photo of Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Conner
DENVER -- It is with profound sadness that U.S. Attorney John Walsh announces that Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Conner passed away yesterday following a prolonged illness. Dave passed away peacefully at his home yesterday afternoon, after battling cancer for over fifteen years. Dave worked up until the day of his death.
"Dave Conner was no ordinary prosecutor. Over thirty-two years of service in the state and federal courts, he dedicated his heart and soul to the pursuit of justice,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “Dave’s skill, integrity and fierce commitment to fairness made him a legend among prosecutors, law enforcement and defense attorneys alike. He was a living, breathing model that prosecutors should aspire to, and a teacher of generations of young prosecutors, in both word and deed. We will miss Dave terribly, but the chords sounded by his memory will forever link our hearts to him and to what he stood for.”
Dave started his career as a prosecutor working as a Deputy District Attorney in Denver in March of 1982. While in the Denver DA’s Office, Dave was promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney. He then left the Denver District Attorney’s Office to become an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1988. He left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996 to work as a Federal Public Defender, and four years later returned to the U.S. Attorney's Office, where he served in the Major Crimes Section in charge of violent crimes, including bank robberies. Dave worked closely with a variety of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI led Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force. There he worked with both Special Agents from the FBI and state and local police officers assigned to the task force.
Dave obtained his Bachelor’s Degree with honors from Dartmouth College. Following his undergraduate study, Dave attended the University of Denver College of Law, where he earned his law degree, again with honors. Dave started his career as a newspaper reporter in Kirksville, Missouri. He clerked at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and was an associate at Davis, Graham & Stubbs prior to his government service.
Dave was active in the Smoky Hill United Methodist Church. He was an avid student of history, especially American history, Abraham Lincoln and the West. Dave had a near photographic memory. He could quote from many closing arguments that he had seen even when the prosecutor who tried the case could barely recall the case. His memory of court cases, biblical passages and the lines of old Western movies served him well in the courtroom and were always entertaining to his colleagues. Dave was an icon in the prosecution community. He was always a fierce advocate for justice and for all of his friends and family.
As a Deputy and Chief Deputy District Attorney in Denver, Dave prosecuted a number of high profile cases, including the Masonic Temple arson as well as the Michael Alexis homicide. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Dave prosecuted Forest Service employee Terry Barton, who was responsible for starting the Hayman Fire, one of the largest wildland fires in Colorado history. He also prosecuted individuals who kidnapped an executive of a bank in La Junta in an attempt to take all of the bank's money in the vault. The lead defendant in that case received a prison sentence of over 1,000 years.
Dave leaves behind his wife, Teri Dahn, a son, Gavin Conner, who serves as a Denver firefighter, and a daughter, Ashton Conner, who works at Kaplan University in Southern California.
Service information is pending.
Crab Orchard Man Sentenced 66 Months for Illegally Possessing over 100 Firearms and Stealing Thousands from Social SecurityRead the Press Release
LEXINGTON, KY - Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart L. Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Tom Caul, Special Agent in Charge for the Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of the Inspector General; and Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police Commissioner, jointly announced today that a Lincoln County man has been sentenced to 66 months in federal prison, for illegally possessing more than 100 firearms and defrauding the Social Security Administration out of thousands of dollars.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced 46 year-old David Brummett, on Wednesday, November 26, for being a felon in possession of firearms and defrauding the SSA. Under federal law, Brummett must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.
According to the plea agreement, in May 2013, Kentucky State Police (KSP) detectives searched Brummett’s home, pursuant to a warrant, and discovered 140 firearms. Because Brummett has a prior felony conviction, he is prohibited from possessing firearms. Brummett admitted he knew it was unlawful for him to possess firearms.
Additionally, Brummett, who had been receiving Social Security disability benefits, admitted that he intentionally failed to report some of his money and assets to the SSA so he could continue receiving financial assistance. According to court records, Brummett obtained $70,000 from SSA that he was not entitled to receive.
The investigation was conducted by ATF, KSP and the SSA. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hydee Hawkins prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
Covington Man Pleads Guilty to Lacey Act ViolationRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that LAWRENCE TREIGLE, age 33, of Covington, pleaded guilty today to a one-count Superseding Bill of Information charging him with conspiring to smuggle turtles out of the United States and to violation of the Lacey Act.
According to the Superseding Bill of Information, TREIGLE was part of a group of individuals involved in capturing North American Wood turtles from the wild in Pennsylvania, shipping the turtles by mail though the United States, and then illegally exporting the turtles to Hong Kong.
TREIGLE faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Postal Inspection Service in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney David Haller is in charge of the prosecution.
Couple Sentenced in Mortgage Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Katy, Texas couple who owned two mortgage service businesses in Henderson, Nev., have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that caused over $30 million in losses to federally insured financial institutions, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada.
Derrick Phelps, 46, former owner of Investors Realty and Enterprise Mortgage Services, was sentenced to 70 months in prison, and his wife, Cynthia Phelps, 44, was sentenced to four years in prison. Both defendants were also ordered to serve five years of supervise release and to pay approximately $31 million in restitution. They were sentenced by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan on Tuesday, Dec. 2, and were permitted to self-report to federal prison by March 6, 2015. They pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud and seven counts of bank fraud.
“Hundreds of mortgage industry employees and business owners have been convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison for defrauding the financial institutions during the housing boom in southern Nevada,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “We are continuing to work with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to pursue all sorts of financial fraud cases that impact the entire community.”According to their plea agreements, from about January 2003 to November 2006, the defendants devised a scheme to defraud federally insured financial institutions through the use of false mortgage applications. The defendants solicited buyers with good credit ratings to purchase homes in the Las Vegas area and made offers to purchase the homes above the sellers’ asking prices. In some instances, the defendants caused buyers to purchase multiple houses at or about the same time, so that the purchases would not show up on their credit report and the lenders would not be aware of the other purchases. The defendants then caused false information to be placed in the buyer’s mortgage loan applications pertaining to things such as income and intent to occupy the home. Once the loans were approved, the defendants caused the sellers to agree that part of the excess funds be redirected to the buyers under the pretense of making upgrades and repairs to the properties. The defendants intentionally concealed from the financial institutions that buyers were receiving part of the loan disbursements for their own use and benefit. The defendants defaulted on the mortgage loans which caused the properties to go into foreclosure. Using this scheme, the defendants purchased approximately 233 properties and caused losses to the financial institutions greater than $30 million
Three co-defendants charged in the scheme, Linda Mack, Tai Keyster, and Darryl Reese, are scheduled to go to trial on March 15, 2015.
The case is being investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Griswold.
This prosecution is part of efforts underway by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama 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. For more information about the task force visit: www.stopfraud.com.
Chief Officer of Engineering Firm Sentenced for Attempted Illegal Shipment to IranRead the Press Release
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that today in Harrisburg, United States District Court Judge Yvette Kane sentenced Hetran Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer, Helmut Oertmann for their involvement in a conspiracy to evade export reporting requirements and with attempting to smuggle to Iran a lathe machine in violation of U.S. export regulations. Oertmann received a sentence of 12 months probation. Hetran, an engineering and manufacturing plant in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, was also sentenced by Judge Kane, who adopted the penalty imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce of $337,500 cash and $500,000, which was suspended. The fine made both Oertmann and Hetran jointly liable for payment.
According to U.S. Attorney Peter Smith, Hetran manufactured a horizontal lathe, also described as a bar peeling machine (“peeler”), valued at more than $800,000 and weighing in excess of 50,000 pounds. The machine is used in the production of high grade steel or Abright steel@, a product used, among other things, in the manufacture of automobile and aircraft parts.
In June 2009, Hetran was contacted by representatives of FIMCO, an Iranian company with offices in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, and Crescent International, an affiliated company based in Dubai. FIMCO wanted to purchase the peeler. During negotiations, it became apparent that the peeler was intended for shipment to Iran. American companies are prohibited from shipping “dual use” items (such as the peeler) to Iran without first obtaining a license from the U.S. government. Aware that it was unlikely that such a license would be granted, Hetran, Helmut Oertmann and other co-conspirators agreed to falsely state on the shipping documents that the end-user of the peeler was Crescent International in Dubai.
On June 17, 2012, Hetrancaused the peeling machine to be shipped to Dubai, fraudulently listing Crescent International as the end-user, knowing that the shipment was ultimately being sent to Iran in violation of federal law.
U.S. authorities halted the shipment and prevented the machine from being delivered to Iran. Oertmann, Hetran, three Iranians and two Iranian corporations were indicted by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg in December 2012. Oertmann and Hetran pled guilty earlier this year.
The case was investigated by the Office of Export Enforcement of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Fawcett and Senior Litigation Counsel Gordon Zubrod and was overseen by the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Charleston heroin dealer sentenced in federal court in CharlestonRead the Press Release
Sentencing Judge Sends a Message With Imposition of 100 Month Sentence
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that Jonathan Kennedy, 34, of Charleston, West Virginia was sentenced today in federal court to more than eight years in federal prison for selling heroin and crack cocaine in Charleston. In July of 2014, Kennedy pled guilty to two drug felonies – one related to his travel between Detroit, Michigan and Charleston, West Virginia, to aid in the sale of heroin, and the second for using a cell phone to sell crack cocaine -- both in Charleston.
The sentencing court expressed that by imposing a 100 month sentence, he hoped to send a message to Kennedy and others regarding the trade of heroin and pills in this district.
This case was investigated by the Charleston Police Department. This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill and heroin trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.
California Woman Pleads Guilty to Heroin TraffickingRead the Press Release
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 38-year-old Fresno, California resident pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick in Wilkes-Barre, to possession with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Livier Cantor-Huizar, admitted to transporting 23 kilograms of heroin, with a street value of more than $1 million, from California to the Mt. Pocono area of Monroe County in July 2014.
Cantor-Huizar and three other suspects were indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2014, as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania State Police.
Judge Mehalchick ordered a pre-sentence investigation report to be completed. Cantor-Huizar will be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Conaboy at a future date.
Cantor-Huizar faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.
Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilty is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
California Man Found Guilty of Methamphetamine Conspiracy and Firearm ChargesRead the Press Release
Follow @SDILNewsA California man, Willie Gonzalez, a/k/a “Bullet,” 31, was found guilty by a jury sitting in federal court in East St. Louis of participating in a large methamphetamine distribution organization, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Gonzalez was found guilty of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.
Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27, 2015, in United States District Court in East St. Louis. He faces a potential sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison, a fine of up to $20,000,000, at least 10 years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment per count of conviction.
Evidence in support of this prosecution was obtained in an investigation which was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF initiative is designed to bring federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and resources together to identify, target and dismantle large national and international drug trafficking organizations. Agencies participating in this case include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and U.S. Marshal Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Donald S. Boyce.
Byron Center Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – The U.S Attorney’s Office announced that David W. McQueen, age 44, of Byron Center, Michigan, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 32,036,997.63 in restitution to his victims and $926,787.00 in restitution to the IRS. McQueen was convicted on May 9, 2014 after a six-week jury trial of six counts of mail fraud, six counts of money laundering, and three tax counts stemming from a massive Ponzi scheme that spanned three years. He was acquitted of one fraud count and two money laundering counts. The scheme affected more than 800 families, and preyed upon unsophisticated, often elderly investors.
The evidence at trial showed that, as with many investment frauds, McQueen likely did not set out to create a criminal enterprise that would result in a financial tragedy for his investors. In 2006, McQueen, who made an adequate living in sales, used borrowed funds to invest in a company called Multiple Return Transactions (“MRT”). MRT was owned and operated by Jim Clements. Clements promised returns of 10% per month or higher to McQueen. After a few months of making such returns, McQueen decided to capitalize on his apparent investment success and invited others to invest through him. McQueen created a company called Accelerated Income Group (“AIG”), through which he promised returns as high as 5-6% to investors. In addition, McQueen recruited insurance agents to sell his investments to their clients. For a short time, AIG was very successful (at least on paper). McQueen used MRT’s promised returns of 10%, to make AIG’s promised returns of 5%. McQueen could meet his 5% obligations to his investors and then keep 5% for himself.
In mid-2007, MRT stopped making payments and meeting redemption requests. MRT was merely a Ponzi scheme, and their money was gone and would never be recovered. Instead of notifying AIG investors that MRT had failed, however, McQueen continued to tell investors that their money was safe and growing. Without MRT making its monthly payments, McQueen and AIG could not meet their 5% monthly obligations to investors based on investment earnings. Instead, McQueen used the only funds he had available to make promised interest payments – money from new investors.
Instead of shutting down AIG, or at least notifying his investors of MRT’s cessation of interest payments, McQueen falsely touted his investment success and raised millions of dollars of additional money. In addition to AIG, McQueen created three other funds, International Opportunity Consultants (“IOC”), Diversified Liquid Asset Holdings (“DLAH”), and Diversified Global Finance (“DGF”), that were nothing more than sham corporations designed to raise millions of dollars from investors. McQueen commingled the investor money between his various and purportedly distinct funds and used it to make bogus interest payments and redemption requests to investors, pay commissions to agents that sold the funds on McQueen’s behalf, or simply spend the money. Despite knowing that he had absolutely no revenue coming in, McQueen took $100,000 of investor money per month tax free for his own personal use and enjoyment.
Recognizing that his scheme would collapse without actual investment success, McQueen placed approximately 30% of the investor funds in a series of highly speculative investments or scams. Unsurprisingly, this effort did not generate significant returns, and many lost all of the funds invested. To perpetuate his fraud, McQueen sent out monthly or quarterly account statements communicating to investors that their investments were safe and growing. Investors relied on those account statements and believed they accurately depicted the balance in their accounts. McQueen promised investors that they could liquidate their accounts at any time, but most did not because they believed that their account statements were accurate and that they had made a solid investment. In July and August 2009, McQueen sent out his final account statements showing that investors had tens of millions of dollars safe and growing in their “separate accounts.” Those statements concealed the truth – that McQueen had nearly run out of money.
On August 24, 2009, the IRS and FBI executed search and seizure warrants signed by Magistrate Judge Hugh W. Brenneman. The government seized approximately $430,000 from McQueen’s accounts. Unbeknownst to the government, McQueen later brought the remaining investor funds (approximately $440,000) back from an account located in New Zealand and used it for personal expenses and to make some last ditch investments, which failed.
McQueen was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after the jury rendered a guilty verdict and has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting sentencing.
“The extent of this fraud scheme, perpetrated on unsophisticated investors, is staggering. The victims, many elderly, have lost their livelihoods and retirement savings; depriving them of the future they had worked hard to secure. Determined to protect potential victims from these scams, IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to pursue financial predators like David McQueen and Trent Francke,” said IRS Special Agent in Charge Jarod Koopman.
“David McQueen, Trent Francke, and others swindled an extraordinary amount of money from many innocent investors while perpetrating this criminal fraud scheme,” stated Paul M. Abbate, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “While McQueen and others paid themselves millions from investor funds, their victims, many of whom were elderly and retired, lost everything—their savings, their homes and livelihoods. This investigation, trial, convictions, and prison sentences all reflect the resolve of the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring justice to bear upon those who would steal from trusting investors and undermine our financial systems.”
This case was investigated by the IRS and FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew G. Borgula, Sally J. Berens, Joel Fauson, and Heath Lynch and Securities and Exchange Commission Trial Attorney Timothy Leiman.
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Bridgeport Man Who Trafficked Firearms Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
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Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TYQUAN PORTER, also known as “T.Y.,” 27, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
This matter stems from “Operation Samson,” a multi-layered initiative headed by the ATF and the Bridgeport and New Haven Police Departments that targeted violent criminals, illegal firearm possession and firearm trafficking. In the spring of 2014, approximately 40 ATF special agents and personnel from Connecticut and across the country were deployed with New Haven and Bridgeport Police to conduct numerous covert operations.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in April 2014, PORTER sold a .40 caliber rifle, a .380 caliber pistol with a high capacity magazine, and a 7.62x39 mm caliber rifle to an undercover ATF officer. PORTER also provided a loaded .38 caliber revolver with an obliterated serial number and a faulty trigger mechanism to the undercover ATF officer to repair.
PORTER was previously convicted in state court of a felony narcotics offense. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
PORTER is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton on March 2, 2015, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
PORTER was arrested on May 12, 2014, and is currently released on a $150,000 bond.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale.
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