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Wednesday 24 July 2013
Doctor Admits Accepting $1.8 Million in Bribes for Test Referrals to New Jersey Clinical LaboratoryRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Morris County, N.J., doctor today admitted accepting $1.8 million in bribes to refer millions of dollars in business to Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, N.J., as part of a long-running scheme operated by the lab, its president, and numerous associates, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Frank Santangelo, 43, of Boonton, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court to an information charging him with violating the Travel Act, money laundering and failing to file tax returns.
“Patients should be able to trust that their doctors are prescribing only tests that are necessary and are recommending providers who are best qualified to perform those tests,” U.S. Attorney Fishman said. “In pleading guilty today to the charges against him, Dr. Santangelo admitted he violated that trust. He committed the type of fraud that drives up the cost of health care and compromises patient care.”“The investigation of Dr. Santangelo is another sad story of a doctor putting his greed ahead of his oath of fidelity to his patients,” FBI New Jersey Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford said. “The plea today is a direct result of the joint efforts of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, who remain committed to protecting the American public from those who would abuse the health care needs of innocent patients for their own financial gain.”
According to documents filed in this and other cases and statements made in court:
Santangelo, who has offices in Montville, N.J., and Wayne, N.J., received more than $1.8 million in bribe payments from BLS for referrals for which the lab was paid more than $6 million by Medicare and various insurance companies. After receiving more than $800,000 from BLS through sham lease agreements and sham service agreements between 2006 and 2010, Santangelo began receiving bribes from BLS through a third party – often tens of thousands of dollars a month – totaling more than $1 million between 2010 and his arrest in April 2013.
Santangelo acknowledged the authenticity of text messages between himself and BLS president and part owner David Nicoll in which Santangelo referred to ordering unnecessary tests to increase referrals to BLS in exchange for bribes. In one text message conversation, Santangelo said he and another doctor had “put our heads together and added a significant amount of testing…. The testing is 90 percent legit.” Santangelo detailed his plan to send $1 million per month in blood testing referrals to BLS by increasing the number of blood tests being ordered, including medically unnecessary tests.
In another text message conversation, David Nicoll wrote to Santangelo about the status of their referral agreement, stating that BLS “really can’t afford the 40-50,000 [dollars] a month if the girls aren’t going to be drawing any blood,” to which Santangelo responded by stating, “U no u can count on me!” and “I never let u down!”
He also pleaded guilty to money laundering, admitting that he used another individual in an attempt to hide the bribes from BLS, and to failing to file tax returns from 2009-2011 and pay taxes owed during that time period.
On April 9, 2013, federal agents arrested David Nicoll, 39, of Mountain Lakes, N.J.; Scott Nicoll, 32, of Wayne, N.J., a senior BLS employee and David Nicoll’s brother; and Craig Nordman, 34, of Whippany, N.J., a BLS employee and the CEO of Advantech Sales LLC – an entity used by BLS to make illegal payments. They were charged by federal complaint with the bribery conspiracy, along with the BLS company and Santangelo. Last month, David and Scott Nicoll and four other associates of BLS pleaded guilty to charges related to their involvement. So far, nine employees or associates of BLS, and four physicians have pleaded guilty to their roles in the bribery scheme.
“When a doctor prescribes a medical test, patients should feel confident that it is in their best interest,” said Thomas O’Donnell, Special Agent in Charge, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, New York region. “But when that doctor accepts more than a million dollars in bribes as Dr. Santangelo did, he jeopardizes patient-doctor trust, his patients’ health, and the integrity of the Medicare program, and will be prosecuted accordingly.”
The bribery count to which Santangelo pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money laundering charge, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and a maximum potential penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine on the tax charge. Sentencing for Santangelo is scheduled for Oct. 24, 2013.
Santangelo has also agreed to forfeit more than $1.8 million. The investigation has so far recovered more than $2 million through forfeiture.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Tom O’Donnell; IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates, with the ongoing investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.
The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Minish, and Jacob T. Elberg, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Ward of the office’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit.
13-308
Defense counsel: Thomas Ambrosio Esq., Lyndhurst, N.J.
Santangelo Information
District Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Dustin Metz, 30, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a federal charge of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., John P. Torres, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Washington, D.C., and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Metz entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Senior Judge Royce C. Lamberth is to sentence him on Oct. 17, 2013. Metz faces a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment, as well as a potential fine of $250,000.
According to a statement of offense signed by the defendant as well as the government, between September 2012 and April 2013, Metz possessed child pornography on his personal computer at his residence in Washington, D.C. On various dates during that time-frame, Metz used a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download to his computer numerous images and videos depicting child pornography and at the same time make those images and videos available for other users of the program to download themselves. Metz viewed the images and videos and then deleted them.
On April 17, 2013, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Metz’s home and seized various items, including two laptop computers. Law enforcement subsequently discovered evidence showing that Metz had possessed child pornography on both of the computers, including at least one video depicting child pornography and remnants of additional video and image files indicative of child pornography. Metz was arrested on May 9, 2013.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Special Agent in Charge Torres, and Chief Lanier praised the work of the HSI special agents and MPD detectives who investigated the case. They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassidy Kesler Pinegar, who is prosecuting the case.
13-258Court Bars South Carolina Tax Return Preparer from Preparing Returns for OthersRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that a federal district judge in Charleston, S.C. permanently barred Stacy Middleton from preparing federal income tax returns for others.
According to the government’s complaint, Middleton and a second defendant, George Jenkins, prepared federal income tax returns in Charleston through a business named MBM Tax and Accounting Services LLC. As alleged, Middleton prepared returns for his clients that unlawfully understated his clients’ income tax liabilities and overstated his clients’ refunds through a variety of schemes. The complaint alleged that Middleton prepared returns that unlawfully created fictitious deductions and credits as well as overstating and duplicating existing deductions and credits. The complaint further alleged that Middleton created fraudulent copies of Form 1099 on behalf of customers, creating fake income to enable Middleton to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit on behalf of his clients. According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examined 842 returns prepared by Middleton and Jenkins, and over 93 percent of those examinations resulted in an adjustment to their client’s tax liability. According to the complaint, the IRS estimated that the U.S. Treasury lost as much as $55 million in revenue on account of Middleton’s and Jenkins’ misconduct.
Middleton consented to the entry of the injunction. The government’s claims remain pending against Jenkins and will be addressed in further court proceedings.
In the past 10 years the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax return preparers and tax fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm.
Related Materials:
United States v. Stacy Middleton, et al.
Permanent Injunction (PDF)
Conspirator Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison in Bank Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Used His Employment With a Residential Mental Health Program To Steal
Identity Information of Clients to Open Fraudulent Bank Accounts
for Personal Use
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Derrick Elrod, age 35, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, today to three years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to use stolen, personal identifying information of individuals to open bank accounts and fraudulently obtain cash, merchandise and services.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Wicomico County Sheriff Michael A. Lewis; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, Philadelphia Field Division.
“The investigation of financial crimes is an HSI priority,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge in Baltimore William Winter. “Derrick Elrod abused his position of trust by stealing identity information that was entrusted to him to facilitate a fraud scheme for his own personal benefit. HSI will continue using all its resources to bring to justice individuals like Elrod who think that their illegal actions can go undetected.”
“Today's sentencing is another example that crime really does not pay,” said Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington DC Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation welcomes opportunities to assist the Department of Justice and their law enforcement
partners with dismantling criminal conspiracies profiting from bank fraud and identity theft.”Elrod worked for Resources for Human Development, Inc. (RHD), a nonprofit social services organization headquartered in Philadelphia. Elrod was an advisor at a residential program that supports individuals with mental health needs.
According to Elrod’s plea agreement, in at least April 2010, Elrod became part of a bank fraud conspiracy led my Christopher Devine when he opened a checking account into which Devine and his co-conspirators deposited fraudulent checks totaling $4,800. Devine and others at his direction then made approximately $2,028.83 in cash advances and retail purchases before the bank returned the checks for insufficient funds.
After that, Elrod used his position at RHD to steal the personal identifying information of past or present residents of RHD. Elrod sold the personal information of at least 40 individuals who were residents of RHD programs to Devine during Devine’s many trips to Philadelphia.
Over the course of the scheme, Devine and his conspirators used the stolen information of at least four RHD residents to open checking accounts at banks, and deposited at least $11,598 in fraudulent checks into those accounts. Approximately $9,858 in cash advances and retail purchases were made from those accounts before the banks returned the checks for insufficient funds. Devine even paid a friend to create a fraudulent driver’s license using the stolen information of one of the victims, but with Devine’s photo.
In addition, Devine used the stolen personal information of RHD program residents to file at least 13 false tax returns for the 2010 tax year, claiming $51,987 in fraudulent refunds. Many of the false refunds were direct deposited into bank accounts controlled by Devine through the bank fraud scheme. The fraudulent refunds received through the tax scheme totaled $36,552.
The stolen personal information of 15 RHD program residents was used in the bank fraud and tax schemes.
Christopher Andre Devine, age 33; Quanishia Williamson-Ross, age 31; Quashonna Williamson, age 26, and Lenee E. Williamson, age 22, all of Salisbury, Maryland, Frederica, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and John Waters, age 38, of Philadelphia, previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy. Devine was sentenced to 121 months in prison, Williamson-Ross was sentenced to 42 months in prison; Lenee and Quashonna Williamson were each sentenced to three years in prison; and Waters was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
This law enforcement action is part of 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.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked HSI Baltimore, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, IRS-CI and the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul E. Budlow and Kristi N. O’Malley, who prosecuted the case.
Commodities Trader Indicted for $300,000 Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, a 28-count federal indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging Jeffrey Shalhoub with operating a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors in his unregistered commodities trading pool.1 The indictment alleges that Shalhoub solicited his alleged victims to invest money in his company, The 9 Group, Ltd., which purportedly pooled investor money and used the money to trade in the commodities futures markets. Shalhoub told his investors that they would receive returns of up to 10% of their principal investment every week through his investments in commodities futures. The indictment charges that after he solicited approximately $300,000 of investor money, Shalhoub lost a substantial sum of this money through his trading activities, and misappropriated much of the remaining funds by keeping the money for himself. The defendant allegedly concealed the theft and losses by sending his investors fraudulent account statements which falsely showed that his investors’ accounts were earning a rate of return of up to 5.2% each week. The indictment further alleges that because of his trading losses and theft of investor funds, Shalhoub could not pay his existing investors their expected investment returns and, therefore, had to use new investor money to pay purported earnings to the existing investors.
Shalhoub was arrested earlier today. He will be arraigned in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr.
The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service.
“As alleged in the indictment, Shalhoub employed fraud and deceit to take advantage of victims who sought to invest in America’s markets. His promises of high returns were all a criminal mirage, propped up by account statements that were no more than fairy tales,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Today’s arrest demonstrates the Department of Justice’s continuing commitment to investigate and prosecute those who commit financial crimes, particularly those who haven’t gotten the message that we will not tolerate Ponzi schemes.” Ms. Lynch thanked the United States Postal Inspection Service for its work on the investigation and also acknowledged the Commodities Futures Trading Commission for its assistance.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tyler Smith, David C. Woll, Jr., and Brendan G. King.
This prosecution was the result of efforts 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. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants. For more information on the task force, visit http://www.StopFraud.gov.
The Defendant
JEFFREY SHALHOUB
Age: 38
Residence: Staten Island, NY_____________________________
1The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Church Youth Leader Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of ChildrenRead the Press Release
Project Safe Childhood
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Norwood, Mo., man who volunteered as a church youth leader has pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of enticing minors for illegal sexual activity.
Brent “Pete” Turley, 22, of Norwood, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, to the charges contained in a July 24, 2012, federal indictment.
Turley pleaded guilty to using the Internet and a cell phone to attempt to entice a child victim to engage in illegal sexual activity. A law enforcement officer was using the child victim’s phone to investigate after the parents contacted authorities. Turley made arrangements with the undercover officer to meet the child victim at a local park, where he was arrested on March 19, 2012.
Turley also pleaded guilty to a separate count of using the Internet and a cell phone to entice a child victim to engage in illegal sexual activity. Turley admitted that he engaged in illicit sexual activity with a 15-year-old victim.
Under federal statutes, Turley is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000. 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 James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."Child Pornography Charges Filed on Sherrodsville ManRead the Press Release
Robert S. Terry, 62, of Sherrodsville, Ohio, was charged with receiving, distributing and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The indictment charges that from on or about May 12, 2013, through on or about May 18, 2013, Terry knowingly received and distributed, by computer, numerous computer files, which contained visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
On June 21, 2013, images of child pornography were also found on his 8GB flash drive, according to the indictment.
If convicted, the sentence in this case will be determined by the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carol M. Skutnik. The case was investigated by the Canton Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Chief Engineer from M/t Stolt Facto, Inigo Albina, Sentenced for Obstruction of JusticeRead the Press Release
INIGO ALBINA, age 57, a citizen of the Phillipines, was sentenced today to 3 years probation and fined $10,000 by U. S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr., for obstruction of justice in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1505, announced U. S. Attorney Dana J. Boente.
According to the court documents, ALBINA served as the Chief Engineer of the M/T Stolt Facto, a 26,328 gross ton oil tanker,from October 18, 2012 until on or about January 30, 2013. ALBINA was responsible for the overall operation of the engine room which included maintaining the Oil Record Book. During his tenure as Chief Engineer of the M/T Stolt Facto, ALBINA made and signed all the entries in the Oil Record Book. ALBINA’s entries stated that the bilge water on the vesselhad passed through the Oil Water Separator prior to being discharged overboard.
Contrary to the statements in the Oil Record Book, the contents of the bilge wells and bilge holding tank were actually pumped into the sewage holding tank with hoses that stretched upward onto the uppermost deck of the engine room and around the floor of the engine control room by-passing the Oil Water Separator. From the sewage holding tank, the bilge water was discharged into the ocean. ALBINA did not record these exceptional discharges in the Oil Record Book.
On or about January 15, 2013, the M/T Stolt Facto was boarded by the United States Coast Guard pursuant to its 89(a) authority while the vessel was anchored in the Mississippi River, near New Orleans, Louisiana, and within the Eastern District of Louisiana. During the boarding, the Coast Guard inspectors found the hoses and pump used to by-pass the Oil Water Separator. When the Coast Guard inspectors questioned the engine room crew about the purpose for the equipment and the operation of the Oil Water Separator, all except one engineer, denied that they by-passed the Oil Water Separator despite some of them having been ordered to assist with the connection of the hoses and pumps.
After the Coast Guard’s initial interviews of the engine crew, ALBINA asked each one how he had responded to the Coast Guard’s questions. ALBINA then conducted an all-hands meeting with the engineers and lower level engine room crew. The illegality of the operation was discussed, but ALBINA told everyone in the meeting to deny knowledge of the hoses going to the sewage holding tank by-passing the Oil Water Separator. ALBINA admits that he was trying to influence the Coast Guard inspection by telling the crew to lie in order to prevent the Coast Guard from detecting that the hoses and pump were used to by-pass.
The case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard. The case was prosecuted by Emily Greenfield.
Canton Man Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Federal Prison for Producing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL CRAWFORD, 36, of Canton, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 210 months of imprisonment, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, for producing child pornography.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office aggressively prosecutes child exploitation crimes, and this lengthy prison sentence should send a loud and clear message that the penalties associated with these crimes are appropriately severe,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Daly. “I commend Homeland Security Investigations, the Connecticut State Police and the Canton Police Department for investigating this matter and protecting children from future harm by this defendant.”
According to court documents and statements made in court, in July 2012, law enforcement officers discovered that an individual from Connecticut had been posting photographs of children on a Russian file-sharing website. On July 5, 2012, officers executed a state search warrant at CRAWFORD’s residence. On that date, CRAWFORD admitted that he posted images to the Russian website, that he had taken photographs of a three-year-old minor victim and posted them on the site, and that he had exchanged photographs of the minor victim in order to receive better photos from others in trade. A subsequent search of CRAWFORD’s email account revealed seven sexually explicit photographs of the minor victim taken by CRAWFORD. CRAWFORD had e-mailed four of the images to other individuals.
In addition to the pictures of the minor victim that he had taken, CRAWFORD’s email account contained approximately 777 images and 24 videos of child pornography.
CRAWFORD has been detained since his arrest on January 9, 2013. On May 1, 2013, he pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography.
This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Connecticut State Police and the Canton Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sarala V. Nagala and Anastasia E. King.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
[email protected]California Man Pleads Guilty to Interference with A Flight CrewRead the Press Release
Bryan Ray Allen, 32, of San Juan Capistrano, California, faces an agreed sentence of forty-eight (48) months in federal prison after admitting to interference with a flight crew, United States Attorney Robert Pitman, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Morgan, El Paso Division, and Midland Police Chief Price Robinson announced today.
Appearing in United States District Court before Judge Robert Junell in Midland this afternoon, Allen pleaded guilty to one count of interference with a flight crew. According to the factual basis filed in the case, on May 23, 2013, Allen boarded Southwest Airlines flight 863 in Los Angeles, California, with a final destination of Dallas, Texas. The flight had stops in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Midland, Texas. Allen admitted that in the twenty-four hours before the flight he smoked methamphetamine twice and drank whiskey at the airport. On the flight from Las Vegas to Midland, Allen began hallucinating. He believed the pilots of the plane were evil and that it was a “plane ride to hell”. Allen felt he needed to either get off the plane or get into the cockpit to stop the pilots. As the plane began its descent into Midland, after all the passengers were instructed to remain seated, Allen approached the cockpit door, ignoring flight crew instructions to return to his seat and attempted multiple times to enter the cockpit. Once the plane landed, Allen pushed a flight attendant out of the way of the cabin door and ran up the jet way ramp into the airport where he was met by Midland Police Department officers who had to physically subdue him.
Allen has been and will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals pending a sentencing hearing on October 10, 2013, before United States District Judge Robert A. Junell in Midland.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Midland Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney V. LaTawn Warsaw is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.
Branson Restaurant Manager Indicted for Meth, Illegal FirearmsRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that the manager of the La Iguana Mexican Restaurant in Branson, Mo., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to drug trafficking and illegally possessing firearms.
Jose Antonio Garcia-Gonzalez, 39, of Branson, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Tuesday, July 23, 2013. Garcia-Gonzalez is the manager of the La Iguana Mexican Restaurant in Branson.
The federal indictment alleges that Garcia-Gonzalez possessed 500 grams or more of methamphetamine on July 16, 2013, with the intent to distribute. The indictment also alleges that Garcia-Gonzalez was an illegal alien in possession of several firearms. Garcia-Gonzalez allegedly possessed a Jennings Jimenez Arms 9mm semi-automatic firearm, a KelTek 9mm semi-automatic firearm, a Springfield Armory 9mm semi-automatic firearm, a Spikes Tactical AR-15 (7.62X39) rifle and ammunition, all of which was seized by law enforcement officers from his residence on July 16, 2013.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection Unit, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Branson, Mo., Police Department and the Missouri Department of Revenue.Boardman Man Charged with Aiming Laser Pointer at Medical HelicopterRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Travis D. Krzysztofiak, age 34, of Boardman, Ohio, with aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The indictment charges that on or about June 15, 2013, Krzysztofiak aimed the beam of a laser pointer at a medical helicopter on approach to Akron’s Children’s Hospital in Boardman, Ohio.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigaton and the Boardman Police Department. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David M. Toepfer.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Apple Valley Woman and Farmington Man Sentenced for Armed Robbery of Northfield HotelRead the Press Release
MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court in St. Paul, a 23-year-old Apple Valley woman was sentenced in connection with the armed robbery of America’s Best Value Inn and Suites in Northfield. United States District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson sentenced Julie Ann Campana to 36 months in prison on one count of aiding and abetting interference with commerce by robbery. Campana was indicted on December 3, 2012, and pleaded guilty on April 2, 2013.
On July 17, 2013, Campana’s co-defendant Eric Wayne Forcier, age 27, of Farmington, was sentenced to 240 months on two counts of interference with commerce by robbery pursuant to the Hobbs Act; one count of using, carrying, possessing and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He also pleaded guilty on April 2, 2013.
In his plea agreement, Forcier admitted that on October 29, 2012, he entered the hotel wearing a Halloween mask, pointed a handgun at the night manager, and demanded money from the cash register and the safe. After receiving $114, he ran outside to an awaiting vehicle. Shortly after the car left the scene, police stopped it and arrested Campana, the driver. Forcier fled from police, discharging his handgun, but was arrested later in the day. Officers recovered items from the vehicle as well as along the path that Forcier took in running from the police. Those items included the Halloween mask and a .32-caliber, semi-automatic pistol.
Forcier also admitted robbing four other businesses. On October 22, 2012, he stole $1,850 from Eddy’s Bar & Grill in Inver Grove Heights. He admittedly entered the bar, pointed a handgun at several employees, and fired it at the ceiling. On October 15, 2012, he stole $60 from an Apple Valley Domino’s Pizza; on October 18, 2012, he stole $154.41 from a Bloomington SuperAmerica; and on October 19, 2012, he stole $200 from an Apple Valley Jiffy Lube.
Because he is a felon, Forcier is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms at any time. His prior Dakota County convictions include second-degree drug possession (2008), possession of stolen property (2008), two counts of fifth-degree drug possession (2007), and fleeing police in a motor vehicle (2007).
In her plea agreement, Campana admitted she was the lookout and get-away driver for Forcier on October 29. Campana also admitted that before the robbery, she questioned the hotel’s night manager about the hotel’s nighttime operations. In addition, Campana admitted she was Forcier’s get-away driver for the robberies at Eddy’s, SuperAmerica, and Domino’s.
The Hobbs Act, passed by Congress in 1946, allows federal prosecutors to prosecute individuals who commit armed robberies of businesses engaged in interstate commerce.
This case was the result of an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office; the Rice County Sheriff’s Office; and the police departments of Apple Valley, Bloomington, Inver Grove Heights and Northfield. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amber M. Brennan and Allen A. Slaughter.Another Plea in Panama Unit CaseRead the Press Release
McALLEN, Texas – Alexis Espinoza, 30, has entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today.
Espinoza, of McAllen, admitted that during 2012, he utilized his position as a law enforcement officer to traffic narcotics. Espinoza, a former officer with the Mission Police Department (MPD), along with other MPD officers and deputies of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Offic, used his law enforcement authority to steal narcotics which were then sold to local drug dealers.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane, who accepted the guilty plea, has set sentencing for Sept. 10, 2013, at which time he faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, along with a potential fine up to $10 million. Espinoza was permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing.
The investigation leading to the charges was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations - Office of Professional Responsibility and Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorneys James Sturgis and Anibal Alaniz are prosecuting the case.
Anchorage Man sentenced to 60 months in prison for assault on a federal officerRead the Press Release
Anchorage, Alaska-U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a man from Anchorage was sentenced here in federal court to prison for an assault on a Federal Officer.
Kyle Scott Hansen, 26, from Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced on July 23, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to 60 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. Hansen was also ordered to pay $78,310.44 to the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for damage he caused. Hansen had previously pled guilty to count one of an indictment charging him with assault on a federal officer.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Cavanaugh, who prosecuted the case, just after midnight on January 19, 2013, Hansen drove a blue GMC pickup truck through the Boniface Gate of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (“JBER”). When Hansen drove onto JBER, he was unauthorized to be on the facility and drove through a closed lane at the gate. Once on JBER, Hansen ignored JBER security police attempts to conduct a traffic stop and continued driving through JBER at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. When Hansen reached the Government Hill Gate, he discovered it was closed and turned around and headed back towards the Boniface Gate and in the process of turning around, he damaged one security police vehicle.
Security police set up a roadblock in an attempt to stop Hansen and at the roadblock, Hansen drove his vehicle through an opening between a vehicle and a light pole. While driving through this opening, Hansen struck a Senior Airman’s service rifle that he was holding and the rifle then struck the Senior Airman in the throat and caused him to fall down an embankment. Hansen then continued through the now closed Boniface Gate causing significant damage to the gate. Hansen was contacted and arrested later in the day in Eagle River, Alaska. His vehicle was later recovered in the Airport Heights neighborhood of Anchorage on January 20, 2013. The investigation revealed that prior to entering JBER, Hansen had consumed Coricidin D, a cold and flu medicine that Hansen used as a replacement for illegal drugs and alcohol.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Gleason was “troubled” by a “26 year old man who already has 4 prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol and one prior conviction for felony eluding”. The Judge echoed Mr. Cavanaugh’s comments that Hansen has been fortunate to have not seriously injured anyone as a result of his prior impaired driving offenses. Judge Gleason also noted that the prior sentences Hansen had received as a result of his prior alcohol/driving and felony eluding convictions, had not served sufficiently as a deterrent to future behavior, given that the incident at JBER happened so soon after he had been released from jail for his most recent conviction.
Judge Gleason recognized that “protection of the public” was one of her main sentencing goals and that, “when intoxicated; Hansen was a danger to the community and the public needs to be protected from him.”
Ms. Loeffler commended the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations at JBER and the Anchorage Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Hansen.
Alabama Man Pleads Guilty in Connection with Assault of U.S. Border Patrol Agents Near Langtry, TexasRead the Press Release
Incident resulted in the deaths of two area residents and serious injury to a third
David Steiner, a 39–year-old Vinegar Bend, AL, resident faces 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to felony assault of a U.S. Border Patrol agent announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Rodolfo Karisch, Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol.
Appearing before United States Magistrate Judge Collis White in Del Rio this morning, Steiner pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer by using a deadly or dangerous weapon. By pleading guilty, Steiner admitted that on May 25, 2012, he used his vehicle to charge at three Border Patrol agents near Langtry, Texas, during an attempt to avoid potential detention after fleeing from a traffic stop near Comstock, Texas.
As a result of Steiner’s actions, the agents were forced to drive off the paved roadway to avoid being struck by Steiner. Agents gave chase and the pursuit continued toward Sanderson, Texas. The pursuit ended when Steiner hit an oncoming vehicle killing two occupants and gravely injuring the driver.
Steiner, who has remained in custody since his arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:00am on December 17, 2013, before United States District Judge Alia Moses.
This case was investigated by agents with the Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Internal Affairs with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, Terrell County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorney Ralph Paradiso is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.
Akron Man Indicted for Heroin DistributionRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging an Akron man with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Willie L. Sanders, Jr., age 27, is accused of possessing appoximately 27.9 grams of heroin on March 21, 2013, according to the indictment.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Akron Police Department Street Narcotics Uniformed Detail (SNUD), and the Summit County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiative. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samuel A. Yannucci.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Tuesday 23 July 2013
former Department of Defense Auditor sentenced to two years probation and $5000 fineRead the Press Release
Anchorage, Alaska-U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that an Anchorage woman was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage for violating conflict of interest laws by representing a contractor on issues she previously handled for the government.
Jodi Ann Andres, 48, of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced July 22, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to two years’ probation and ordered to pay a $5000 fine.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Retta-Rae Randall, who prosecuted the case, and information presented in court, Andres was an auditor with the Department of Defense’s Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) from January 2003 to September 2006. During that time, she was the primary auditor of cost proposals, labor rates and claims for the Missile Defense Agency. The Missile Defense Agency is responsible for developing, testing and fielding an integrated Ballistic Missile Defense System for the United States.
The Alaska Aerospace Corporation, formerly the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation, was established in 1991 by the State of Alaska to develop a high technology aerospace industry in the state. Alaska Aerospace became a contractor for the Missile Defense Agency in 2003, when pursuant to a five year contract; Alaska Aerospace provided support for launches from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Kodiak, Alaska.
In September 2006, Andres left employment with the DCAA and began employment with Alaska Aerospace as its Controller. In July 2008 Andres represented Alaska Aerospace during communications and negotiations with the DCAA about the same Missile Defense Agency contract she had previously audited, with the intent to influence the DCAA about that contract, in violation of a lifetime restriction which barred such communications.
Ms. Loeffler commends the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, for the investigation of this case and the Defense Contract Audit Agency who referred the matter to the Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Vancouver Man Sentenced to 14 Months in Prison for Lying About his Ability to Conduct Lead TestingRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore. – Martin Glaves Kuna, 66, of Vancouver, Washington, was sentenced yesterday to 14 months in prison by the U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon after pleading guilty today to one count of wire fraud. Kuna falsely advertised and told customers that he was certified to perform lead-based paint inspections and testing in homes where children resided, when in fact, he was not properly qualified or certified by state authorities to do so.
In response to medical studies on the health hazards presented to children by lead-based paint, Congress passed the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (“Lead Hazard Act”). The Lead Hazard Act authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to develop regulations to ensure, among other things, that individuals engaged in lead-based paint inspections and testing were properly trained and certified. Oregon’s rules for the certification of individuals and firms engaged in lead-based paint inspections and testing prohibit any person or firm to perform lead-based paint inspections and testing in target housing or child-occupied facilities without first receiving appropriate certification.
From May 2008 to September 2012, Kuna advertised his services to conduct lead-based paint inspections and testing, and indicated to individuals via the internet and in person that he was certified to do so. Kuna, however, had not received the required certification and training to inspect and test target housing or child-occupied facilities for lead-based paint despite his representations that he had. Over the course of the scheme, Kuna conducted more than ten (10) such inspections. In one instance where Kuna performed lead-based paint inspections and testing, children resided in the home and Kuna provided the home owner a false negative for the detection of lead. Evidence introduced by the government at sentencing demonstrated that the defendant failed to perform the appropriate tests to determine lead in the home. As a result, some of the children in the home experienced increased lead levels in their blood.
In January 2012, civil EPA investigators intervened in Kuna’s business activities and ordered him to stop lead-based paint inspections and testing. Despite EPA’s order, Defendant Kuna continued to advertise and perform lead-based paint inspections and testing through September 2012. In sentencing Kuna, Judge Simon declared, “Our first duty in society as adults is to protect children.” Following his findings and imposition of 14 months in prison, Judge Simon told the defendant, “The bottom line is, the actions you engaged in put children at risk. Our society just cannot allow that.”
“Protecting children and families is the guiding principle behind our work,” said U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. “This investigation and prosecution uncovered a significant public health risk. The defendant’s lies caused young children to be exposed to dangerous levels of lead. This office, along with our partners at EPA, will continue to seek criminal penalties for those who break the law and threaten the health of our children.”
“Defendant Kuna, untrained and uncertified to perform the lead-based paint inspection and testing services he sold to unsuspecting families, put children’s health in jeopardy,” said Tyler Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Seattle. “I commend the diligence of the Smith family, who by questioning the services of Mr. Kuna, started a federal investigation and prevented further exposure and injury to their children. This prosecution and conviction speaks for itself – if ‘business-as-usual’ includes exposing children to lead, you will pay the price.”
The investigation was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Holman Kerin.
Two Women Sentenced for Nevada Medicaid Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
RENO, Nev. – Two women were sentenced today for their guilty pleas to federal health care fraud charges after they defrauded the Nevada Medicaid program of approximately $1 million, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Cassandra Little, 49, of Reno, was sentenced to 33 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $81,400 in restitution. Little pleaded guilty in March to 28 counts of health care fraud and 10 counts of money laundering.
Susan Hill, 66, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $81,400 in restitution. Hill pleaded guilty in March to one count of health care fraud and one count of money laundering.
Senior U.S. District Judge Howard D. McKibben in Reno sentenced both women, and allowed them to self-report to federal prison by Oct. 15, 2013.
“As this case demonstrates, health care fraud is a serious criminal offense with serious consequences that can land you in federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to investigating and prosecuting persons who commit this type of crime.”
“Our attorneys and investigators work closely with our partners to find Medicaid violators and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law for cheating the system,” said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. “We hope today's prison sentence and combined restitution of approximately $81,000 sends a strong message to others who may consider stealing from taxpayers. We will not tolerate those that take advantage of the system."
According to the court records, from about January 2007 to January 2011, Hill and Little defrauded the Nevada Medicaid program of approximately $1 million by fraudulently billing for expensive therapy-related services such as psychosocial rehabilitation and basic skills training which were never provided. To execute their scheme, Hill and Little formed a company, the Hill/Little LLC, and entered into a contract with Nevada Medicaid to provide health care services to children who were eligible for Medicaid. Hill was the president of the LLC. Little, a PhD and licensed social worker, was to provide the clinical services to the children. Hill and Little then created a program to obtain aid for the parents of the children who were eligible to receive the Medicaid funding; however, the program was not authorized or allowed under their Medicaid contract with the state. Hill recruited parents and guardians to provide services to their own children following minimal training provided by Hill/Little LLC. The services were nothing more than what parents normally do without reimbursement. Hill/Little LLC then billed Medicaid approximately $8,000 per month for each child, using a billing code which was only authorized for services that could have been provided by Little, the licensed social worker. Hill/Little kept $5,000 per month for each child and paid each parent/guardian approximately $3,000. The parents/guardians reported that their children received little or no services from Hill or Little, and none of the services billed by Hill/Little from January 2007 to January 2011 were ever properly provided or authorized under Medicaid rules. Using this scheme, Hill and Little unlawfully received approximately $1 million from Medicaid for services they did not provide.
The case was investigated by the State of Nevada Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the State of Nevada Attorney General’s Office, and IRS Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Rachow and Senior Deputy Attorney General Andrew Schulke, designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, with assistance from the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.
This case was handled 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.
If you suspect that Medicaid Fraud may be occurring, complete and submit this form http://ag.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/agnvgov/Content/Complaints/Medicaid_Complaint_Form_Print_Handwrite.pdf,
and mail it to the Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), 100 North Carson Street, Carson City, NV 89701. You can also call the Nevada MFCU at 775-684-1191, 702- 486-3187 or the toll free number at 1-800-266-8688.Two Shipping Firms Sentenced to Pay $10.4 Million for Obstructing Justice and Environmental Crimes for Concealing Vessel PollutionRead the Press Release
Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus were sentenced today in federal court in Newark, N.J., to pay a $10.4 million penalty for felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Coast Guard announced.
Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. (CSM-CY), a Cypriot company, were sentenced to pay a $10.4 million criminal penalty, $2.6 million of which will be directed to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund community service projects selected to help restore the coastal environment of New Jersey and Delaware hit by Hurricane Sandy. The remaining $7.8 million is designated as a criminal fine. In addition, the companies were placed on four years of probation. During probation, the companies will be subject to the terms of an environmental compliance plan that requires outside audits by an independent company and oversight by a court appointed monitor. The shipping firms admitted that four of their ships - three oil tankers and one container ship - had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment and falsified the oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. The case is the largest vessel pollution settlement in either New Jersey or Delaware.The companies previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton on March 21, 2013, to six counts involving three vessels in New Jersey and four counts involving one ship in Delaware. The counts consist of violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
The investigation into the M/T King Emerald was launched on May 7, 2012, after several crew members provided cell phone photos and other evidence to Coast Guard officers conducting a routine inspection. The King Emerald was engaged in various types of illegal discharges of bilge waste dating back to at least 2010. The defendants admitted that illegal discharges of both sludge and oily bilge waste were discharged at night off the coast of Central America, including a discharge within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Costa Rica where a national park is located. The ship’s second engineer pleaded guilty previously and was sentenced in Newark on April 3, 2013.
The Delaware investigation began in October 2012 after several crew members of the M/T Nordic Passat provided the Coast Guard with a thumb drive containing photographs and video showing how illegal discharges had been sent overboard through the ship’s sewage system. They also alleged that sludge had been put into the ship’s cargo tanks and that logs showing sludge had been incinerated onboard had been falsified. The charges involving the M/V Cape Maas stem from a whistleblower report to the Coast Guard when the ship visited the port in San Francisco. The whistleblower provided a video showing the operation of the oily water separator pumping overboard without the use of the oil content monitor to detect and prevent oil from being illegally discharged.
Violations on a fourth ship, the M/T Cape Taft, which was anchored in New York waters and destined for New Jersey, were uncovered just weeks before the March plea, after the ship disclosed problems to CSM-D. An internal investigation revealed that the ship’s oily water separator had been used improperly for some time. Instead of sensing a sample of overboard discharges, it was instead flushed with fresh water by the crew. The ship’s oil record book was revised by CSM-D to reveal 16 instances where it was false. The defendants cooperated with the investigation and provided the government with video replays of the oil content monitor showing when the crew had “tricked” the sensor with fresh water.This prosecution was made possible through the combined efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard Districts 1, 5 and 11; Coast Guard Sectors New York, Delaware Bay, and San Francisco; Coast Guard Investigative Service; Coast Guard Office of Maritime and International Law; and Coast Guard Office of Investigation and Analysis.
The United States is represented by Kathleen P. O’Leary, Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey; Richard Udell, Senior Counsel, and Stephen Da Ponte, Trial Attorney, of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division; and Edmond Falgowski, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware. Assistance was also provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Two Men Sentenced to Federal Prison in Heroin Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Luis Marte, 34, of Pawtucket, and Luis Fernandez, 26, of Providence, were sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms today for conspiring to possess and possessing with the intent to distribute over 800 grams of heroin, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Cranston Police Chief Marco Palombo, Jr.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi sentenced Marte to 70 months imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release; Fernandez was sentenced by Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi to 57 months imprisonment to be followed by 5 years supervised release. Marte and Fernandez pleaded guilty in April as charged in a federal indictment to one count each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and possession with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.
According to information presented to the court, on January 3, 2013, Cranston Police patrol officers observed a vehicle bearing an expired registration plate. While following the vehicle, the officers observed the driver commit traffic violations. They followed the vehicle to an apartment complex parking lot.
According to information presented to the court, as the driver and passenger were exiting the vehicle at the apartment complex, the officers ordered them to remain inside. The driver, Luis Fernandez, returned to the vehicle while the passenger, Luis Marte, remained outside the vehicle holding a brown paper bag. As officers gave Marte commands he dropped the bag which officers quickly recovered. Inside the bag officers discovered 696.4 grams of heroin. The pair refused to divulge to the officers why they had driven to the apartment complex.
According to information presented to the court, at the Cranston police station, officers located keys on both defendants to an apartment at the complex where they were arrested. Cranston police conducted a court authorized search of the apartment where they seized an additional 111.9 grams of heroin and numerous items used in the packaging and distribution of heroin, including thousands of blue and pink “stamp” bags commonly used to package heroin.
The defendants have been detained since their arrest.
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra R. Hebert.
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To assist the media and the public, a glossary of federal judicial terms and procedures is available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/justice101/
Contact: 401-709-5357
[email protected]Three Men Sentenced in International Investment Fraud and Money Laundering SchemeRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida - U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven today sentenced Paul Robert Gunter (64, Odessa, Florida; originally of London) to 25 years in federal prison, Simon Andrew Odoni (56, originally of Hertfordshire, UK) to 13 years, 4 months in federal prison, and Richard Sinclair Pope (55, originally of Hertfordshire, UK) to 4 years, 9 months in federal prison for their respective roles in an international investment fraud and money laundering scheme. The court also ordered all three individuals to forfeit their interests in real property and bank accounts in the U.S. and abroad, an airplane, vessels, and vehicles purchased with proceeds of the fraud scheme.
As part of the investigation, federal agents seized nearly $5 million in U.S. currency. At the sentencing hearing, the court granted the government's request to use these assets to help compensate victims for their losses. In addition, the court entered money judgments in excess of $137 million against Paul Gunter and Simon Odoni.
On April 19, 2013, Paul Gunter and Simon Odoni were found guilty by a federal jury, following a 19-day trial. Specifically, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on three counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, as well as nineteen counts of mail and wire fraud, and fourteen counts of money laundering.
Prior to trial, on March 10, 2011, Richard Pope pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Pope cooperated with the government and testified at trial.
According to the evidence and testimony presented at trial, from at least as early as July 2004 through at least March 13, 2008, Gunter, Odoni, Pope and others engaged in a sophisticated investment fraud and money laundering scheme, in which worthless stock in hijacked dormant, publicly-traded companies in the United States was sold to victim-investors, primarily in the United Kingdom. The scheme used boiler room telemarketers, mostly in Spain, who employed high pressure and misleading sales techniques. The victim-investors wired more than $127 million to Gunter's bank accounts in the Middle District of Florida. The conspirators bilked victim-investors out of another $10 million via a FOREX currency trading scheme, which also utilized the boiler rooms in Spain.
Gunter, Odoni, Pope and their co-conspirators used the victim-investors' funds to perpetuate the fraud scheme and for their own personal enrichment. Victim-investors' funds were used to buy, among other things, an airplane, two vessels, vehicles, including a Ferrari, and real property in the Caribbean islands, England, and Florida.
In a related trial that took place in May 2012, Houston lawyers Roger Lee Shoss and Nicolette Loisel were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with their participation in the corporate identity theft aspect of the scheme.
The case remains pending as to one individual, Lawrence S. Hartman, a/k/a Larry Hartman, a/k/a Larry Hart, a/k/a Lawrence Scott Hartman-Grosser (48, Costa Rica; a U.S. lawyer formerly of New York and Florida), who allegedly conspired with Gunter, Odoni, Pope and others in this case. In May 2013, Hartman was arrested on an immigration violation by Nicaraguan authorities. He was expelled and deported from Nicaragua and turned over to U.S. authorities to face the charges in this case. Hartman's apprehension and expulsion was achieved with the special assistance of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Embassy Managua, INTERPOL Washington, and the Nicaraguan National Police.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Tampa, Florida, as well as the U.S. Secret Service, Tampa, Florida and Newark, New Jersey Field Offices. The government received assistance from several other authorities, including the City of London Police, the UK's Serious Fraud Office and Norfolk Constabulary, the Spanish National Police, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, and the British Columbia Securities Commission.
“This investment fraud and money laundering scheme stretched across continents. The three defendants sentenced today had no qualms with preying on innocent victims – many of them elderly U.K. citizens – to further their own assets,” said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa. “Let today’s sentences serve as notice to other fraudsters. HSI and our law enforcement partners will investigate and ensure that you are prosecuted for your crimes.” "This case is a great example of how law enforcement partnerships work on an international scale," said John Joyce, Special Agent in Charge Tampa. "The United States Attorney’s Office, HSI and the US Secret Service worked this case with their law enforcement partners from London to investigate, prosecute and convict Mr. Gunter, Mr. Odoni and Mr. Pope. Their sentences should send a clear message to other fraudsters."
"Unfortunately, this sentencing will not repair the huge damage they caused to the lives of thousands of people who were simply looking for a safe place to invest their money, but hopefully it will bring a measure of comfort and a sense of closure to those caught up in what was fraud committed on a truly significant scale. That Pope, Gunter and Odoni have now been successfully prosecuted is thanks to trans-Atlantic law enforcement cooperation, painstakingly piecing together this crime, insuring that those involved would one day face their day of reckoning," stated City of London Police Detective Inspector Kerrie Gower.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rachelle DesVaux Bedke and Kelley Howard-Allen.
Three Excelsior Springs Residents Charged with Meth ConspiracyRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Excelsior Springs, Mo., man who called law enforcement officers to his home is among three residents charged in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.
Glenn Allen DiFalco, 50, Anthony Trurice Grayson, 29, and Clarissa Nelson Cooper, 44, all of Excelsior Springs, were charged in a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, July 22, 2013.
The criminal complaint alleges that DiFalco, Grayson and Cooper participated in a conspiracy to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
According to an affidavit that was filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Grayson contacted the Ray County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, and told officers he was being threatened by DiFalco. Grayson, who had fled from his residence, told officers that DiFalco had a gun and that he feared for his life. Officers met Grayson about a half-mile from his residence; he gave them permission to enter his house and arrest DiFalco.
As officers were speaking to Grayson, DiFalco and Cooper approached in a Dodge truck. According to the affidavit, the vehicle abruptly turned and drove away and officers began pursuing them. When DiFalco’s vehicle stopped in a dead-end cul-de-sac, the affidavit says, Cooper fled from the vehicle on foot and was chased by officers, who apprehended and arrested her. DiFalco was also arrested.
Officers searched DiFalco’s truck and found an airsoft gun and drug paraphernalia, including glass smoking pipes, syringes and a substance that was suspected to be crystal methamphetamine. DiFalco’s vehicle was so completely filled with debris and clutter, the affidavit says, that officers couldn’t adequately search it. The significant amount of items in the vehicle impeded law enforcement’s ability to recover and appropriately process the numerous items of drug paraphernalia and what was also suspected to be crystal methamphetamine. Officers therefore had DiFalco’s vehicle towed to a secured lot for further investigation.
When they searched the vehicle the next day, the affidavit says, officers found approximately 79,669, 30mg. pills (2,390 grams) of Cold Buster pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. These pills were contained in 91 one-gallon plastic bags. They found three bags containing a ground yellow powder believed to be ground up pseudoephedrine hydrochloride pills with a total weight of 736 grams. They also found smoking pipes, numerous handwritten recipes for various methods of methamphetamine manufacture, a butane torch, a bottle of iodine solution and several packs of iodine swabs, a laptop computer and three cell phones.
Officers returned to Grayson’s home following the vehicle pursuit, the affidavit says, and observed, in plain view, numerous items of drug paraphernalia commonly used to smoke and manufacture methamphetamine. During a search of Grayson’s residence, officers located coffee filters with iodine and powder residue, a bottle of 100% household lye, small baggies normally used to package drugs, glassware/cookware and Mason jars with residue (which were altered to facilitate methamphetamine manufacture), tubing, written instructions for pseudoephedrine pill conversion, glass smoking pipes, a white crystal-like unknown substance, weighing approximately 215.8 grams (not believed to be a controlled substance but some type of cutting agent), one bag of ground yellow powder, weighing approximately 88.8 grams, believed to be ground-up Cold Buster pseudoephedrine pills and a crystal-like substance in several plastic baggies, weighing approximately 53.2 grams, which field tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine. Officers also located a suspected explosive device, which was later identified as a “booby-trap” device.
Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Connelly. It was investigated by the Ray County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Staten Island, N.Y., Man Sentenced to 114 Months in Prison for Jewelry Store RobberyRead the Press Release
TRENTON, N.J. – A Staten Island, N.Y., man was sentenced today to 114 months for his role in the robbery of Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven, N.J., on June 2, 2012, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Robert A. Fiolka, 69, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Fiolka entered Blue Stove Antiques in Fair Haven at approximately 9:30 a.m., on June 2, 2012, wearing a hat and flesh-colored face mask and brandishing a handgun. Fiolka approached the store owner, pointed the handgun at him and demanded that he open the store’s safe. After the owner opened the safe, Fiolka ordered him to the ground and then proceeded to empty the safe’s contents into a satchel that he had with him. After filling the bag with the safe’s contents, Fiolka exited the store with approximately $200,000 worth of jewelry.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Fiolka to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $200,000 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence; he also thanked the Colts Neck Police Department, Fair Haven Police Department, Old Bridge Police Department, Wall Township Police Department, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for their roles in the case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fabiana Pierre-Louis of the Criminal Division in Trenton.
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Defense counsel: John W. Mitchell Esq., New York, and Jerome A. Ballarotto Esq., TrentonSix People Charged in Connection with Large-Scale Stolen Identity Refund Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – Six people allegedly involved in an extensive scheme to obtain millions of dollars through fraudulently obtained refund checks issued by the U.S. Treasury were charged today for their involvement in the scam, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Julio C. Concepcion, 48; Angel L. Concepcion-Vasquez, 29; Jose R. Zapata, 65; and Reyes Flores-Perez, 29, all of Passaic, N.J.; and Romy E. Quezada, 22, of Lake Mary, Fla., were arrested this morning by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, postal inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and special agents of the U.S. Secret Service. A sixth defendant, Freddy Gabino-Martinez, 24, of Passaic, remains at large. Concepcion, Concepcion-Vasquez, Gabino-Martinez, and Zapata are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds, Flores-Perez is charged with transferring false identification documents, and Quezada is charged with theft of government funds.
The four defendants arrested in New Jersey are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Hammer in Newark federal court. Quezada was arrested in Florida and will make her initial appearance in Orlando federal court.
According to the criminal Complaints unsealed today:
Background on Stolen Identify Refund Fraud
Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) is a common type of fraud committed against the United States government that results in more than $2 billion a year in losses to the U.S. Treasury. SIRF schemes generally share a number of hallmarks:
- SIRF perpetrators obtain personal identifying information, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth, from unwitting individuals, who often reside in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- SIRF perpetrators complete Form 1040 tax returns using the fraudulently obtained information and falsifying wages earned, taxes withheld, and other data, always ensuring that the fraudulent tax return generates a refund.
- They direct the U.S. Treasury Department to mail refund checks to locations that the perpetrators control or can access.
- With the fraudulently obtained refund checks in hand, SIRF perpetrators generate cash proceeds by depositing the checks into bank accounts that they control.
The Investigation
From October 2009 through December 2012, Concepcion, Concepcion-Vasquez, Gabino-Martinez, and Zapata engaged in a SIRF scheme that resulted in more than $2.5 million in losses to the U.S. Treasury. The conspirators obtained fraudulent tax refund checks, then deposited them into bank accounts that they controlled, often in the name of “dummy” corporations created to facilitate the scheme. They then transferred hundreds of dollars to others, including Concepcion’s wife, his children, and his children’s companions. Quezada is charged with depositing fraudulent treasury checks into an account that she opened and controlled, and Flores-Perez is charged with transferring fraudulent identification documents, including fake driver’s licenses and Social Security cards, used to further the SIRF scheme.
The conspiracy charge and the theft of government funds charge are punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. The transfer of fraudulent documents charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison. All charges are also punishable by a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense.U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen; postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Mottola; and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, with the investigation leading to today’s arrests and charges.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Bruck of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the Complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Defense counsel:
Concepcion: Paulette Pitt Esq., Perth Amboy, N.J.
Concepcion-Vasquez: Rubin Sinins Esq., Newark
Zapata: Elizabeth Smith Esq., Mendham, N.J.
Flores-Perez: John Whipple Esq., Chatham, N.J.Concepcion, Julio et al., Complaint
Flores-Perez,Reyes Complaint
Quezada, Romy ComplaintShipping Corporations Sentenced to $10.4 Million Monetary Penalty for Environmental Crimes on Four ShipsRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus were sentenced today to a $10.4 million monetary penalty for felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Coast Guard announced.
Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. (CSM-CY), a Cypriot company, were sentenced to pay a $10.4 million criminal penalty, $2.6 million of which will be directed to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund community service projects selected to help restore the coastal environment of New Jersey and Delaware hit by Hurricane Sandy. The remaining $7.8 million is designated as a criminal fine. The companies were also placed on four years of probation, during which they will be subject to the terms of an environmental compliance plan that requires outside audits by an independent company and oversight by a court-appointed monitor. The shipping firms admitted that four of their ships (three oil tankers and one container ship) had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment and falsified the oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. The case is the largest vessel pollution settlement in either New Jersey or Delaware.
The companies previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton on March 21, 2013, to six counts involving three vessels in New Jersey and four counts involving one ship in Delaware. The counts consist of violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:The investigation into the M/T King Emerald was launched on May 7, 2012, after several crew members provided cell phone photos and other evidence to Coast Guard officers conducting a routine inspection. The King Emerald was engaged in various types of illegal discharges of bilge waste dating back to at least 2010. The defendants admitted that illegal discharges of both sludge and oily bilge waste were discharged at night off the coast of Central America, including a discharge within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Costa Rica where a national park is located. The ship’s second engineer previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Newark on April 3, 2013, to two years of probation.
The Delaware investigation began in October 2012 after several crew members of the M/T Nordic Passat provided the Coast Guard with a thumb drive containing photographs and video showing how illegal discharges had been sent overboard through the ship’s sewage system. They also alleged that sludge had been put into the ship’s cargo tanks and that logs showing sludge had been incinerated onboard had been falsified. The charges involving the M/V Cape Maas stem from a whistleblower report to the Coast Guard when the ship visited the port in San Francisco. The whistleblower provided a video showing the operation of the oily water separator pumping overboard without the use of the oil content monitor to detect and prevent oil from being illegally discharged.
Violations on a fourth ship, the M/T Cape Taft, which was anchored in New York waters and destined for New Jersey, were uncovered just weeks before the March plea, after the ship disclosed problems to CSM-D. An internal investigation revealed that the ship’s oily water separator had been used improperly for some time. Instead of sensing a sample of overboard discharges, it was instead flushed with fresh water by the crew. The ship’s oil record book was revised by CSM-D to reveal 16 instances where it was false. The defendants cooperated with the investigation and provided the government with video replays of the oil content monitor showing when the crew had “tricked” the sensor with fresh water.
This prosecution was made possible through the combined efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard Districts 1, 5 and 11; Coast Guard Sectors New York, Delaware Bay, and San Francisco; Coast Guard Investigative Service; Coast Guard Office of Maritime and International Law; and Coast Guard Office of Investigation and Analysis.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary in New Jersey; Senior Counsel Richard Udell and Trial Attorney Stephen Da Ponte of the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division; and Edmond Falgowski, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware. Assistance was also provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
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Seven Sentenced in Federal Court for Conspiracy to Traffic in Marijuana, Hashish and Ecstacy, Using the U.S. Mails to Faciliate Drug Trafficking and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Seven defendants have been sentenced in United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire following their guilty pleas to charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and to unlawfully distribute marijuana, hashish and MDMA, commonly known as “ecstasy”, conspiracy to use the U.S. Mail to facilitate drug trafficking offenses, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, all of which occurred in the Districts of New Hampshire, Vermont, Nevada, and the Eastern District of California, announced United States Attorney John P. Kacavas.
Braedon Bellavance, 25, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 37 months in prison; his brother Shane Bellavance, 28, also of Mansfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 33 months in prison; Elton Bonneville, 24, of Beckett, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 24 months in prison; Lucas Mohr, 22, of Keene, New Hampshire, was sentenced to 21 months in prison; and James Mayer, 23, of Lyndonville, Vermont, was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Taylor Canaday, 21, of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, was sentenced to two years’ probation and Steven Lauder, 24, of Breckinridge, Colorado, was sentenced to three years’ probation. James Murray, 25, of Lyndonville, Vermont, and Brian Sawyer, 25, of Marlboro, Massachusetts are awaiting sentencing. Murray will be sentenced upon completion of the United States District Court’s LASER Docket, an intensive drug court program.
During the plea hearings, the defendants admitted that, in 2009, Braedon Bellavance and Bonneville, both students at Lyndon State College in Vermont, received high grade marijuana from sources in California via U.S. Postal Service “express mail” packages. They, in turn, sold the marijuana to buyers, including Murray and Mayer. Bonneville later moved to California and began shipping marijuana and hashish to the Bellavance brothers via USPS express mail packages. The Bellavance brothers, in turn, distributed the drugs to buyers in the Lyndonville, Vermont area and in New Hampshire, including to Mohr, Lauder-a Keene State College student-and Sawyer-a Plymouth State College student.
The Bellavance brothers moved to California in 2010, joining Bonneville in shipping marijuana and hashish, as well as ecstasy to Murray for distribution in the Lyndonville area. They also shipped marijuana to Mohr in New Hampshire. Mohr eventually joined his co-conspirators in California and shipped quantities of marijuana to Lauder and Canaday for distribution in the Keene area. Proceeds from the drug sales in New Hampshire and Vermont were returned to Bonneville and the Bellavance brothers in California via the USPS express mail service. In October, 2010, an express mail package containing $27,300 in cash intended for Braedon Bellavance was intercepted at the Ashland, New Hampshire Post Office.
In November, 2010, the DEA and USPIS intercepted two suspicious express mail packages shipped by Braedon Bellavance in California intended for Mayer in Lyndonville. The packages, containing marijuana, hashish and MDMA, were delivered to Mayer by an undercover law enforcement agent acting as a postal employee, after which a search warrant was executed at the residence.
In addition to hashish and MDMA, the investigation revealed that, from 2009 through 2011, the conspirators shipped approximately 80 kilograms of marijuana with an approximate street value over $500,000 from California to Vermont and New Hampshire.
The investigation into this conspiracy was conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the South Lake Tahoe, California Task Force, the Somersworth, New Hampshire Police Department, the University of New Hampshire Police Department, and the State of New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Cole Davis.San Antonio Agrees to $1.1 Billion Upgrade of Sewer Systems to Comply with Clean Water ActRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has agreed to make significant upgrades to reduce overflows from its sewer system and pay a $2.6 million civil penalty to resolve Clean Water Act (CWA) violations stemming from illegal discharges of raw sewage. The state of Texas is a co-plaintiff in this case and will receive half of the civil penalty.
When wastewater systems overflow, they can release raw sewage and other pollutants into local waterways, threatening water quality and contributing to beach closures and disease outbreaks. To come into compliance with the CWA, including remedial measures taken during the parties’ negotiations and the comprehensive measures required under the settlement, SAWS is expected to spend $1.1 billion to achieve compliance.
“This settlement will help protect San Antonio residents from exposure to raw sewage by committing San Antonio to make immediate, badly-needed repairs to its sewers as well as long-term improvements in the operation, management and maintenance of its system,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “These improvements will benefit well over a million people living in Bexar County, with a special focus on reducing sewage overflows in communities who have suffered a historical pollution burden.”
“EPA is working with cities across the country to protect the nation’s waters from raw sewage overflows that can threaten public health,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The improvements and upgrades agreed to in this settlement will protect the people of San Antonio and the surrounding communities by reducing raw sewage in the water.”
The Justice Department, on behalf of EPA, filed a complaint against SAWS alleging that between 2006 and 2012, SAWS had approximately 2,200 illegal overflows from its sanitary sewer system that discharged approximately 23 million gallons of raw sewage into local waterways in violation of its CWA discharge permit. The cause of these overflows stems largely from system capacity problems that result in the sewer system being overwhelmed by rainfall, causing it to discharge untreated sewage combined with storm water into local waterways. EPA confirmed these violations during a 2011 field inspection and record review.As part of the settlement, SAWS will conduct system-wide assessments, identify and implement remedial measures to address problems that cause or contribute to illegal discharges found during those assessments, and initiate a capacity management, operation and maintenance program to proactively reduce sanitary sewer overflows. The plan must be fully implemented by calendar year 2025. In the early years of the CD, SAWS will take actions that will result in reduction of sanitary sewer overflows. In addition, SAWS will conduct water quality monitoring to identify potential additional sources of bacterial contamination that could be contributing to impairment of the Upper San Antonio River.
SAWS wastewater treatment plant serves approximately 1.3 million people in Bexar County, which includes the city of San Antonio. Its wastewater collection and treatment system consists of approximately 5,100 miles of gravity sewer lines, including approximately 100,000 manholes and 170 lift stations.
Keeping raw sewage and contaminated stormwater out of the waters of the United States is one of the EPA’s national top priorities. EPA’s initiative focuses on reducing sewer overflows, which can present a significant threat to human health and the environment.
The settlement will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division and is subject to a 30-day public comment period before final court approval of the consent decree. Once the consent decree has been approved and entered, SAWS will have 60 days to pay the civil penalty to the United States and the state of Texas. The proposed consent decree can be viewed online at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
More information about the settlement: http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/san-antonio-water-system-saws-settlementMore information about EPA’s national enforcement initiative: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/planning/initiatives/2011sewagestormwater.html
More information about Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Plans: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/integratedplans.cfm
Saline County Man Charged with Methamphetamine Related OffenseRead the Press Release
John David Clark, 48, of Harrisburg, Illinois, has been charged in an indictment in United States District Court in Benton with possessing pseudoephedrine with the intent that it be used to manufacture methamphetamine, announced Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. The indictment, returned by a Federal Grand Jury on July 9th, alleged that the offense occurred on June 25, 2013, in Saline County.
An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.
If convicted, Clark faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release to follow his incarceration.
Following a detention hearing held today, Clark was ordered held without bond and was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal to await further proceedings. Clark’s next scheduled court appearance is September 12th at 9:30 a.m. for a final pretrial conference.
The case was investigated by the Carmi office of the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James M. Cutchin.
Rockford Man Sentenced to 85 Months in Federal Prison for Robbery of BMO Harris Bank in RockfordRead the Press Release
ROCKFORD — A Rockford, Ill. man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for robbing the BMO Harris Bank, N.A., 1275 Bennington Road, Rockford, Ill., on July 22, 2010. U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala sentenced Drew Yancy, 33, to 85 months in federal prison for the robbery and ordered that Yancy serve 3 years on supervised release following his release from prison, and pay restitution of $5,905 to BMO Harris Bank. Yancy will not be eligible for parole.
Yancy pled guilty to the charge on April 5, 2013. According to the written plea agreement, on July 22, 2010, Prince Williams, 27, also of Rockford, drove Yancy to Harris Bank in a stolen car where they both entered the bank. Williams stood near the front door of the bank while Yancy approached the tellers and demanded money. Yancy admitted in the plea agreement that he told a teller to give him money or he would shoot and kill her. After obtaining $5,905 from the tellers, Williams and Yancy left the bank and fled in the stolen car.
Williams, who pled guilty on April 19, 2012, to his involvement in the bank robbery, will be sentenced at a future date.
The sentencing was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chet Epperson, Chief of the Rockford Police Department; and Richard Meyers, Winnebago County Sheriff.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Pedersen.
Rio Grande City Man Gets 15 Years for Transporting Meth in A Shampoo BottleRead the Press Release
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Pedro Guerra-Ruiz, 34, of Rio Grande City, has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction for possession with intent to distribute approximately 1.51 kilograms of methamphetamine, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. Guerra pleaded guilty April 29, 2013.
Today, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who accepted the guilty plea, handed Guerra a total sentence of 180 months. He will be required to serve a term of five years of supervised release following completion of the prison term.
Guerra was arrested on Feb. 1, 2013, at the United States Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita as a passenger on an El Expresso bus. Border Patrol (BP) agents boarded the bus to conduct immigration inspections of its occupants and Guerra was observed carrying a backpack which contained an conspicuously altered shampoo bottle. A BP service canine alerted to the presence of contraband in the shampoo bottle which, upon further inspection, revealed an unusually watery consistency uncharacteristic of shampoo. The substance was tested and confirmed to be methamphetamine with a weight determined to be 1.51 kilograms.
At the time of his guilty plea, Guerra admitted he had agreed to transport the methamphetamine to Houston in exchange for $1000.
Guerra will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of BP and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sam Brown IV.Rapid City Man Guilty of Illegally Possessing A FirearmRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Shawn Muldoon, age 30, of Rapid City, South Dakota, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on July 19, 2013, and pled guilty to a charge of Domestic Violence Offender in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years' imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.
In July 2012, near Rapid City, Pennington County sheriff’s deputies assisted a vehicle stuck on forest service land. The vehicle was occupied by Muldoon and others. During the vehicle search, the deputies located a 9mm handgun and ammunition owned by Muldoon, who is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 2003 domestic violence conviction.
The investigation was conducted by the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Forest Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Collins.A presentence investigation was ordered and a sentencing date will be set. The defendant was released on bond pending sentencing.
Portsmouth Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sixty Four Months for Drug and Gun CrimesRead the Press Release
CONCORD, N.H. – Christian Jennings, 27, of Portsmouth was sentenced in United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to 64 months in prison for possession of methylenedioxy methamphetamine (MDMA or “Ecstasy”) and marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced United States Attorney John P. Kacavas.
During a routine traffic stop in Portsmouth on January 2, 2011, Portsmouth police officers found distribution quantities of both MDMA and marijuana and other controlled substances in Jennings’ car, more than $42,000 in cash, and drug distribution paraphernalia. At the time of the traffic stop, Jennings was carrying a fully loaded Smith & Wesson, .38 caliber revolver in the waistband of his pants. A search of Jennings’ Portsmouth home yielded three additional firearms and additional quantities of controlled substances.
This case was investigated by the Portsmouth Police Department and was prosecuted under Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program to reduce gun violence in New Hampshire by aggressive investigation and prosecution of firearm offenders, education of the public, and training of law enforcement officers about federal firearm laws. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bill Morse.
Pensacola Man Indicted for Counterfeit “viagra” TraffickingRead the Press Release
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced that Robert P. Galea, 53, of Pensacola, Florida, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he trafficked in counterfeit “Viagra” and fraudulently executed a scheme to deliver the misbranded pharmaceuticals through the United States Postal Service.
Galea made his initial appearance in federal court on July 19, 2013, on ten counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs, selling misbranded drugs, and mail fraud. The Indictment alleges the counterfeit drugs were obtained from sources in other countries, including India.
A jury trial for Galea has been scheduled before the Honorable M. Casey Rodgers on September 9, 2013. If found guilty of trafficking in counterfeit drugs or mail fraud, Galea faces up to twenty years in prison.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida.
An Indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial in a court of law.
Peach Springs Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse of A MinorRead the Press Release
PHOENIX – On July 22, 2013, Terry Harris Lee, 66, of Peach Springs, Ariz., an enrolled member of the Hualapai Nation Indian Tribe, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell to 180 months in federal prison, followed by a term of lifetime supervised release. Lee pleaded guilty on May 2, 2013 to sexual abuse of a minor.
According to the plea agreement, on March 18, 2012, the 12 year old victim was having a sleepover with a friend at Lee’s residence located on the Hualapai Nation Indian Reservation. Lee entered the bedroom where the victim was staying, and sexually abused the victim.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Hualapai Nation Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Christina J. Reid-Moore, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-12-8247-PCT-DGC
RELEASE NUMBER: 2013-057_LeeFor more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Oregon Woman Sentenced to 275 Months in Prison for Being an Armed Career CriminalRead the Press Release
Defendant committed four armed bank robberiesEUGENE, Ore. – Lorinda Marie Goodin, 44, a resident of Lane County, Oregon, was sentenced today by U.S. District Chief Judge Ann Aiken to 22 years and 11 months in prison for committing two armed bank robberies in Multnomah County, two armed bank robberies in Lane County, and to possessing ammunition after having been previously convicted of eight bank robberies.
Goodin pled guilty on February 20, 2013, to robbing the Bank of the West in Portland on November 8, 2011, the Clackamas County Bank in Gresham on November 14, 2011, and the Pacific Continental Bank in Eugene on August 1 and again on November 25, 2011. Goodwin wore disguises, brandished what appeared to be a large caliber pistol, and threatened to shoot or kill bank tellers during the robberies.
Goodin was arrested on December 7, 2011, by an FBI agent and Springfield police officers after she was seen driving a stolen vehicle in Springfield, Oregon. She had a large caliber toy pistol in her possession along with various disguises. During a subsequent court-authorized search of Goodin’s residence, police found numerous rounds of .22 caliber ammunition.
Goodin also pled guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of ammunition and agreed to be sentenced as an armed career criminal. She was convicted after a jury trial in 2003 and sentenced to six years and five months in prison by U.S. District Judge Anna Brown for robbing eight banks in Multnomah, Clackamas and Marion Counties.
When pleading guilty, Goodin admitted that from August 2011 until her arrest in December 2011, she robbed 25 businesses located in Lane County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Wasco County and Douglas County. When committing her robberies, Goodin carried what appeared to be a large caliber pistol and threatened to shoot employees. During several of these robberies, Goodin had an accomplice.
Goodin’s guilty pleas, admissions and agreed sentence recommendation were part of her plea agreement. As part of her overall agreement, Goodin agreed that she will also plead guilty in Oregon state courts to the multiple robberies she admitted committing, and that she should receive a sentence of up to 18 years in prison for each robbery, to be served concurrently with her federal sentence.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, the Portland Police Bureau, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, Lane County Sheriff’s Office, Eugene Police Department, Roseburg Police Department, The Dalles Police Department, Milwaukie Police Department, Gresham Police Department, and the Springfield Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank R. Papagni, Jr.Oglala Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting A WomanRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Billy Bores a Hole, age 28, of Oglala, South Dakota, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on July 19, 2013, and pled guilty to a charge of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon.
A presentence investigation was ordered and a sentencing date will be set. The defendant was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years' imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.
In March 2013, at Oglala, Bores a Hole assaulted a woman by kicking her and stabbing her in the head, neck, back, and stomach, causing life-threatening injuries.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Collins.Multiple Arrests in Alleged Marijuana Conspiracy Out of Starr CountyRead the Press Release
McALLEN, Texas - A total of 12 individuals have been arrested in connection with a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana from March 1, 2012 through June 25, 2013, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. The indictment, returned June 25, 2013, was partially unsealed upon the arrests today and yesterday. It remains sealed as to those charged but not as yet in custody.
The arrests stem from a year-long Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation targeting the illegal importation and distribution of marijuana from Starr County to other locations within the United States.
Delfino Bazan, 44, of Rio Grande City and Houston, and his common law wife, Alejandrina Martinez, 43, of Houston, were arrested at their Houston residence on Monday, July 22. Both are charged with conspiring to launder proceeds from drug trafficking. Bazan is also charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana as well as several substantive drug trafficking counts. Bazan and Martinez both made their initial appearances yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John R. Froeschner in Galveston. U.S. Magistrate Judge Froeschner ordered Bazan into custody pending a detention hearing to be held at a later date in McAllen. Martinez was permitted release upon posting bond and ordered to appear in court in McAllen on July 30, 2013.Today, nine others were taken into custody for conspiring with Bazan to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Baldemar Montalvo, 45, Enrique Montalvo, 40, Thomas Garcia, 52, Ivan D. Campos-Landa, 31, and David Ulloa Correa, 47, all of Rio Grande City; Jose Luis Palacios Jr., 37, of Mission; Edmundo Canales, 23, and Jose Luis Palacios Sr., 63, both of Edinburg; and Elee Campos Camargo, 37, of McAllen, are all charged in the overall drug conspiracy.
On July 19, 2013, Mexican citizen Sostenes Ferreira-Garcia, 50, illegally residing in Rio Grande City, was arrested by law enforcement agents in relation to this case. He made his initial appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing on July 25, 2013, at 11:00 a.m.
All defendants, except for Martinez, are charged in the overall drug conspiracy which carries a potential range of punishment of five to 40 years and a possible $5 million fine. If convicted of conspiracy to launder drug proceeds, Baldemar Montalvo, Martinez and Bazan all face a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. With the exception of Martinez, each defendant further faces one or more substantive drug trafficking charges, with amounts ranging from 14 to 1,959 kilograms in each instance. The punishment range on these charges, upon conviction, varies depending on the amount of drugs involved, from no more than five years up to a maximum of life in prison.
All those arrested today are expected to make their initial appearances before Judge Ramos on Wednesday, July 26, 2013, at which time they are expected to remain in custody pending further criminal proceedings.
The OCDETF investigation dubbed "Operation Casanova" is being conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the Starr County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Juan F. Alanis is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of lawMan Sentenced to Prison for Mortgage Fraud CrimesRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A local man who used friends and family members to serve as straw buyers to fraudulently purchase homes in the Las Vegas area so he could skim part of the loan proceeds for himself, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay approximately $1.3 million in restitution announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Oudom Somee, 46, currently in custody, but most recently a resident of Las Vegas, Nev., was sentenced on Monday, July 22, 2013, by U.S. District Judge Miranda M. Du. Somee was convicted by a jury in November 2012 of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud, and eight counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of mail fraud.
Somee and his co-conspirators recruited persons with high credit scores, often friends and family members, to purchase homes in the Las Vegas area, which Somee would control. Somee told these straw purchasers that he would use their names and credit to buy the houses and that they would not have to pay the mortgages. Somee and the co-conspirators prepared the paperwork and submitted the loan applications to the financial institutions. These applications and the supporting documentation contained materially false and fraudulent information concerning the applicant’s identity, income, assets and intent to occupy the homes to ensure that the straw buyers would qualify for the mortgage loans. Somee orchestrated the transactions for the purpose of receiving cash at the closing of the transactions. The cash was disbursed either to Somee personally or to his company, Vegas Golden Investments, Inc. Somee tried to conceal his role in the scheme by using bank accounts belonging to fictitious entities and others, including his sister. Eight homes were purchased in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nev. using this scheme. The homes generally went into foreclosure after Somee made a few mortgage payments. The losses to the financial institutions were over $2.6 million.
A loan officer and escrow officer were also charged and convicted in the scheme.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel R. Schiess and Sarah E. Griswold.
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. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
Livingston County Man Indicted for Manufacturing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Matthew Lewis Colston, 30, of Livingston County was indicted by a federal grand jury in Flint on charges of manufacturing child pornography, use of a facility in interstate commerce to entice a minor, and transfer of obscene matter to a minor, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Robert D. Foley III, FBI Special Agent in Charge and Kriste Kibbey Etue, Director of the Michigan State Police.
The 10-count indictment charges Colston with seven counts of manufacturing child pornography the dates of which extend over a five-month period. The indictment further alleges that for approximately one year Colston used a cellular telephone to attempt to persuade, induce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity which, under the laws of the State of Michigan, could be charged as first and/or second degree criminal sexual conduct. The indictment further charges Colston with using the same cell phone to transfer obscene material to a minor.
"These despicable crimes victimize and exploit innocent children. Through the SEMCAC task force, the FBI is committed to the arrest and prosecution of criminals who engage in such deplorable, heinous behavior,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III; FBI Detroit Division.
“The Michigan State Police is committed to working with our federal and local law enforcement partners involved with the SEMCAC Task Force to protect children from being exploited in the State of Michigan,” said Michigan State Police Captain Monica Yesh. “The sexual assault of children and the production of child pornography are horrific crimes. The perpetrators who commit these acts of violence will be vigorously sought out and brought to justice.”
If convicted for manufacturing child pornography defendant faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. If convicted of using a phone to entice a minor, Colston faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. Transferring of obscene material to a minor carries a maximum penalty of 10 years and/or a fine of up to $250,000.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by the FBI, Michigan State Police, Livingston County Prosecutor's Office and the Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Lieutenant Colonel who Served in Iraq Pleads Guilty to Criminal Conflict of Interest for Contracting SchemeRead the Press Release
A retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army who served in Iraq as a contracting officer pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma today to criminal conflict of interest for using his position of authority to benefit himself to the detriment of the United States. HAROLD L. BROEK, 49, who served as Chief of Contracting at the Tikrit Regional Contracting Center in Tikrit, Iraq, established a company, Global Motion, that received contracts from an Iraqi company to which he had awarded contracts.
BROEK is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on October 15, 2013. Criminal conflict of interest is punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to the records filed in the case, BROEK used his position of authority in the U.S. Army, his knowledge of government contracting, and his relationship with Rohit Goel and “Avalon International Limited” to contract with Goel and Avalon on government contracts. Before BROEK left Iraq in 2007, he directed his family in Washington State to form a company, Global Motion, for the purpose of receiving contracts from Goel and Avalon. While in Iraq, BROEK had entered into an illegal agreement with Goel whereby Goel would send certain government contracts, awarded by the United States to Goel and Avalon, to the new company formed by BROEK and his family. Pursuant to this arrangement, Goel agreed to award government contracts to BROEK’s new company, to pay BROEK’s new company 30% of the profit on such contracts, and to front necessary funds or finance any contract expenditures BROEK’s company would incur in purchasing goods to perform under the contracts.
Before leaving Iraq and returning to the United States, BROEK participated in awarding contracts to Avalon. Specifically, in July 2007, shortly before he left Iraq to return to Lacey, Washington, BROEK signed a waiver shortening the deadline on a contract for the purchase and delivery of line-of-sight radios. By shortening the deadline, BROEK decreased the chances that Avalon’s competitors might win the contract. Later in July 2007, one of BROEK’s subordinates in Iraq awarded a contract for line-of-sight radios, valued at $162,151.00, to Goel and Avalon. Goel, in turn, awarded the contract for line-of-sight radios to BROEK’s company, Global Motion.
In September 2007, Avalon fronted $99,978.00 to Global Motion to finance the purchase of the line-of-sight radios. To fill the line-of-sight radio contract, Global Motion spent $58,733 to purchase the radios and have them shipped to Iraq. Global Motion retained the balance of the funds from Avalon, making a profit of $29,871.90 on this deal.
According to tax returns, Global Motion made a profit in 2007 and 2008 of $52,400.16. Pursuant to the plea agreement, BROEK will make restitution payments to the United States in the amount of $52,400.16.
The case was investigated by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Reese Jennings.
Leroy Township Man Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for FraudRead the Press Release
A Leroy Township man was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for fraud that occured during his employment as a project manager with The Fowler Company which cost the company nearly $1 million, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Jeffrey A. Boring, 50, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud involving schemes to defraud The Fowler Company and ESI, Inc., a company which employed Boring after his employment with The Fowler Company terminated.
U.S. Judge Sara Lioi sentenced him to 71 months in prison and ordered him to pay a total of $978,810 in restitution. Boring’s term of imprisonment was increased for obstruction after he altered documents and submitted them to the government as proposed exhibits to be used in his defense at trial.
“Perhaps with six years in federal prison, plus just under a million reasons to think about his conduct, Mr. Boring will finally get the message that crime does not pay,” Dettelbach said.
From on or about June 27, 2006, through on or about January 18, 2011, Boring, while employed as a project manager with The Fowler Company, created and approved fraudulent invoices from a company he created called Fairport Industrial Group. In addition, Boring instructed vendors, which provided materials and services for Boring’s personal purposes, to invoice the cost to Fowler, according to court documents.
From on or about August 10, 2011, through on or about February 8, 2012, Boring, while employed as a project manager at ESI, Inc., approved purchase orders and invoices for payment for product purportedly needed for ESI customer contracts. In fact, ESI paid for product needed by Boring for contracts he had through Fairport Industrial Group with the Defense Logistics Agency, according to court documents.
This case was the result of an investigation conducted by Special Agent Russell G. Csaszar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Special Agent Brandee Kemer with the Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigation Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Henry F. DeBaggis and Mark S. Bennett.
Leader of Irvington, N.J., Gang Sentenced to More Than 27 Years in Prison for Crack Cocaine Distribution ConspiracyRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – The leader of the Irvington, N.J., Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced to 325 months in prison today for his involvement in a large-scale conspiracy to distribute more than 280 grams of crack cocaine, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Mark Manasse, a/k/a “M-Ease,” 28, of Irvington, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Jose L. Linares to one count of a superseding indictment, charging him with knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute 280 grams or more of the drug. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Manasse was a leader of the Bloods street gang known as the Brick City Brims, who were distributing significant amounts of crack cocaine in and around the city of Irvington and elsewhere from February 2010 through April 2011. Manasse and his conspirators controlled the drug trafficking in and around the areas of 18th Street and Columbia Avenue in Irvington. Manasse maintained control of drug trafficking in these areas through the use of violence and intimidation.
Manasse and more than a dozen others were arrested on April 19, 2011, by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) along with officers of the N.J. State Police and Irvington Police Department.
During the investigation, federal agents used a confidential source who was able to infiltrate the gang. Federal agents identified two cell phones Manasse used to conduct his narcotics trafficking activity and obtained court orders authorizing interception of drug-related phone calls. The agents intercepted thousands of calls during which Manasse discussed, orchestrated and directed the distribution of drugs. The calls also showed that Manasse directed, ordered and participated in acts of violence in order to maintain and protect the drug trafficking activity of the Brick City Brims in Irvington.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares sentenced Manasse to five years of supervised release. As a special condition of the supervised release, Judge Linares also banned Manasse from associating with any known street gang or organized crime members.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of ICE HSI in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees; the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Joseph R. Fuentes; the Irvington Police Department, under the direction of Deputy Chief of Police Dwayne Mitchell, Senior Law Enforcement in Charge and Director Joseph Santiago; and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael H. Robertson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.13-304
Defense counsel: Kathleen M. Theurer Esq., Jersey City, N.J.
Krystel A. Buckland Pleads Guilty in U.S. Federal CourtRead the Press Release
The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on July 23, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, KRYSTEL A. BUCKLAND, a 32-year-old resident of Billings, pled guilty to acquiring a controlled substance by subterfuge. Sentencing has been set for October 23, 2013. She is currently released on special conditions.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan P. McCarthy, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On August 19, 2012, a task force officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) received a phone call from the pharmacy district manager for the K-Mart in Billings. The manager indicated that there were numerous prescription pills missing from the pharmacy department. The prescription pills first started to appear missing in February of 2012.
K-Mart then installed video cameras in the pharmacy department. On August 29, 2012, BUCKLAND, a pharmacist at the store, was seen on the video camera entering into the pharmacy after pharmacy hours and stealing numerous prescription pills. The video showed BUCKLAND taking the pills and then stuffing them into her clothing. BUCKLAND had been hired in February of 2012.
On August 31, 2012, BUCKLAND was interviewed by a DEA task force officer. She admitted that she did steal all of the prescription pills, and that she started stealing pills when she first began working at K-Mart. According to BUCKLAND, she used all of the pills herself. She indicated that she would use approximately 100 pills per day. After the interview, BUCKLAND gave consent to search her car and recovered numerous pill bottles and a small amount of pills in the vehicle.
The records from K-Mart indicate that approximately 18,000 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills were taken from the pharmacy from February of 2012 through August of 2012.
BUCKLAND faces possible penalties of 4 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Justice Department Settles with Louisiana Tech University over Inaccessible Course MaterialsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with Louisiana Tech University and the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The settlement resolves allegations that the University violated the ADA by using a version of an online learning product that was inaccessible to a blind student. The student’s lack of access to the course materials persisted nearly one month into the University quarter, at which point the student was so far behind in his coursework that he felt compelled to withdraw from the course. The settlement also resolves allegations that in a subsequent course, the same student was not provided accessible course materials for in-class discussion or exam preparation in a timely manner.
Under the settlement agreement, the university will adopt a number of disability-related policies, including the requirement to deploy learning technology, web pages and course content that is accessible in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA standard in the university setting. The university will also make existing web pages and materials created since 2010 accessible. The agreement also requires the university to train its instructors and administrators on the requirements of the ADA, and secured a total of $23,543 in damages for the student from the university and the Board.
“Emerging technologies, including internet-based learning platforms, are changing the way we learn, and we need to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded or left behind,” said Eve L. Hill, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
“This a positive move by Louisiana Tech University and the Board of Supervisors. Their efforts reflect a commitment to ensuring that all individuals with disabilities have full access to the University,” said Stephanie A. Finley, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.
The ADA protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination in the services, programs or activities of state and local government entities. Under Title II of the ADA, state and local governments must afford individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from aids, benefits or services provided. For more information about the ADA, call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.
Justice Department Seeks to Shut Down Southern Illinois Tax PreparerRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court to bar Ronald Manis of Carbondale, Ill., from preparing tax returns for others. The civil injunction suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, alleges that Manis routinely prepares federal tax returns for individuals and corporations improperly claiming deductions that result in his customers understating their federal tax liabilities.
The government complaint also alleges that Manis prepares federal tax returns for his customers, claiming as business expenses his customers’ non-deductible personal expenses, including the cost of lavish personal vacations. According to the government complaint, Manis engages in this conduct “in a misguided attempt to mint his reputation as a uniquely skilled and knowledgeable tax return preparer.”
In September 2011, Manis pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file his own federal income tax returns for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and was initially sentenced to probation. In May 2012, his probation was revoked and he was sentenced to three months in prison. According to the government complaint, Manis was released from federal prison on July 20, 2013.
The government suit also alleges that Manis falsely represented himself as a fully licensed Certified Public Accountant to customers and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and that Manis illegally used an electronic filing number belonging to a friend to electronically file customers’ returns after the IRS denied Manis’s application for an electronic filing number.
In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax return preparers and tax fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department's website.
Related Materials:
United States v. Ronald Manis
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Relief (PDF)
Justice Department Seeks to Shut Down Southern Illinois Tax PreparerRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court to bar Ronald Manis of Carbondale, Ill., from preparing tax returns for others. The civil injunction suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, alleges that Manis routinely prepares federal tax returns for individuals and corporations improperly claiming deductions that result in his customers understating their federal tax liabilities.
The government complaint also alleges that Manis prepares federal tax returns for his customers, claiming as business expenses his customers’ non-deductible personal expenses, including the cost of lavish personal vacations. According to the government complaint, Manis engages in this conduct “in a misguided attempt to mint his reputation as a uniquely skilled and knowledgeable tax return preparer.”
In September 2011, Manis pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file his own federal income tax returns for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and was sentenced to three months in prison. According to the government complaint, Manis was released from federal prison on July 20, 2013.
The government suit also alleges that Manis falsely represented himself as a fully licensed Certified Public Accountant to customers and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and that Manis illegally used an electronic filing number belonging to a friend to electronically file customers’ returns after the IRS denied Manis’ application for an electronic filing number.
In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax return preparers and tax fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department's website.
Justice Department Obtains Comprehensive Agreement to Ensure New York City Adult Home Residents with Mental Illness Are Afforded Opportunities to Live in the CommunityRead the Press Release
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced today that they, along with plaintiff adult home residents, entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement with the state of New York under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The settlement agreement will provide relief to thousands of people with mental illness unnecessarily segregated in 23 adult homes in New York City. Adult homes are institutional, segregated settings that house large numbers of people with mental illness.
Under the settlement agreement, New York will offer supported housing to people with mental illness currently residing in adult homes. Supported housing is apartments scattered throughout the community for which the state provides rental assistance and housing-related support services. Supported housing residents have access to community-based services and supports that promote their inclusion, independence, and full participation in community life. The settlement agreement has been filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York for the court’s approval.
The Supreme Court made clear in its landmark decision Olmstead v. L.C, that people with disabilities have a civil right under the ADA to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The state worked cooperatively with the department and private plaintiffs to negotiate a settlement that resolves the allegations that the New York mental health service system violates the ADA by relying on large, institutional adult homes instead of supported housing units that are scattered throughout the community. A state is responsible for segregation when it designs and implements a system that unnecessarily relies on institutional facilities, regardless of whether they are privately owned and operated.
“Today’s settlement agreement reaffirms the right of people with disabilities to live independently and participate in all aspects of community life,” said Eve L. Hill, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This agreement creates opportunities for thousands of New Yorkers with mental illness to participate fully in community life, enriching local communities and ending the stigmatization of institutional life. Governor Andrew Cuomo played a crucial role in making this agreement a reality, and I commend his leadership.”
Over the next five years, New York will provide scattered-site supported housing to at least 2,000, and potentially more than 4,000, adult home residents. New York has also committed to providing people moving to supported housing with the community-based services and supports that will allow them to thrive in the community. The agreement also will ensure that adult home residents have the information they need to make an informed choice about where to live. If they choose to move to supported housing, they will participate in a person-centered, transition planning process. An independent reviewer with extensive experience in mental health systems will monitor the state’s compliance with the agreement.
Because of this agreement, people like Ilona Spiegel, one of the named plaintiffs, will get the opportunity to live independently and “become emancipated” after 15 years in an adult home. Spiegel lived independently in her own apartment until she received psychiatric treatment in a hospital in 1998. When she left the hospital, her only discharge option was to move into an adult home. In the adult home, Spiegel shares a small room with a roommate, has scheduled mealtimes and no opportunity to cook for herself, has little privacy as staff have entered her room without permission and finds living in the adult home extremely isolating. Spiegel has said that she cannot wait to live in her own apartment again and have autonomy over her life, including doing her own cooking, cleaning and shopping, have personal privacy in her home, and be free from intrusion into her personal belongings.
Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York stated: “With this agreement, thousands of New Yorkers will be able to leave the shadow of institutional living and instead live in and contribute to their communities. Because of this cooperative effort, their lives will be immeasurably better and our communities all the richer for their presence.”
The individual plaintiff adult home residents, on behalf of themselves and a class of adult home residents with mental illness, are represented by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP; Disability Advocates Inc.; Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; MFY Legal Services Inc.; and Urban Justice Center.
The Civil Rights Division enforces the ADA, which authorizes the attorney general to investigate whether a state is serving individuals with disabilities in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs. Visit www.justice.gov/crt to learn more about the Olmstead decision, the ADA, and other laws enforced by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
This agreement is due to the efforts of the following Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office staff: Alison Barkoff, Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement; Rebecca B. Bond, Chief of the Disability Rights Section; Sheila Foran, Special Legal Counsel; Amanda Maisels and Nicholas Lee, Trial Attorneys; Lance Simon, Contractor; and Michael J. Goldberger, Chief of Civil Rights in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Justice Department Obtains Comprehensive Agreement to Ensure New York City Adult Home Residents with Mental Illness Are Afforded Opportunities to Live in the CommunityRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON. – The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced today that they, along with plaintiff adult home residents, entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement with the state of New York under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The settlement agreement will provide relief to thousands of people with mental illness unnecessarily segregated in 23 adult homes in New York City. Adult homes are institutional, segregated settings that house large numbers of people with mental illness.
Under the settlement agreement, New York will offer supported housing to people with mental illness currently residing in adult homes. Supported housing is apartments scattered throughout the community for which the state provides rental assistance and housing-related support services. Supported housing residents have access to community-based services and supports that promote their inclusion, independence, and full participation in community life. The settlement agreement has been filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York for the court’s approval.
The Supreme Court made clear in its landmark decision Olmstead v. L.C, that people with disabilities have a civil right under the ADA to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The state worked cooperatively with the department and private plaintiffs to negotiate a settlement that resolves the allegations that the New York mental health service system violates the ADA by relying on large, institutional adult homes instead of supported housing units that are scattered throughout the community. A state is responsible for segregation when it designs and implements a system that unnecessarily relies on institutional facilities, regardless of whether they are privately owned and operated.
“Today’s settlement agreement reaffirms the right of people with disabilities to live independently and participate in all aspects of community life,” said Eve L. Hill, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This agreement creates opportunities for thousands of New Yorkers with mental illness to participate fully in community life, enriching local communities and ending the stigmatization of institutional life. Governor Andrew Cuomo played a crucial role in making this agreement a reality, and I commend his leadership.”
Over the next five years, New York will provide scattered-site supported housing to at least 2,000, and potentially more than 4,000, adult home residents. New York has also committed to providing people moving to supported housing with the community-based services and supports that will allow them to thrive in the community. The agreement also will ensure that adult home residents have the information they need to make an informed choice about where to live. If they choose to move to supported housing, they will participate in a person-centered, transition planning process. An independent reviewer with extensive experience in mental health systems will monitor the state’s compliance with the agreement.
Because of this agreement, people like Ilona Spiegel, one of the named plaintiffs, will get the opportunity to live independently and “become emancipated” after 15 years in an adult home. Spiegel lived independently in her own apartment until she received psychiatric treatment in a hospital in 1998. When she left the hospital, her only discharge option was to move into an adult home. In the adult home, Spiegel shares a small room with a roommate, has scheduled mealtimes and no opportunity to cook for herself, has little privacy as staff have entered her room without permission and finds living in the adult home extremely isolating. Spiegel has said that she cannot wait to live in her own apartment again and have autonomy over her life, including doing her own cooking, cleaning and shopping, have personal privacy in her home, and be free from intrusion into her personal belongings.
Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York stated: “With this agreement, thousands of New Yorkers will be able to leave the shadow of institutional living and instead live in and contribute to their communities. Because of this cooperative effort, their lives will be immeasurably better and our communities all the richer for their presence.”
The individual plaintiff adult home residents, on behalf of themselves and a class of adult home residents with mental illness, are represented by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP; Disability Advocates Inc.; Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; MFY Legal Services Inc.; and Urban Justice Center.
The Civil Rights Division enforces the ADA, which authorizes the attorney general to investigate whether a state is serving individuals with disabilities in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs. Visit www.justice.gov/crt to learn more about the Olmstead decision, the ADA, and other laws enforced by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
This agreement is due to the efforts of the following Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office staff: Alison Barkoff, Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement; Rebecca B. Bond, Chief of the Disability Rights Section; Sheila Foran, Special Legal Counsel; Amanda Maisels and Nicholas Lee, Trial Attorneys; Lance Simon, Contractor; and Michael J. Goldberger, Chief of Civil Rights in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.