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3 January 2025
The United States Reaches Proposed Consent Decree to Resolve Claims that Conditions Inside the Fulton County Jail Violate the Constitution and Other Federal LawsRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced that the United States has entered into a court-enforceable agreement to resolve the findings that conditions of confinement at the Fulton County Jail violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The United States filed a complaint and a proposed consent decree with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff in federal court.
“Our report from an investigation of Fulton County and the Fulton County Jail concluded that the Constitutional rights of incarcerated persons are being violated,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “The proposed consent decree serves as a cooperative measure to address the grievous pattern of inhumane – and frequently violent – treatment of people in custody, along with the filthy and unsanitary living conditions they endure while awaiting formal charges or trials at the Fulton County Jail. This office is deeply invested in the well-being of all our residents, and we are hopeful that the systemic deficiencies revealed by our report will be remedied through the implementation of the requirements outlined in the decree, along with regular oversight of the progress of Fulton County and the Fulton County Jail, as overseen by an independent monitor.”
“This proposed consent decree is a critical step toward correcting the dangerous and dehumanizing conditions that have persisted in the Fulton County Jail for far too long,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “When the Department announced findings from our investigation of the Fulton County Jail in November, we called on the County and Sheriff’s Office to remedy the troubling pattern of unsanitary living conditions, brutal physical attacks, and other dangerous issues at the Jail. We are encouraged that local officials have agreed to a plan that will begin to address the inhumane, unconstitutional conditions that were reflected in Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death.”
“Our findings regarding the Fulton County Jail identified serious and life-threatening violations of the Constitution and other laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of inhumane conditions inside the facility. The proposed consent decree includes strong remedial provisions, an independent monitor and other remedies that make it a model for addressing these kinds of violations in jails and prisons across the nation. If fully implemented, this consent decree and its comprehensive remedies should reduce violence and unnecessary force; increase the quality of medical and mental health care; reduce the use of unnecessary isolation, particularly for people with mental illness and 17-year-old children; and afford children with disabilities the education to which they are entitled. We thank the County and Sheriff for working with the Justice Department on these long overdue reforms.”
The proposed consent decree, which must still be approved by the court, would resolve the United States’ claims that the Jail engages in a pattern or practice of violating the rights of people incarcerated at the facility. Under the proposed consent decree, the Jail will, among other things:
- Develop plans and policies to keep incarcerated people safe from violence;
- Improve supervision and staffing;
- Maintain doors and locks in working order;
- Require staff to abide by constitutional standards when using force;
- Take steps to protect incarcerated people at risk of suicide and to afford incarcerated people adequate medical and mental health care;
- Develop and implement a comprehensive housekeeping plan and pest management system to keep the Jail clean, sanitary, and free of pests;
- Stop use of isolation or restrictive housing of vulnerable people who are at substantial risk of self-harm or other negative mental health outcomes, absent specific and significant protections; and
- Facilitate the provision of adequate special education services to children with disabilities in the Jail.
The proposed consent decree provides for an independent monitor to assess the Jail’s implementation of the decree’s requirements. The monitor will issue public reports on the Jail’s progress every six months and members of the public can share information with the monitor regarding implementation of the decree and Jail conditions.
The United States initiated its investigation of the Fulton County Jail in July 2023. The United States’ investigation proceeded under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), Americans with Disabilities Act, and Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which prohibits law enforcement officers from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. These statutes authorize the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court to seek court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The United States provided Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff with written notice of its findings, along with the supporting facts for its findings, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the violations found. The proposed consent decree seeks to address and resolve those violations.
The case is being handled by Aileen Bell Hughes, Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity & Civil Rights Section, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebeca Ojeda and Rahul Garabadu of the Northern District of Georgia, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Johnson.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Telehealth Company Pays $386,000 to Resolve Allegations of Overbilling for Medicare Telehealth TimeRead the Press Release
Louisville, KY – U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky announced today that CompreCare Health LLC, and its affiliates, doing business as Meditelecare LLC, agreed to pay $358,514.00 to resolve allegations that Meditelicare billed Medicare for telehealth psychotherapy sessions that did not meet the minimum time requirements. CompreCare Health is a Connecticut business and provided services in at least 17 states including Kentucky.
“I commend the outstanding effort of the attorneys and investigators who worked on this case on behalf of the United States,” said U.S Attorney Bennett. “Those who bill Medicare for timed services must do so accurately as we take these matters very seriously and will vigorously pursue claims that Medicare is being overcharged.”
The United States alleged that, between January 1, 2017, and November 30, 2022, Meditelecare submitted and caused the submission of claims to Medicare for telehealth psychotherapy sessions that did not meet the minimum time requirements for payments and relied on false time records in support of these same telehealth services. The allegations arose from a whistleblower suit filed in federal court in Bowling Green, Kentucky. United States ex rel. Laura Cole and Tiffany Saylor v. MedOptions of Kentucky, et al., 1:19-cv-171-GNS (WDKY).
The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys A. Matthew Weyand and William F. Campbell. The case was investigated by Auditor Phil Bezehertny and Federal Investigator Cristal Fox from the United States Attorney’s Office, as well as special agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Office of Inspector for the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Rebecca C. Lutzko Announces Resignation from Service as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of OhioRead the Press Release
CLEVELAND – United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Rebecca C. Lutzko announced today that she will step down as the region’s chief federal law enforcement officer, effective 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2025. Under the Vacancies Reform Act, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik will become the Acting United States Attorney, effective midnight on Jan. 4, 2025.
Ms. Lutzko was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on June 7, 2023 and, while pending Senate confirmation, was installed as the interim U.S. Attorney on June 9, 2023, by the United States District Judges for the Northern District of Ohio.
“It has been the single greatest honor of my career to lead the Office and serve the people of northern Ohio as their United States Attorney,” said U.S. Attorney Lutzko. “I thank President Biden, Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the Judges of our District Court for giving me that opportunity.”
During her tenure as U.S. Attorney, Ms. Lutzko led an office of approximately 175 prosecutors, civil litigators, and administrative and support personnel in its mission to enforce federal civil and criminal laws, advocate for crime victims, and represent the interests of the United States, its agencies, and their employees in court. In this role, she oversaw prosecutions involving violent crime and organized gang activity, financial crime, national security matters, public corruption, hate crimes and other civil rights violations, drug trafficking organizations, child exploitation, cybercrime, and firearms crimes, among others. On the civil front, she oversaw investigations and the filing of affirmative actions in areas as diverse as protecting the environment, ensuring fair housing, protecting disability rights, and addressing healthcare frauds and controlled substance violations in which the Office recovered tens of millions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. She hired several new civil and criminal Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSA), created the district’s first e-Litigation unit, and implemented numerous internal training, efficiency, and accountability measures.
“I am incredibly proud of the work our office has undertaken and our employees’ collective efforts to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. We have been strategic in the types of cases we have pursued to maximize the positive impact to the communities that we are honored to serve, and we have held ourselves to standards of excellence and integrity in pursuing those cases,” said U.S. Attorney Lutzko. “We have accomplished much in a limited amount of time, despite challenging budgetary constraints. I have dedicated almost 20 years of my career to prosecuting criminals and seeking justice so that life can be better for Ohioans. I am confident that our Office’s many career public servants will continue to uphold the Department of Justice’s norms, making impartial, reasoned, and fair decisions to obtain justice. Credit for our successes during my tenure belongs to them, and to our federal, state, and local law enforcement officers for their unending dedication and redoubled efforts to help our Office combat both violent and non-violent crimes to keep our citizens and their neighborhoods safe and free from financial harm, to allow our citizens to enjoy their civil rights, and to prevent additional crime before it happens.”
The Northern District of Ohio covers the state’s 40 northern counties and is home to more than 5.7 million people. The main office is in Cleveland, with branch offices located in Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown.
Under U.S. Attorney Lutzko’s leadership, the Office has achieved noteworthy success in criminal and civil cases. Even with her focus on strategic case selection emphasizing impact over numbers, the Office remained one of the most productive large U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the nation according to several different metrics. Some of the more notable cases and outreach efforts include the following:
Public Safety & Violent Crime Reduction
U.S. Attorney Lutzko has prioritized combatting violent crime and promoting public safety, encouraging the use of data-driven strategies to identify and focus on the most significant drivers of crime and through purposeful case selection and charging decisions, with the goal of prosecuting cases that will have significant, positive community impact. She and her staff worked closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and other law enforcement partners to open a new Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) in the District in 2024. Located in a single facility, a team of firearm evidence examiners, intelligence analysts, and investigators can now rapidly collect, analyze, and share information about guns used in violent crimes. The CGIC serves as a hub for federal and local law enforcement to investigate and prevent gun violence in the region, utilizing cutting-edge technology and tracing systems to rapidly develop and pursue investigative leads to identify, prosecute, convict, and lock up the bad actors who commit violent crimes and remove “crime guns” from the streets faster, so neither continue to endanger innocent people in neighborhoods throughout Northern Ohio. Notably, violent crime rates have dropped significantly in Northern Ohio this year.
Some other notable investigations and cases include:
- Violent Crime Reduction Operation – After a three-month, violent crime reduction initiative in the summer of 2023, a total of 84 defendants were charged in connection with firearms-trafficking, straw purchasing firearms, narcotics, conspiracy, and other firearms offenses. The investigation was led by the ATF and resulted in the seizure of more than 255 firearms, of which 47 were traced back to other crimes. The seizure also included 17 untraceable firearms, also known as “ghost guns.” Seventy defendants were charged federally and the remaining 14 faced state charges. Sixty of those entered guilty pleas, 49 of which have been sentenced to date. Of the 14 defendants charged in the state, 12 have pled guilty and been convicted and sentenced. Noteworthy prison sentencings for charged federal firearms violations include Darvell Jackson, sentenced to 168 months; Cortez Buggs sentenced to 132 months; Kenneth Smith sentenced to 135 months; Darion Shelton, sentenced to 100 months; and Willie Earl Jackson sentenced to 84 months.
- U.S. v. Mullins, et al. – Twenty-one members and associates of a Cleveland-based, violent street gang known as the Fully Blooded Felons were arrested and charged beginning in December 2023 and continuing into 2024. The defendants are alleged to have committed numerous federal crimes, including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault in aid of racketeering, firearms violations, conspiracy, and drug trafficking. As the indictment alleges, the gang styled themselves after a Mafia crime family, conspired to commit numerous violent acts, and operated an open-air illegal drug market in Cleveland’s Cedar Central neighborhood for years.
- U.S. v. McKillips – A Sandusky man was sentenced to 41 months in prison after his guilty plea to interstate communication of threats and unlawful possession of a machine gun. He made multiple online threats to harm or kill law enforcement officers, including by posting a photo of himself aiming a semi-automatic rifle at an officer parked in a police vehicle down the street.
- U.S. v. Sledge, et al. – In October 2024, an Ohio father-son team were indicted for the murder of an on-duty U.S. Postal Service mail carrier. The Office has also separately brought several other indictments and/or obtained convictions for defendants throughout the district who have robbed mail carriers to steal their blue-mailbox keys and mail.
- U.S. v. Matheny – On Oct. 26, 2022, a bank in Lorain, Ohio, was robbed by a man armed with a small silver semi-automatic firearm. The teller reported that the suspect entered, approached the counter, and slid a note under plexiglass indicating that it was robbery, that he had a gun, not to touch the alarm, and to hand over all fifty, hundred, and twenty-dollar bills. When the teller retrieved the cash from her drawer and handed it to him, he walked away with more than $4,000 from the bank. The Lorain Police Department investigated anonymous tips and reviewed surveillance videos. Two days later, Matheny was located and then arrested after a police chase. A bookbag containing a loaded firearm, fentanyl, cocaine, and two cellphones were seized from Matheny. Matheny was convicted on all counts after a five-day trial in April 2024. In August, he was sentenced to 78 months in prison, plus 84 months consecutive for brandishing a firearm in during the course of a robbery, for a total of 162 months.
- U.S. v. Hansen – After he pled guilty to committing three, armed bank robberies in Michigan and Ohio, a Toledo man was sentenced to 348 months in prison and ordered to pay $44,908.73 in restitution. In the Ohio robbery, Hansen aimed a pistol at bank employees and customers and forced them to lie down on the floor. After growing frustrated with the speed at which tellers were retrieving the money he demanded, Hansen grabbed money containers from a bill-dispensing machine and fled with approximately $82,000. Officers apprehended Hansen a short time later.
In addition to bringing criminal prosecutions to combat violent crime, U.S. Attorney Lutzko and USAO staff also engaged in affirmative public outreach activities in an effort to promote public safety. For example, she brought together local community organizations and the Ohio Adult Parole Authority to work with the USAO to identify individuals recently released from state prison who were deemed at high-risk for committing future violent crime, but amenable to making positive change in their lives. That partnership is continuing with a pilot program that pairs those individuals with needed services and hands-on mentors to assist participants in charting a new course for themselves that avoids criminal conduct.
Taking a different tack, under U.S. Attorney Lutzko’s direction, the USAO also led a “Safe Storage” awareness campaign to highlight firearms safety and help prevent accidents, self-harm, theft, and other unauthorized use of firearms. Thus far, the campaign has included public in-person events, public service announcements, and information dissemination. Additional events are scheduled for 2025.
Healthcare Fraud
As chief law enforcement officer in a district with multiple, sophisticated healthcare providers and facilities, U.S. Attorney Lutzko prioritized fighting fraud, waste, and abuse in federal healthcare programs through a combination of robust criminal and civil enforcement efforts. The Office’s notable criminal convictions and sentences and civil settlements and judgments obtained during her tenure include the following:
- U.S. v. Singh – In February 2024, a jury convicted Ankita Singh, M.D., of six counts of healthcare fraud for signing false orders for orthotic braces that patients had never requested and did not need. Although she never saw, examined, or even spoke to these patients, she signed more than 11,000 such prescriptions for approximately 3,000 Medicare beneficiaries, causing the submission of more than $8 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare for devices that were not medically necessary. Singh was sentenced to 26 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $4,470,931.02 in restitution.
- U.S. v. Bailey, et al. – From 2017 through 2020, 21 individuals involved with the healthcare nonprofit entity Eye for Change Youth and Family Services, Inc., conspired and manipulated billing, falsified records, and used the identities of clients without authorization to bill Medicaid. Twenty defendants pled guilty, while one, Eric King, was convicted at trial in August 2023 for his role in the scheme, and for continuing to engage in similar fraudulent conduct at another provider. King and the scheme’s leader, Alfonso Bailey, were each sentenced to 36 months in prison (in Jan. 2024 and June 2023, respectively). The defendants were ordered to pay $4.5 million in restitution, with more than $4.3 million forfeited from Eye for Change and Bailey.
- Investigation of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation – The Cleveland Clinic Foundation agreed to pay $7,600,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting grant applications for health-related-research funding to the National Institutes of Health that contained materially false information.
- U.S. ex rel. White, et al. v. Rite Aid Corp., et al. – Rite Aid Corporation and 10 subsidiaries and affiliates agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle the government’s allegations of filling medically unnecessary prescriptions under the False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act.
- U.S. ex rel. Rzeszutko v. Elixir Insurance Co., et al. – Three Rite-Aid subsidiaries, Elixir Insurance Company, RX Options LLC, and RX Solutions LLC, agreed to a $101 million settlement that resolved allegations that they violated the False Claims Act when they did not accurately report drug rebates to the Medicare program.
- U.S. v. Gerber, et al. – In August 2024, a federal court permanently enjoined Ohio physician Gregory Gerber, M.D., from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, and ordered him to pay $4.7 million in a civil case alleging Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act violations. Gerber also pled guilty to criminal drug-trafficking charges for writing numerous medically unnecessary prescriptions for addictive painkillers, including over 800 illegitimate prescriptions for a drug he was being paid to promote. In March 2024, Gerber was sentenced to 42 months in prison and ordered to pay $861,892.13 in criminal restitution.
Other Fraud Schemes & Public Corruption
In addition to the serious long-term effect that financial crimes may have on individual victims, such crimes undermine the well-being of financial institutions and harm our entire community. Similarly, public corruption undermines the public’s confidence in the public institutions and officials central to our democratic society. Accordingly, during U.S. Attorney Lutzko’s tenure, the Office both criminally prosecuted such crimes and engaged in public outreach to prevent such crimes from occurring in the first place. Lutzko also served as a member of the White Collar Crime Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC).
Notable efforts and case success in these areas included the following:
- Elder Fraud Outreach – U.S. Attorney Lutzko and her staff engaged in several outreach events to bring awareness to senior citizens about the dangers of financial scams.
- Government Supply Chain and Procurement Fraud Task Force – In 2024, the Office stood up this task force, bringing together white collar crime AUSAs, homeland security investigators, and numerous other federal investigative agencies to address large-scale supply chain and procurement fraud in government contracting, prioritizing fraud in connection with military, law enforcement, and public safety. A first of its kind in this District, the task force will focus on government contractors who provide faulty, counterfeit, or otherwise dangerous products, such as substandard medications or supplies purchased by the Veterans Administration, counterfeit or faulty electronics or software provided to NASA, or similar products supplied to the military.
- U.S. v. Eid – A Perrysburg man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for filing false tax returns and engaging in wire fraud that defrauded educational and government entities. He admitted to falsifying his income for his children to qualify for aid packages to colleges and private schools.
- U.S. v. Page – A Toledo man who described himself as a “social-justice activist” was sentenced to 42 months in prison after a jury convicted him of wire fraud and money laundering. Page defrauded donors of more than $450,000 that they collectively gave to his nonprofit organization, “Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta,” based on Page’s false representations about how their money would be spent.
- U.S. v. Khan – In November 2023, a Michigan man was sentenced to 97 months in prison after earlier pleading guilty to bank fraud and attempted tax evasion in connection with a massive check-kiting scheme involving numerous banks. He was also ordered to pay more than $150,000,000 in restitution to the victims of his bank fraud and the IRS, and to serve three years of supervised release once released from prison.
- U.S. v. Pounds – A Toledo-area man was sentenced to 94 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in a scheme to obtain Small Business Administration (SBA)-financed loans from the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program and the Paycheck Protection Program under false pretenses. He was also ordered to pay $4,239,940.43 in restitution to the SBA.
- Fresh Mark Inc. Investigation – An Ohio meat processing company entered into an agreement with the USAO for a hiring manager’s involvement in an identity theft scheme and making false statements on government forms. Under the terms of the agreement, the company paid more than $3.7 million to the federal Crime Victims Fund in November 2024 and agreed to abide by compliance-reporting requirements for a two-year period.
- U.S. v. Spivak, et al. – A jury convicted two men for conspiring to artificially inflate prices on “penny stocks” being sold to investors. After a trial that proceeded in two stages for over four weeks in August and September 2024, the two were found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Spivak was also found guilty of two counts of wire fraud at trial, then pled guilty to four other counts of wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and a separate count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. His codefendant was found guilty of a securities fraud conspiracy and one count of securities fraud in the second stage of trial. Two other defendants also pled guilty.
- U.S. v. Barr – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty to an organized scheme that defrauded the Lucas County Auditor of more than $622,000. From March 2018 through November 2020, he conspired with others to obtain money by pretending to be legitimate vendors with which the county was approved to do business.
- U.S. v. Graham, et al. – Two Ohio men were charged in a bribery scheme in which a municipal prosecutor allegedly agreed to help a criminal defendant with his pending cases in exchange for auto repair work. According to the indictment, Graham was a prosecutor for the Warren Municipal Court. The other defendant had two criminal cases pending in the same court. It is alleged that in October 2019, Graham assisted the codefendant with his criminal cases, and in return, he performed repairs to Graham’s truck.
- U.S. v. Cheney et al. – Six defendants pled guilty and were sentenced to a total of 355 months for a COVID-19 fraud conspiracy. From March 2020 to August 2021, they obtained nearly $3,000,000 in federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits using other people’s identities to apply for benefits in several states. The defendants, all residents of Northeast Ohio, were sentenced to numerous years in prison. Dates for future proceedings for a seventh defendant are yet to be determined.
Civil Rights
U.S. Attorney Lutzko led a comprehensive approach dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Ohioans through criminal and civil enforcement actions, community outreach, and a strong partnership with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division. She also served as a member of the AGAC’s Civil Rights Subcommittee. The Office’s efforts included the following:
- U.S. v. Penny – In January 2024, an Ohio man was sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for firebombing a church and attempting to burn it down because the church supported the LGBTQ+ community. He was convicted of violating the Church Arson Prevention Act, a hate-crime statute, and of using fire and explosives to commit a felony.
- U.S. v. Durant – In April 2024, a woman was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of intentionally damaging a reproductive healthcare center and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. She did so after learning that the clinic offered pregnancy counseling, free pregnancy testing, and ultrasounds, but not abortion services.
- Investigation of Case Western Reserve University – The USAO entered into a settlement with a private Ohio university to resolve Title IX violations. The agreement requires extensive reforms to ensure the University enacts appropriate response protocols for students and employees to report sex discrimination and to provide adequate support to those affected.
- U.S. v. Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Inc. et al. – A federal lawsuit was filed against two organizations and seven individuals, alleging they violated the FACE Act on two days in June 2021 by physically obstructing entrances to reproductive health facilities.
- U.S. v. Pedaline and TLP LLC – A federal lawsuit was filed against an owner and manager of residential rental properties, in Youngstown, Ohio, for engaging in sexual harassment in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The complaint alleged that Pedaline sexually harassed female tenants at properties that he owned or managed in Youngstown since 2009. Pedaline entered into a consent decree with the USAO and agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty and $189,000 to aggrieved persons allegedly harmed by the defendant’s actions.
- Protecting Places of Worship Forum – More than 150 leaders from different faiths attended the “Protecting Places of Worship” forum, sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI-Cleveland, and the DOJ’s Community Relations Service. U.S. Attorney Lutzko gave opening remarks, and legal and security experts provided information about how to identify, report, and protect against hate crimes.
- Interfaith Council Initiative – The USAO reestablished an interfaith council to bring together members of our area’s diverse faith communities to address issues that are important to them, including the protection of Civil Rights and the freedom to worship without fear. Ms. Lutzko and USAO staff also visited several different houses of worship and faith-community gatherings during her tenure as part of the Office’s continued outreach efforts.
- The USAO partnered with the Beachwood City School District and DOJ’s Community Relations Service to hold a Fall 2024 program under the DOJ’s “United Against Hate” umbrella, wherein representatives from law enforcement, community organizations, and members of the public engaged in a discussion about practical strategies and skills to constructively address and resolve conflicts and to prevent acts of hate.
- Also in connection with the Department’s “United Against Hate” initiative, the USAO sponsored a community engagement program in the Fall of 2023 at The LGBTQ Center in Lakewood. It addressed identifying and reporting hate crimes and related civil rights violations.
- Voting with a Disability – In February 2024, U.S. Attorney Lutzko took part in an online forum to highlight concerns and address issues encountered by voters with disabilities. Advocacy groups and others from throughout the state listened to the presentation and identified areas of concern. This event was held in partnership with the USAO for the Southern District of Ohio.
- Pride in CLE – Ms. Lutzko and USAO staff marched alongside thousands of community members to support diversity, acceptance, and inclusion for all.
Child Exploitation
Under U.S. Attorney Lutzko’s leadership, the Office continued its strong tradition of prosecuting crimes against children, who are among our most vulnerable of victims. Notable case examples include:
- U.S. v. Zacharias – In November 2023, a former priest was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of sex trafficking three victims who he first met at a Catholic school in Toledo in 1999. The evidence presented at trial showed that Zacharias used his position of authority as a spiritual leader to groom the boys and grow close with their families before ultimately coercing the victims into engaging in commercial sex acts. Zacharias’s abuse continued for years, assisted by his exploiting his victims’ opioid addictions, which they had developed while taking such drugs to cope with the abuse.
- U.S. v. Patterson – A Canton man was sentenced to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges including sexual exploitation of children, receipt and distribution of visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and possession of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), also referred to as child pornography.
- U.S. v. Walker – After FBI agents received a lead that a sexually explicit picture of a two-year old was likely a child residing in Northeast Ohio, agents identified the child and discovered that she spent time at an in-home daycare in Parma, Ohio, where Walker was often present. After he pled guilty to sexual exploitation and child pornography crimes for sexually abusing the child, filming it on his phone, and distributing those videos, Walker was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
- U.S. v. Deitsch – In February 2024, an Ohio man was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison after he pled guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor and transportation of a minor across state lines for illicit sexual activity. A month after his release from prison for the abduction of another female, Deitsch traveled to Illinois to pick up a 15-year-old girl who he had met online, then brought her back to Ohio and engaged in sexual activity with her. After serving his prison term, he was also ordered serve 25 years of supervised release.
- U.S. v. Wilcoxon – A Defiance man was sentenced to 30 years in prison in October 2023 after pleading guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, coercion and enticement of a minor, and receipt and distribution of child sexual abuse materials. According to court documents, he initiated online chats with a purported 13-year-old and sought to meet with her to have sex. A search of his home uncovered more than 11,000 images of child sexual abuse in his possession.
National Security & Cybercrime
National security remained a top priority of all U.S. Attorney’s offices, including the Northern District of Ohio. Further, the Office continued to be a recognized leader in cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, seeking to apprehend and punish criminal actors who hide behind their computer screens to wreak immeasurable damage worldwide. Office achievements under U.S. Attorney Lutzko’s leadership included the following:
- U.S. v. John Doe a.k.a. “Brain” – In August 2024, the Office filed a criminal complaint against a defendant known as “Brain,” believed to be based in Europe and responsible for building a multi-national ransomware organization known as Radar. This complaint sought injunctive relief to prevent additional attacks on victims from occurring and authorized disruption of the ransomware by disabling foreign and domestic domain names, servers, and IP addresses associated with the criminal enterprise. Victims include businesses and organizations located in more than three dozen countries throughout the world, including a trade union and a manufacturing company located in the northern district of Ohio. The FBI estimates monetary losses incurred by individuals and organizations to be in the millions, and the investigation remains open.
- U.S. v. Vidic – A Croatian man living in Parma Heights was sentenced to three years in prison for possessing a green card that he fraudulently obtained by concealing that he had been charged with a war crime in Croatia before immigrating to the United States. He also falsely stated that his only past military service was in the Yugoslav Army from 1988 to 1989, when, in fact, he fought with the Serb Army of Krajina and its predecessors during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia from 1991.
- Trickbot Malware Conspiracy – Russian national Vladimir Dunaev pled guilty in November 2023 to crimes related to developing and deploying worldwide a malicious software program used to launch cyberattacks against American hospitals, schools, and businesses, including 10 in northern Ohio. Dunaev was responsible for causing those Ohio entities $3.4 million in losses based on Trickbot ransomware attacks. He was sentenced to 64 months in prison in January 2024. A co-conspirator pled guilty earlier and was sentenced in June 2023.
Drug Trafficking
U.S. Attorney Lutzko emphasized prosecuting and dismantling multi-level drug-trafficking organizations during her tenure, particularly those with international connections and/or that peddled highly toxic poisons such as fentanyl on our communities streets. The Office had numerous successes combatting the scourge of drug-trafficking, including the following examples:
- U.S. v. Ojeda-Elenes et al. – Four individuals, including two with direct connections to the Sinaloa Cartel based in Culiacán, Mexico, received sentences in 2024 ranging from two and a half years to 19 years in prison for a drug conspiracy involving more than 240 pounds of fentanyl and nearly 100 pounds of cocaine.
- U.S. v. Whittaker, et al. – Fifteen people in Lorain County were charged in a 19-count indictment after authorities seized large quantities of fentanyl that included more than 42,000 thousand fentanyl pills.
- U.S. v. Hovanec, et al. – A woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including conspiring to distribute a controlled substance that resulted in the death of her husband (she intentionally injected him with that substance). Her boyfriend and mother were also implicated in the case and sentenced to 18 and 10 years prison, respectively.
- U.S. v. Johnson, et al. – Twenty members of a drug trafficking operation operating in Sandusky, Ohio, were charged in a 63-count indictment and alleged to be responsible for trafficking distribution quantities of controlled substances in the Greater Sandusky area, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in both powder and counterfeit pill form, as well as methamphetamine and cocaine.
- U.S. v. May – A man was sentenced to more than 14 and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs and distributing drugs. He was also ordered to serve 15 years of supervised release following imprisonment. According to court documents and court records, he led a drug conspiracy in the Youngstown area that distributed fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base, and heroin.
- U.S. v. Lumbus, et al. – Eleven people were charged in an international drug trafficking conspiracy that involved the importation of fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and synthetic cannabinoids into the United States, and the distribution of those drugs in Ohio and other states, including in Ohio’s prisons.
U. S. Attorney Lutzko chaired the Office’s Heroin-Opioid Task Force, partnering with local law enforcement entities and service providers to address the opioid epidemic in Cuyahoga County. Under her leadership, the Office recently spearheaded a successful effort to more quickly connect persons who have experienced a recent overdose with community intervention organizations that assist willing participants begin their journey toward sobriety.
Financial Collections/Forfeiture
As U.S. Attorney Lutzko recently noted, “Asset forfeiture is a vital tool” used “to punish criminals and financially deter, disrupt, or dismantle criminal activity and criminal organizations. When we take the assets used to commit, or gained as the result of crime, we deprive criminals of the tools they need to engage in criminal activity and, indeed, their reason for committing such crimes in the first place. Additionally, forfeiting criminal assets allows us to return money lost by victims who were scammed by criminals in deceitful and fraudulent schemes or otherwise harmed by crime.” In FY 2024 alone, the Office forfeited over $7.7 million in criminal assets, with more than $50 million of assets still pending future forfeiture.
In addition, the Office continued its tremendous success collecting debts owed to the government based on false claims, environmental damage, controlled-substance violations, and the like, to return that money to the U.S. taxpayers, and further, recovering money for crime victims to make them whole. In FY 2024, the Office’s Financial Litigation Program collected nearly $28 million in victim restitution and taxpayer recoveries of money improperly taken through fraud, waste, and abuse.
Protecting Our Environment & Animal Welfare
The Office worked closely with the DOJ’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division to protect the environment for our district’s residents. Notable examples include:
U.S. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., et al. – The Norfolk Southern Railway Company agreed to a settlement valued at over $310 million to hold it accountable, address, and pay for the environmental damages caused by the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and fund health monitoring and mental health services for the surrounding communities, and railway safety measures.
U.S. v. Shepherd – A Kenton, Ohio, man was sentenced to probation, community service, a $5,000 fine, and to pay $22,508.60 in restitution after pleading guilty to dumping over 7,000 gallons of hazardous pollutants into the Scioto River, killing over 43,000 fish and contaminating an 18-mile stretch of the river.
U.S. v. Mt. Hope Auction – A civil complaint filed in September against Mt. Hope Auction alleged that it placed animals in serious danger and violated the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). At the time of the complaint’s filing, Mt. Hope had been cited for 69 AWA violations in less than two years, including repeated violations for failing to provide veterinary care to sick or injured animals. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors observed a calf unable to stand, with its legs splayed in an abnormal position and other animals that were so emaciated that their ribs, scapula, pelvic bones, and individual vertebrae were visible. Mt. Hope Auction entered into a consent decree with the USAO and agreed not to deal or exhibit AWA-regulated animal without a license and allow the USDA access to ensure compliance. If Mt. Hope Auction obtains a new USDA license within the next three years, it agrees to a two-year probationary period.
Career History
Ms. Lutzko first joined the Office as a career prosecutor in 2005. As an Assistant United States Attorney, she prosecuted complex criminal cases involving a range of federal violations, including money laundering; campaign-finance violations; public corruption; multiple types of fraud schemes, including healthcare, tax, government-program, investment, and corporate frauds; and complex narcotics conspiracies, from illegal “street” drugs to illegal online pharmacy operations and other doctor-involved drug trafficking. She served as Chief of the Criminal Division’s Appeals Unit between January 2017 and June 2023, where she oversaw all briefing and arguments by the Office before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She also served as Deputy Chief of the Major Fraud and Corruption Unit from 2010 to 2011.
Before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Lutzko was an associate at BakerHostetler in Cleveland from 1998 to 2005. She also served as a law clerk from 1997 to 1998 for Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Ms. Lutzko graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1997 where she earned her Juris Doctor degree with distinction. She graduated magna cum laude in 1993 from Boston University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree.
Pittsburg County Resident Sentenced for Failure to Register as Sex OffenderRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Lenard Ray Bond, age 31, of Hartshorne, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 21 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for failing to register as a sex offender.
The charges arose from an investigation by the United States Marshals Service Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force and the LeFlore County Sheriff’s Office.
On May 8, 2024, Bond pleaded guilty to an Indictment of one count of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.
On August 8, 2014, Bond was convicted in the State of Oklahoma for Second Degree Rape and required to register as a sex offender. Bond was advised of the requirement to register as a sex offender and to inform law enforcement of any change in residency. According to investigators, between April 14, 2019, and March 15, 2024, Bond repeatedly failed to register as a sex offender despite moving into and living at various residences in and around Indian country within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing. Bond will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Wittlinger and Jessica Bove represented the United States.
Physicians Toxicology Laboratory and Its Owners to Pay $4.425 Million to Settle Allegations of Unnecessary Drug TestingRead the Press Release
GRAND RAPIDS – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Physicians Toxicology Laboratory, LLC (PTL) of Tampa, Florida, has agreed to pay $4,425,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by causing physicians to order medically unnecessary urine drug testing and hormone testing and by submitting claims for reimbursement to the Medicare Program for those tests. Lund Capital Group, LLC (PTL’s grandparent company), PTL’s former president Matthew Ryan Lund, and Thomas C. Lund joined the settlement as jointly and severally liable co-defendants.
“Lab tests should be ordered based on each patient’s medical needs and not just to increase laboratory profits,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Laboratories and ordering practitioners must play by the rules. We will not tolerate conduct by Medicare-enrolled practitioners and laboratories that unnecessarily increases costs to the Medicare Program and wastes taxpayer funds.”
WATCH: U.S. Attorney Mark Totten video concerning the settlement.
The United States alleges that PTL provided laboratory services for several medical practices in Michigan. These practices ordered urine drug tests (UDTs) for their Medicare patients, and PTL ran these tests and billed Medicare. These practices routinely ordered two types of UDTs: presumptive and definitive. A presumptive UDT is an initial test to detect the presence or absence of a substance or class of substances in the body. A definitive UDT is a more advanced test that can identify individual drugs, distinguish between structural isomers, and report the results of drugs present in concentrations of nanograms per milliliter.
Under its rules, Medicare requires that claims for UDTs be based on an individualized determination for each patient. Medicare does not cover “blanket” orders for UDTs.
Despite these rules, the United States alleges that from January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2019, PTL encouraged these medical practices in Michigan to order UDTs pursuant to blanket orders for all patients without an individualized determination of medical necessity Specifically, PTL created—and encouraged the practices to use—requisition forms that included a simultaneous order for both presumptive and definitive UDTs. PTL also employed and placed in-office urine collectors in the practices, and the collectors typically filled out the blanket orders before submitting them to PTL. As a result, the practices ordered medically unnecessary and non-covered UDTs from PTL, and PTL knowingly submitted these claims to Medicare.
Additionally, the United States alleges that PTL billed Medicare for urine tests for hormone levels ordered by one of the practices with almost every UDT when the laboratory knew that the practice was ordering these tests as a form of specimen validity testing, which is already included in the reimbursed costs of UDTs.
The United States previously settled allegations of FCA liability for ordering these tests with two of the Michigan practices for a total of $188,633.18. These practices include Family Health Partners, P.C. (and its owner Michael J. Septer, D.O.) of Grand Rapids, and Advanced Pain Solutions, PLLC d/b/a Vitruvian Health of Ionia.
In connection with the settlement, PTL, Lund Capital Group, Matthew Ryan Lund, and Thomas C. Lund entered into a three-year Integrity Agreement (IA) with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). The Integrity Agreement requires, among other things, that PTL establish and maintain a compliance program and employ a clinical director responsible for reviewing and approving policies and practices related to clinical decision-making and reviewing statements made in marketing materials or by sales staff related to medical necessity or clinical decision-making. The IA also requires PTL to engage an independent review organization to perform a review of claims to determine whether the items and services furnished were medically necessary and appropriately documented.
“Health care providers are expected to follow the rules and regulations of the Medicare program, but knowingly submitting claims for medically unnecessary services violates that trust and wastes valuable taxpayer dollars,” said Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “This settlement reflects the commitment of HHS-OIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to protect the integrity of the Medicare program by working together to hold providers that submit false claims accountable for their actions.”
The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan and HHS-OIG.
Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Hull and Senior Trial Counsel Christopher Terranova from the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch (Fraud Section), prosecuted this case.
The claims resolved by these settlements are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
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Physician sentenced for prescription drug conspiracy resulting in deathRead the Press Release
Shakeel Kahn, age 57, was sentenced to 25 years in prison with five years of supervised release to follow for crimes involving drug distribution, firearms possession, and money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson imposed the sentence on Jan. 3, in Cheyenne.
A federal jury convicted Khan on Dec. 15, 2024, following a six-week trial before U.S. District Court Alan B. Johnson in Casper. According to court records and trial evidence, between 2011 and 2016, Kahn was a licensed medical doctor who operated clinics in Casper, Wyoming, and Fort Mohave, Arizona. Kahn unlawfully distributed drugs by writing prescriptions for large quantities of opioids without any legitimate medical need in exchange for cash payments from his customers. Kahn possessed firearms in furtherance of his unlawful drug distribution, and at least one person died after overdosing on drugs distributed by Kahn.
The United States Supreme Court overturned the original convictions, which Khan was found guilty of in 2019, due to a faulty jury instruction.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the crime. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie I. Sprecher and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Griswold prosecuted the case.
This case was brought about by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the major drug trafficking operations, tackle related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations, and violent crime, and prosecute those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.
Case No. 17-CR-00029
Operations Manager Pleads Guilty to Kickback SchemeRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A New York operations manager pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to conspiring to offer and pay kickbacks to doctors in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans.
Timothy Doyle, 45, of Selden, N.Y. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for April 3, 2025.
From at least June 2013 through at least September 2020, Doyle conspired with others, including two managers for a mobile medical diagnostics company that performed transcranial doppler (TCD) scans, to enter into kickback agreements with various doctors. TCD scans are brain scans that measure blood flow in parts of the brain. Doyle and his alleged co-conspirators agreed to offer and pay doctors kickbacks, some in cash and others by check, based on the number of TCD ultrasounds the doctors ordered. Doyle and his alleged co-conspirators created purported rental and administrative service agreements, which on paper made it appear as if doctors were compensated for the TCD company’s use of space and administrative resources of the ordering doctor’s practice based on fair market value and not based on the volume or value of referrals. These agreements were shams that hid the true nature of the arrangement of paying per test.
The scheme resulted in fraudulent bills of approximately $70.6 million to Medicare. Medicare paid approximately $27.2 million to the TCD company for the fraudulent claims.
The charge of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Jonathan Wlodyka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, Boston Field Office; Carol S. Hamilton, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Boston Regional Office; Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division; and Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Howard Locker and Mackenzie Queenin of the Health Care Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
New USAO Task Force to Target Government Contract FraudRead the Press Release
CLEVELAND – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio is spearheading a new, interagency Supply Chain Oversight and Procurement Enforcement (SCOPE) Task Force, created in 2024, to ensure supply chain integrity and prevent procurement fraud. The task force will serve to support the work of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit (GSCIU), led by the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), based in Washington, D.C.
The GSCIU investigates procurement and government contract fraud in connection with military, law enforcement, and public health and safety. Examples include investigations into substandard or fraudulent vaccines or medications that are supplied to veterans through Veterans Affairs. Other investigations have focused on faulty electronics and software provided to NASA or the military supply chain, and counterfeit and faulty armor and munitions provided to law enforcement and military personnel.
“As the first of its kind in the district, this task force brings together the USAO’s white collar crime unit, Homeland Security Investigations, and numerous other federal investigative agencies to address large-scale supply chain and procurement fraud in government contracting,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “We also must be vigilant about products entering the government supply chain stemming from prohibited sources or foreign countries of concern, which presents a national security issue that may potentially sabotage or compromise systems put in place to protect our country, our servicemen and servicewomen, and our citizens.”
The task force will hold its first meeting in early February. Topics of discussion will emphasize public health and safety, vaccine and medicine fraud, counterfeit goods, intellectual property theft, and national security. Regional federal agencies that have committed to the USAO-NDOH-led task force include the FBI, NASA, HSI, NCIS, Intellectual Property Rights Center, Defense Criminal Investigative Services, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, Customs and Border Protection, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. ARMY, and Defense Finance Accounting Service.
Minnesota Man Sentenced to 15 Months for Trafficking in Stolen Human RemainsRead the Press Release
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann sentenced Matthew Lampi, age 50, of East Bethel, Minnesota, to 15 months in prison for interstate transport of stolen human remains.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Lampi previously entered a guilty plea to a felony Indictment, admitting that he had purchased and caused to be transported in interstate commerce stolen human remains. Lampi admitted that he had purchased human remains, including the corpse of a stillborn baby boy, from Jeremy Pauley, a resident of the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley purchased stolen human remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who stole the remains from her employer, a Little Rock, Arkansas mortuary and crematorium. Scott stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, many of which had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by an area medical school, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned as cremains to their families. Scott sold the stolen remains to Pauley and shipped them to Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley sold many of the stolen remains he purchased to other individuals, including Matthew Lampi. Lampi and Pauley bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged over $100,000 in online payments.
Among the items Pauley sold and shipped to Lampi in Minnesota was the corpse of a stillborn baby named Lux. Lux’s mother, who had engaged a funeral home in the Little Rock area to cremate her son’s remains, was given ashes purported to be the cremains of her deceased son. Instead, Scott stole the baby’s body and sold and shipped it to Pauley, who then sold and shipped it to Lampi.
In addition to 15 months in prison, Chief Judge Brann ordered Lampi to pay a fine of $2,000 and restitution to Lux’s mother of $1,700. Both Pauley and Chapman Scott are awaiting sentencing after entering pleas of guilty to federal charges in Pennsylvania and Arkansas, respectively.
This case is part of a multi-year investigation into interstate trafficking of stolen human remains. Multiple defendants have been charged in this district ad Arkansas, and several have entered pleas of guilty.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni is prosecuting the case.
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Mingo County Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography CrimeRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Cameron Drake Newsome, 25, of Williamson, pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on or about November 1, 2019, Newsome used a cell phone to take two photographs of an approximately 3-year-old child in Williamson while the child was naked from the waist down and with the child’s genitals as the focal point of the images. Newsome admitted to taking the photographs and to storing them on an online file storage account. By storing those images in the online file storage account, Newsome transported the images in and affecting interstate commerce via the internet. Newsome further admitted that he stored numerous other images and videos in his online file storage accounts depicting minors, including prepubescent children, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Newsome is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24, 2025, and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Newsome must also register as a sex offender.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Unit.
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald is prosecuting the case.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-111.
Middle Georgia Resident Admits to Robbing Macon Credit Unions in 2022Read the Press Release
MACON, Ga. – A Macon resident who brandished a firearm during two bank robberies and an attempted bank robbery in 2022—causing victims to suffer panic attacks and stealing a total of $38,274—is facing up to 25 years in prison.
Felix Cordes, 57, of Macon, Georgia, pleaded guilty to bank robbery before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on Jan. 2. Cordes faces a maximum of 25 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine. A sentencing date will be determined by the Court. There is no parole in the federal system.
“Bank tellers were terrified when Felix Cordes walked into their workplace and threatened them with a firearm, a scene he replayed again and then attempted a third time, his final act thwarted by brave credit union employees who saw him coming with a gun and quickly locked down the bank,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Individuals whose criminal actions terrorize our community will be held accountable for their crimes.”
“Cordes terrified employees and customers of three businesses throughout his crime spree,” said Robert Gibbs, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta’s Macon office. “We are extremely grateful that no one was physically hurt or killed during these violent robberies, and thankful that Cordes is off our streets and facing justice in our federal court system.”
“Felix Cordes was a ruthless and relentless criminal who possibly could have killed innocent bank employees had he not been stopped by the diligent work of investigators,” said Bibb County Sheriff David Davis. “We can be grateful that justice has been served and he will be held accountable for spreading mayhem in our community.”
According to the court documents and statements referenced in court, Cordes robbed MidSouth Community Federal Credit Union in Macon on April 2, 2022. Cordes attempted to disguise himself in overalls, a bandana and sunglasses. He approached the bank tellers on staff and brandished a handgun, ordering the tellers to “take the money out.” He went behind the counter and pulled cash out of two drawers, placed the money in a bag and left the scene. Some tellers experienced panic attacks from intimidation caused by Cordes. Cordes used some of the stolen money to purchase two cell phones at a Boost store.
With the aid of an accomplice, Cordes robbed the Central Georgia Regional Credit Union in Macon on May 2, 2022. Wearing blue latex gloves and brandishing a firearm, he stole cash from the bank. He attempted to commit a third robbery on May 24, 2022, at another MidSouth Community Federal Credit Union location in Macon. This attempt was unsuccessful, because bank staff saw Cordes and an accomplice, both masked, approach the bank with a silver handgun drawn. The staff was able to lock down the bank and thwart the robbery attempt. No money was stolen. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at a residence used by Cordes on April 6, 2022, and found a bandana matching the one seen on video during the first MidSouth Bank robbery video, blue latex gloves like those worn by Cordes during the second robbery, boxes corresponding to the cellphones purchased from Boost with the stolen money and a box of 9-millimeter ammunition. Cordes stole a total of $38,274 from the two credit unions.
This case was investigated by FBI and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joy Odom is prosecuting the case for the Government.
Man Who Shot at a Father and His 6-Year-Old Child Gets 24 Year Prison TermRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON –Deon Cannon, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for shooting at a father and his 6-year-old son on Labor Day weekend in 2021, at Naylor Gardens on Terrace Road SE, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Cannon was found guilty on August 7, 2024, of one count of assault with intent to kill while armed of a minor, one count of assault with intent to kill while armed, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon of a minor, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of unlawful possession of ammunition, and one count of carrying a pistol without a license, following a jury trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt ordered Cannon to serve five years on supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 5:40 p.m., on September 5, 2021, as Cannon paced the sidewalk on Terrace Road SE, he waited to cross paths with the victim. When the victim walked from a nearby playground with his 6-year-old son, Cannon fired two rounds aimed directly at the victims. In defense of his son, the father fired back, while a second shooter came from around the corner and fired 17 more rounds aimed at the victim. The victim’s son ran away.
Cannon was arrested later that day and has been held in custody since.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They also commended those who worked on the case from the United States Attorney’s Office, including Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Ans, Paralegal Specialist Antoinette Sakamsa, Victim/Witness Program Specialist Jennifer Allen, and Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington. Finally, they commended Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Matar and Mark Levy, who prosecuted the case.
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Man Sentenced in Fentanyl Drug ConspiracyRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Taft Burtton, age 52, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced January 3, 2025, in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to distribute 10 grams or more of fentanyl. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., sentenced Burtton to 120 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Burtton’s release from prison, he will begin a 5-year term of supervised release.
On February 15, 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration Overdose Task Force was executing a search warrant at a residence known for selling fentanyl in Omaha.
The suspects at the residence told law enforcement that their source of fentanyl was Burtton. Law enforcement, acting in a undercover capacity, enticed Burtton to come to the residence. Burtton showed up to the residence with 99 grams of fentanyl and was arrested.
This case was primarily investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lexington Man Sentenced for Methamphetamine DistributionRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Jaime Ramos-Gonzalez, age 64, of Lexington, Nebraska was sentenced January 3, 2025, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for his involvement for distributing methamphetamine. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Ramos-Gonzalez to 135 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, he will begin a 5-year term of supervised release.
Beginning in the summer of 2023, investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol identified Jaime Ramos-Gonzalez as a distributor of meth in Lexington/Kearney area. A vehicle tracking device was placed on Ramos-Gonzalez’s vehicle which monitored his travels. On September 20, 2023, the tracker indicated that Ramos-Gonzalez’s vehicle was traveling from Kearney to Omaha. A search warrant was obtained and was executed when Ramos-Gonzalez returned to Kearney. After being stopped, Ramos-Gonzalez admitted to investigators that there was two pounds of meth in the car. A search resulted in 970 grams of pure methamphetamine being recovered.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol.
Kansas Man Sentenced to 18 Months for Stealing, Selling Human RemainsRead the Press Release
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann sentenced Angelo Pereyra, age 39, of Wichita, Kansas, to 18 months in prison for interstate transport of stolen human remains and body parts.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Pereyra previously pleaded guilty to a Criminal Information, admitting that between 2018 and 2022, Pereyra stole human remains and body parts from a Kansas hospital where he was employed as a pathology assistant and sold them. Pereyra stole organs and portions of organs, including human hearts, brains, spleen, testicle, intestine, and livers, amputated feet and toes, and other parts. Some of the specimens he stole came from deceased individuals, others from living patients. Most egregiously, Pereyra stole the corpses of miscarried and stillborn fetuses before they could be properly buried. Pereyra sold the stolen specimens to Andrew Ensanian, of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, and shipped them to him from Kansas to Pennsylvania via U.S. Postal Service. Ensanian previously entered a guilty plea to the same Information, and is awaiting sentencing.
These charges resulted from a multi-year investigation into the nationwide trafficking of stolen human remains. Multiple defendants have been charged previously in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and five have thus far entered guilty pleas. An additional defendant has been charged and convicted in Arkansas.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni is prosecuting the case.
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KC Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man who drove a 13-year-old victim from her home in Texas pleaded guilty in federal court today to engaging in illicit sex to produce child pornography.
Talib Bwana Muhammad, 26, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to one count of producing child pornography.
By pleading guilty today, Muhammad admitted that he used a minor victim to produce child pornography from June 9 to 15, 2023. Muhammad met the child victim on a social media application. Muhammad purchased an airline ticket for the child victim but, when she was unable to leave home, he drove to Texas to pick her up and bring her to Kansas City.
Law enforcement was notified when the child victim was missing and an Amber Alert was issued. Investigators traced her to Muhammad’s residence.
Muhammad and the child victim engaged in sexual contact, which Muhammad video recorded and photographed with a cell phone.
Under federal statutes, Muhammad is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 30 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. 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 Maureen A. Brackett. It was investigated by the FBI, the Hitchcock, Texas, Police Department, and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.
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 Saf 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."
Justice Department Reaches Proposed Consent Decree with Fulton County, Georgia, and Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to Resolve Claims that Conditions Inside the Fulton County Jail Violate the Constitution and Other Federal LawsRead the Press Release
Note: View Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke's remarks here.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced today that the Department has entered into a court-enforceable agreement to resolve the Department’s findings that conditions of confinement at the Fulton County Jail (the Jail) in Georgia violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Today, the Department filed a complaint and a proposed consent decree with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff in federal court.
The proposed consent decree, which must still be approved by the court, would resolve the Department’s claims that that the Jail engages in a pattern or practice of violating the rights of people incarcerated there. Under the proposed consent decree, the Jail will, among other things:
- Develop plans and policies to keep incarcerated people safe from violence;
- Improve supervision and staffing;
- Keep doors and locks in working order;
- Require any use of force by staff comply with constitutional standards;
- Take steps to protect incarcerated people at risk of suicide and to afford incarcerated people adequate medical and mental health care;
- Develop and implement a comprehensive housekeeping plan and pest management system to keep the Jail clean, sanitary, and free of pests;
- Stop housing vulnerable people in isolation when they are at substantial risk of self-harm or other negative mental health outcomes absent specific and significant protections; and
- Facilitate the provision of adequate special education services to children with disabilities in the Jail.
The proposed consent decree provides for an independent monitor to assess the Jail’s implementation of the decree’s requirements. The monitor will issue public reports on the Jail’s progress every six months and members of the public can share information with the monitor regarding implementation of the decree and Jail conditions.
“This proposed consent decree is a critical step toward correcting the dangerous and dehumanizing conditions that have persisted in the Fulton County Jail for far too long,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “When the Department announced findings from our investigation of the Fulton County Jail in November, we called on the County and Sheriff’s Office to remedy the troubling pattern of unsanitary living conditions, brutal physical attacks, and other dangerous issues at the Jail. We are encouraged that local officials have agreed to a plan that will begin to address the inhumane, unconstitutional conditions that were reflected in Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death.”
“Our findings regarding the Fulton County Jail identified serious and life-threatening violations of the Constitution and other laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of inhumane conditions inside the facility. The proposed consent decree includes strong remedial provisions, an independent monitor and other remedies that make it a model for addressing these kinds of violations in jails and prisons across the nation. If fully implemented, this consent decree and its comprehensive remedies should reduce violence and unnecessary force; increase the quality of medical and mental health care; reduce the use of unnecessary isolation, particularly for people with mental illness and 17-year-old children; and afford children with disabilities the education to which they are entitled. We thank the County and Sheriff for working with the Justice Department on these long overdue reforms.”
“Our report from an investigation of Fulton County and the Fulton County Jail concluded that the Constitutional rights of incarcerated persons are being violated,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “The proposed consent decree serves as a cooperative measure to address the grievous pattern of inhumane — and frequently violent — treatment of people in custody, along with the filthy and unsanitary living conditions they endure while awaiting formal charges or trials at the Fulton County Jail. This office is deeply invested in the well-being of all our residents, and we are hopeful that the systemic deficiencies revealed by our report will be remedied through the implementation of the requirements outlined in the decree, along with regular oversight of the progress of Fulton County and the Fulton County Jail, as overseen by an independent monitor.”
The Justice Department initiated its investigation of the Fulton County Jail in July 2023. The Department’s investigation proceeded under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), Americans with Disabilities Act, and Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which prohibits law enforcement officers from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. These statutes authorize the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court to seek court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The Department provided Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff with written notice of its findings, along with the supporting facts for its findings, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the violations found. The proposed consent decree seeks to address and resolve those violations.
The Civil Rights Division continues to prioritize unconstitutional conditions and violations of federal law in correctional and juvenile justice facilities. It opened new investigations into prisons and jails in Tennessee, California, South Carolina, and juvenile justice facilities across Kentucky. The division also issued findings in its investigations of Mississippi prisons, Texas juvenile justice system’s facilities, the Georgia Department of Corrections, and San Luis Obispo County, California, Jail. The division entered into agreements, including consent decrees, regarding the Cumberland County, New Jersey, Jail, the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, the Broad River Road Complex in South Carolina, the Manson Youth Institution in Connecticut, and the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The division is also litigating matters related to the constitutionality of conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men and the incarceration of people beyond their release dates in Louisiana prisons.
For more information about the Civil Rights Division and its Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations by completing the complaint form available at civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the Department’s investigation of the Fulton County Jail, please call 1-888-473-4092 or email the investigation team at [email protected].
Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Nevada to Ensure Children with Behavioral Health Disabilities Can Live in Their Homes and CommunitiesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it secured a settlement agreement with the State of Nevada to resolve the department’s findings that Nevada violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. by unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in institutional settings like hospitals and residential treatment facilities.
“Children with disabilities deserve to live with their families and in the communities they call home,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “These children should not be isolated in hospitals and residential treatment facilities, far from their homes. In this settlement, Nevada has committed that children with behavioral health disabilities will receive the services they need to remain in their communities. We look forward to partnering with Nevada as it implements this agreement and ushers in a new era of meaningful reform.”
Under the ADA and the Olmstead decision, states must administer their services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. This agreement, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, will allow Nevada’s children with behavioral health disabilities to access the services they need without being forced to leave their homes, schools, and communities. To increase community integration for these children, Nevada has made significant commitments in this agreement, including:
- Children who may have a behavioral health disability will be screened and assessed, and provided with service coordination;
- Children with behavioral health disabilities will have access to expanded home- and community-based services. These services include wraparound facilitation, mobile crisis and stabilization services, respite care, individual and family therapy, behavioral support services, family peer support and youth peer support;
- Nevada will improve diversion and transition processes to ensure children with behavioral health disabilities are being diverted from, and transitioned as quickly as possible from, segregated placements; and
- Nevada will strengthen its quality assurance and performance improvement system.
Earlier today, the department filed a complaint. At the same time, the parties asked the court to dismiss the complaint but retain jurisdiction to enforce the agreement. An independent reviewer will evaluate the state’s compliance with the agreement.
Children with disabilities have been a significant focus of the Civil Rights Division’s Olmstead enforcement work. In November 2024, the division entered an agreement with Maine resolving a lawsuit that alleged that Maine failed to serve children with behavioral health disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate; in July 2023, the division secured a court victory in a case challenging Florida’s unnecessary institutionalization of children with complex medical needs; and in December 2022, the division issued a report finding that Alaska violated Title II of the ADA by unnecessarily institutionalizing children with behavioral health disabilities. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt.
Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Antioch, California, Police Department Resolving Race Discrimination InvestigationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today an agreement with the Antioch, California, Police Department (APD) and the City of Antioch to resolve an investigation of race discrimination and other discriminatory conduct by APD officers against members of the public in Antioch.
The department launched its investigation after the public disclosure of discriminatory text communications that dozens of APD personnel allegedly exchanged between September 2019 and January 2022. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California jointly investigated APD’s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and the nondiscrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (Safe Streets Act). Title VI and the Safe Streets Act collectively prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and religion by recipients of federal financial assistance, such as APD.
“Fair and non-discriminatory policing is fundamental to effective law enforcement, especially for those agencies that receive federal funding,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In working with the Justice Department to institute policing reform, Antioch Police Department sends a strong message that the discrimination and misconduct that prompted this investigation will not be tolerated. The agreement we have secured will ensure that Antioch’s policing practices are free from discrimination in the road ahead — the community deserves nothing less.”
“Law enforcement is only effective when it inspires public confidence,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California. “A police department that discriminates based on race and other protected classes undermines both public safety and public confidence. Today’s agreement will help ensure that policing in Antioch is done constitutionally and will help restore public trust.”
In response to the investigation, APD, the City of Antioch and the City Manager worked cooperatively with the department to reach a resolution agreement embodying a commitment to nondiscrimination in APD’s policing operations and advancing its ongoing efforts to prevent and address discriminatory law enforcement practices.
Under the agreement, APD will hire an expert law enforcement consultant jointly selected by the parties to review and update APD’s policies, procedures and training on a variety of topics, including non-discriminatory policing, use of force, hiring and promotions, investigations of misconduct, discipline, community policing, language access, and other topics. The agreement contemplates a role for the Antioch Police Oversight Commission and sets forth a framework for data collection and reporting for a five-year period of departmental monitoring, among other provisions.
Nondiscrimination under Title VI and the Safe Streets Act is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at civilrights.justice.gov/report/.
Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Antioch Police Department Resolving Race Discrimination InvestigationRead the Press Release
OAKLAND — The Justice Department announced today an agreement with the Antioch, California, Police Department (APD) and the City of Antioch to resolve an investigation of race discrimination and other discriminatory conduct by APD officers against members of the public in Antioch.
The department launched its investigation after the public disclosure of discriminatory text communications that dozens of APD personnel allegedly exchanged between September 2019 and January 2022. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division jointly investigated APD’s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and the nondiscrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (Safe Streets Act). Title VI and the Safe Streets Act collectively prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and religion by recipients of federal financial assistance, such as APD.
“Law enforcement is only effective when it inspires public confidence,” said United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey. “A police department that discriminates based on race and other protected classes undermines both public safety and public confidence. Today’s agreement will help ensure that policing in Antioch is done constitutionally and will help restore public trust.”
“Fair and non-discriminatory policing is fundamental to effective law enforcement, especially for those agencies that receive federal funding,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In working with the Justice Department to institute policing reform, Antioch Police Department sends a strong message that the discrimination and misconduct that prompted this investigation will not be tolerated. The agreement we have secured will ensure that Antioch’s policing practices are free from discrimination in the road ahead — the community deserves nothing less.”
In response to the investigation, APD, the City of Antioch and the City Manager worked cooperatively with the department to reach a resolution agreement embodying a commitment to nondiscrimination in APD’s policing operations and advancing its ongoing efforts to prevent and address discriminatory law enforcement practices.
Under the agreement, APD will hire an expert law enforcement consultant jointly selected by the parties to review and update APD’s policies, procedures, and training on a variety of topics, including non-discriminatory policing, use of force, hiring and promotions, investigations of misconduct, discipline, community policing, language access, and other topics.
The agreement contemplates a role for the Antioch Police Oversight Commission and sets forth a framework for data collection and reporting for a five-year period of departmental monitoring, among other provisions.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael Keough, with the assistance of Jonathan Birch, and attorneys from the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are handling this case.
Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations to this office via our website or at civilrights.justice.gov/report/.
Antioch Agreement
Justice Department Finds State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Police Department Discriminate Against People with Behavioral Health DisabilitiesRead the Press Release
Note: View Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke's remarks here.
The Justice Department announced today that it has reasonable cause to believe that the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities. Specifically, the department finds that:
- Oklahoma unnecessarily institutionalizes, or puts at serious risk of unnecessary institutionalization, adults with behavioral health disabilities in the Oklahoma County area, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
- Oklahoma City and OKCPD engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when providing emergency response services, in violation of Title II of the ADA and the pattern or practice provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
“People with behavioral health disabilities in the Oklahoma County area are not receiving the support they need,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Instead of accessing treatment in the community, they are institutionalized repeatedly. Further, when they call 911 for a behavioral health emergency, they get a response by armed police, even when there is no public safety issue identified. As a result, urgent mental health needs often go unaddressed and crisis situations are needlessly escalated, sometimes leading to avoidable use of force. We recognize that the state and the city are taking preliminary steps to improve access for and treatment of people with behavioral health disabilities. The Justice Department is committed to working collaboratively with Oklahoma and Oklahoma City so that they implement the right services and supports their communities need and institute a lasting remedial plan.”
The department’s investigation of the State of Oklahoma found that thousands of people with behavioral health disabilities are admitted to psychiatric hospitals in the Oklahoma County area each year, and many have long or repeated stays. Many also have long-term stays in nursing or residential care facilities. Most would prefer to live in their communities, surrounded by friends and family, and to have the freedom to make their own choices about their lives. These individuals could live successfully in their communities if they received critical community-based services that are proven to help people with behavioral health disabilities avoid unnecessary admissions or unnecessarily lengthy stays in segregated institutional settings. But Oklahoma does not provide sufficient services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization. As a result, many people with behavioral health disabilities never receive treatment until they are in crisis, when they instead end up needlessly hospitalized or in contact with law enforcement. For many in the Oklahoma County area, OKCPD is the law enforcement agency they encounter.
The investigation also concluded that when a person calls 911 seeking assistance with a behavioral health issue, the city sends police as the sole responders in most cases. In many cases these calls for assistance could be more effectively resolved by a response by behavioral health professionals who can provide appropriate treatment, but the city rarely involves such professionals. Instead, armed OKCPD officers respond to situations involving behavioral health needs, often failing to help, escalating crises or even unnecessarily using force.
During the department’s investigation, both the state and city initiated improvements to their systems. The state continued to expand its crisis system and released an updated Olmstead plan, and the city announced plans to develop and provide a behavioral health response to 911 calls, and began to make improvements within OKCPD that will help address these violations.
The department will be conducting outreach to members of the Oklahoma community for input on remedies to address the department’s findings. People may also submit recommendations by calling (888) 473-3460 or emailing [email protected].
The department has opened 12 pattern and practice investigations into law enforcement agencies since 2021 pursuant to 34 U.S.C. 12601, and has been actively monitoring over a dozen agreements with law enforcement agencies that were secured prior to that period. Since 2021, the department has successfully concluded agreements and portions of consent decrees with the Yonkers, New York, Police Department; the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Police Department; the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department; the Portland, Oregon, Police Bureau; and the Seattle Police Department. The department has issued findings reports concerning several agencies including: Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department; the Minneapolis Police Department; the Phoenix Police Department; the Lexington, Mississippi, Police Department; the Trenton, New Jersey, Police Department; the Memphis, Tennessee, Police Department; the Worcester, Massachusetts, Police Department; and the Mt. Vernon, New York, Police Department. Investigations are ongoing regarding the Louisiana State Police; the New York City Police Department’s Special Victims Division; and the Rankin County, Mississippi, Sheriff’s Department. The department also reached a court enforceable agreement with Louisville to resolve its findings.
Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt.
The Justice Department will hold a virtual community meeting on Jan. 7 at 6 p.m. CT. Members of the public are encouraged to attend to learn more about the findings. Please register to join the meeting at www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_lZgzBC4lRJiw7tk3pfEXrw#/registration.
Informational: Federal Court arraignmentsRead the Press Release
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned or appeared recently before U.S. Magistrate judges on indictments handed down by the Grand Jury or on criminal complaints. The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt:
Appearing in Billings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan and pleading not guilty on Jan. 2 was:
Jeffrey Thomas Maki, 40, of Billings, on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted of the most serious crime, Maki faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release on the bank fraud charge and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the identity theft charge. Maki was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI and Billings Police Department conducted the investigation. PACER case reference. 24-171.
Appearing on Dec. 23, 2024 was:
Ricardo Alberto Salazar Contreras, 33, unknown residence, on charges of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. If convicted of the most serious crime, Contreras faces a mandatory minimum of five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release on the drug charge and a mandatory minimum of five years to life in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release on the firearm charge. Contreras was detained pending further proceedings. The Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, FBI and Montana Highway Patrol conducted the investigation. PACER case reference. 24-169.
Appearing in Missoula before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto and pleading not guilty on Dec. 30, 2024 was:
Felipe Michael Garza, 31, of Washington, on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Garza faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release on the drug charge and a mandatory minimum of five years to life in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release on the charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. Garza was detained pending further proceedings. The Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. PACER case reference. 24-65.
The progress of cases may be monitored through the U.S. District Court Calendar and the PACER system. To establish a PACER account, which provides electronic access to review documents filed in a case, please visit http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the District Court’s calendar, please visit https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.
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Honduran National and Convicted Arsonist Sentenced to Nearly Two Years for Illegally Reentering United StatesRead the Press Release
MOBILE, AL – A Honduran national was sentenced in federal court on December 5, 2024, to twenty-one months in federal prison for being unlawfully in the United States after having been previously removed.
According to court documents, on January 1, 2023, the Robertsdale Police Department arrested Marlon Pineda-Enamorado for arson, first degree.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations of Mobile was notified of Pienda’s arrest. ICE officers investigated and determined that Pineda had been previously removed from the United States on two occasions. ICE verified that Pineda did not have any lawful authority to be voluntarily present in the United States when he was arrested by the Robertsdale Police Department for arson-related charges. Pineda was separately convicted in state court for arson first degree, and on November 11, 2024, Pineda was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the Baldwin County Circuit Court.
Upon release from imprisonment, Pineda will be delivered to a duly authorized immigration official for deportation proceedings.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations and the Robertsdale Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Kopf prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
Hartford Man Who Trafficked Guns and Crack Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JACQUERIE LABRONZE GIBSON, also known as “Compton,” 44, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 144 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking firearms and crack cocaine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in August 2021, law enforcement received information that Gibson was trafficking firearms that had been purchased by Jacintre Holley, and others on Holley’s behalf, in North Carolina; was distributing narcotics, which he sometimes traded for firearms; and was converting cocaine to crack cocaine at his Wethersfield Avenue apartment in Hartford. On August 12, 2021, investigators executed a court-authorized search warrant at Gibson’s residence and seized a loaded Taurus Model G3 9mm handgun, additional ammunition, a bullet proof vest, approximately 90 grams of crack cocaine, various items used to process and package narcotics, and $860 in cash. Gibson was in the apartment at the time of the search and was arrested.
The investigation revealed that Gibson’s firearm source in North Carolina had sold approximately 15 firearms to Gibson and approximately 50 firearms to another buyer in Connecticut. To date, at least 16 of these trafficked firearms have been recovered from crime scenes in and around Connecticut, including one that was used in homicide in Middletown on May 16, 2021.
Gibson’s criminal history includes felony convictions for drug, burglary, and failure to appear offenses, and a conviction in April 2005 for assault in the first degree stemming from a knife attack of his then girlfriend. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
Gibson has been detained since his arrest. On August 31, 2023, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”), and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
On February 23, 2023, Holley was sentenced in the Eastern District of North Carolina to 127 months of imprisonment.
This investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Middletown Police Department, and the Greenville (N.C.) Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Pierpont, Jr.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/psn.
Groton Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation OffenseRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RYAN CAMERON, 22, of Groton, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to a child exploitation offense.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2023, Cameron was convicted in state court of illegal dissemination of intimate images of a 15-year-old female. In April 2024, while Cameron was on state probation, his probation officer conducted a home visit and discovered Cameron was in possession of a cell phone in violation of the conditions of his probation. Subsequent forensic analysis of the phone revealed that it contained videos of child sexual abuse, and messages between Cameron and others in which Cameron solicited and distributed child pornography. The phone also contained recordings of Cameron sending sexually explicit images and videos of himself to young girls on Snapchat.
Cameron pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Sentencing is scheduled for March 28.
Cameron has been detained since May 20, 2024, when he was arrested on unrelated state charges.
This matter has been investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the assistance of the New Haven Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Lembo.
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.
Government Contractors and Owner Agree to Pay $1 Million to Resolve Allegations of Submitting Fraudulent BidsRead the Press Release
BOSTON – S.A.F.E. Structure Designs, U.S.A. Manufacturing, and their owner, Johnny Buscema, Jr., have agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting, or causing the submission of, false claims on a prime vendor contract with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which the Department of Defense (DoD) uses to purchase goods and services.
S.A.F.E. Structure, based in Las Vegas, Nev., sells safety equipment, and USA Manufacturing, based in Port Ritchey, Fla., is a general construction company. Buscema, of Port Richey, owns and operates both companies.
S.A.F.E Structure and USA Manufacturing were vendors to Noble Sales Co., Inc. d/b/a Noble Supply & Logistics (Noble), which is a Boston-based prime contractor to DLA for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) contracts for the Northeast and Southeast regions. Under the MRO contracts, the DoD can place orders for goods and services through Noble, and Noble is required to solicit bids from two independently competing vendors for transactions below $25,000, and from three independently competing vendors for transactions at or above $25,000. According to DLA, MRO contracts are “a partnership aimed at achieving infrastructure savings, inventory cost reductions, and favorable product pricing through leveraged buying.”
Pursuant to the settlement agreement, Buscema, S.A.F.E. Structure, and USA Manufacturing admitted that, from 2014 to 2023, they coordinated with Noble or other vendors to submit bids on the MRO contracts. For example, Buscema and his companies admitted that, at Noble’s request, they submitted over 100 bids—which they called “courtesy bids” or “comps”—where Buscema and his companies had no intention of winning the business. For these “courtesy bids” or “comps,” Noble provided Buscema and his companies with the specific prices that Buscema’s companies should bid or a price that the bids should exceed. As a result, vendors other than S.A.F.E. Structure or USA Manufacturing won the business. Buscema also admitted that he paid two other vendors to submit at least 60 “courtesy bids” or “comps,” so that S.A.F.E. Structure or USA Manufacturing won the business. Buscema also admitted that, on occasion, he provided a bid from S.A.F.E Structure and a bid from USA Manufacturing for the same solicitation, even though Buscema owned both companies, and that Noble was aware that Buscema owned both companies. The United States contends that claims under the MRO contracts resulting from these coordinated bids were false under the False Claims Act, and that the DoD paid more under the MRO Contracts as a result.
“As evidenced in this settlement agreement, these contractors gamed the system to line their own pockets. They manipulated and undermined the fair and open bidding process designed to save our military – and taxpayers – money. Contractors should be scrupulous in dealing with the government, not coordinating with each other to pad their bottom line,” said United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “When defense contractors collude, rather than compete, they violate the law and the public’s trust.”
“Those who seek to do business with the government are expected to compete fairly and independently to ensure that the government receives an appropriate price,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will hold accountable government contractors that engage in bid rigging or otherwise seek to defraud the American taxpayers.”
“The Department of Defense (DoD) expects its contractors to compete in open and fair markets,” said Patrick J. Hegarty, Special Agent in Charge of the DoD’s Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of anticompetitive practices and ensure the integrity of the DoD’s procurement process.”
“Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division works diligently to maintain the Army’s readiness and will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to prevent and thoroughly investigate fraudulent activity,” said Special Agent in Charge Keith K. Kelly of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID)’s Fraud Field Office. “CID is committed to providing expertise and capabilities supporting whole of government efforts to ensure the U.S. Army remains the most technologically advanced, capable, and ready fighting force in the world.”
“GSA OIG remains committed to working closely with its law enforcement partners to protect American taxpayer dollars and government programs from fraud,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph Dattoria, U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General (GDS OIG), Northeast Field Investigations Division.
U.S. Attorney Levy, Deputy AAG Boynton, DCIS SAC Hegarty, ARMY CID SAC Kelly and GSA SAC Dattoria made the announcement. This matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian LaMacchia and Lindsey Ross for the District of Massachusetts, and Trial Attorney Samson Asiyanbi of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
Government Contractor Agrees to Pay $1M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations for Submitting Fraudulent Bids on Prime Vendor ContractsRead the Press Release
Johnny Buscema Jr. of New Port Richey, Florida, and his companies, S.A.F.E. Structure Designs, based in Las Vegas, and U.S.A. Manufacturing, based in New Port Richey, have agreed to pay $1,000,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by causing a prime vendor for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to submit fraudulent contract bids to DLA that resulted in Department of Defense (DoD) customers being overcharged for goods and related services purchased under those contracts. The settlement is based on the settling parties’ ability to pay.
Buscema owns S.A.F.E. Structure Designs, which sells safety equipment to government customers, and USA Manufacturing, a general construction company. Both companies provide third party logistics support, such as product acquisition, receiving, warehousing, transportation, shipping and returns, to military customers through DLA contracts for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) for the Northeast and Southeast regions of the United States. The MRO contracts covered by the settlement are held by a “prime vendor,” which procures for DoD agencies supplies and equipment, such as chemicals, electrical supplies, hardware, HVAC/refrigeration, prefabricated structures and a variety of small tools. The goal of the MRO program is to achieve favorable product pricing through leveraged buying, infrastructure savings, and inventory cost reductions. To obtain the best price for items procured for the government, the MRO contracts require the prime vendor to engage in a competitive bidding process, soliciting bids from two independently competing vendors for transactions below $25,000 and from three independently competing vendors for transactions at or above $25,000.
The United States alleged that, from 2016 to 2023, the settling parties conspired with other entities to rig bids for awards on the MRO contracts for the Northeast and Southeast regions of the United States. More specifically, Buscema allegedly submitted non-competitive bids, paid other vendors to submit non-competitive bids and submitted multiple bids from his own two companies on the same solicitations to assist the prime vendor to meet its obligation to obtain bids from two or three vendors and to make one of the bids appear more competitive. As a result of these alleged schemes, the United States contends it was overcharged for items purchased under the MRO contracts.
“Those who seek to do business with the government are expected to compete fairly and independently to ensure that the government receives an appropriate price,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will hold accountable government contractors that engage in bid rigging or otherwise seek to defraud the American taxpayers.”
“As evidenced in this settlement agreement, these contractors gamed the system to line their own pockets,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts. “They manipulated and undermined the fair and open bidding process designed to save our military — and taxpayers — money. Contractors should be scrupulous in dealing with the government, not coordinating with each other to pad their bottom line. When defense contractors collude, rather than compete, they violate the law and the public’s trust.”
“The DoD expects its contractors to compete in open and fair markets,” said Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty of the DoD’s Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Northeast Field Office. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of anticompetitive practices and ensure the integrity of the DoD’s procurement process.”
“Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division works diligently to maintain the Army’s readiness and will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to prevent and thoroughly investigate fraudulent activity,” said Special Agent in Charge Keith K. Kelly of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID)’s Fraud Field Office. “CID is committed to providing expertise and capabilities supporting whole of government efforts to ensure the U.S. Army remains the most technologically advanced, capable, and ready fighting force in the world.”
The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, with assistance from DCIS, Army CID, Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General.
Trial Attorney Samson Asiyanbi of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Ross and Brian LaMacchia for the District of Massachusetts handled the matter.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.
Settlement
Georgia Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Armed Fentanyl TraffickingRead the Press Release
ALBANY, Ga. –A Southwest Georgia resident with a lengthy criminal history who distributed kilograms of fentanyl and other deadly drugs while in possession of firearms and ammunition was sentenced to serve 40 years in federal prison for his crimes.
Larry Roger Sparks, Jr., 46, of Albany, was sentenced to serve 480 months in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie A. Gardner on Jan. 3. Sparks previously pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a heroin and fentanyl mixture; one count of distribution of methamphetamine; three counts of distribution of methamphetamine at a place where a person under age 18 resides; one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute at a premises at which a person under 18 resides; one count of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute; and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime (a Sig Sauer Model P365 SAS 9mm pistol). There is no parole in the federal system.
“Fentanyl and guns are a dangerous combination which will not be tolerated by this office or our law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Repeat armed drug traffickers will be held accountable for committing crimes which wreck the peace and safety of a community.”
“Locking away criminal drug dealers who choose to push poison on our streets will literally save lives as fentanyl is the number one killer among Americans aged 18-45,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division.
“Drug traffickers are poisoning our communities with drugs like fentanyl,” said GBI Director Chris Hosey. “This case serves as an example of our continued efforts to stop the drug traffickers who ruthlessly target Georgia communities. The GBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue working toward ridding our state of these deadly drugs.”
According to court documents, a 2023 undercover GBI investigation into armed fentanyl trafficking in Southwest Georgia led agents to Sparks, who was distributing large quantities of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine from his Albany residence, where three minor children resided. Agents, working with a confidential source under surveillance and electronic recording, purchased controlled substances from Sparks five times, beginning on March 9, 2023, and ending with a final undercover purchase on May 3, 2023, when Sparks sold 478.2 grams of 98% pure methamphetamine.
Agents executed a federal search warrant on May 16, 2023, at Sparks’ residence located at 1501 Pinecrest Drive in Albany. As agents made their approach, three suspected drug customers in the yard fled; one of the individuals discarded a small quantity of suspected heroin and fentanyl mixture. Inside the home, agents found 1.2 kilograms of fentanyl, approximately three kilograms of methamphetamine, needles, scales, Narcan, cash and other items associated with drug use and distribution. Agents found six firearms, including a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol. Lab results for the drugs seized at the residence are: 1,206 grams of fentanyl, 1,776 grams of 95% pure methamphetamine and 963 grams of 98% pure methamphetamine.
The defendant was taken into custody during a traffic stop on May 16, and was in possession of a loaded Glock 10 mm semiautomatic handgun, a loaded 50-round drum magazine, a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and more than $5,000 in cash. Sparks admitted to receiving a four-kilogram shipment of fentanyl before the search, and said that he had sold all of it, less the 1.2 kilos recovered by agents in his home.
Sparks has a lengthy criminal history and has been previously convicted of armed robbery and delivery of a controlled substance in Saginaw, Michigan, as well as possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in the Superior Court of Crisp County, Georgia.
The case was investigated by the Worth County Sheriff’s Office, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the GBI Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office (SWRDEO) and the DEA.
Criminal Chief Leah McEwen prosecuted the case for the Government.
Foreign National Pleads Guilty to Unlawful ReentryRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Adelby Isloa Martinez Mendez, age 35, of Honduras, entered a guilty plea to one count of Unlawful Reentry of a Removed Alien.
The Indictment alleged that on or about March 5, 2024, Martinez Mendez, an alien, was found in the United States after having been previously deported and removed on two prior occasions.
The charges arose from an investigation by the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division.
The Honorable Jason A. Robertson, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. Martinez Mendez will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.
Five gang members sentenced to prison for armed robbery spreeRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – Five men affiliated with the United Blood Nation gang have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a series of armed robberies of convenience stores in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
According to court documents, on January 14, 2022, Harold Edward Spencer III, 34, of Virginia Beach, and Kareem Doyle Ross, 34, of Newport News, began a two-month robbery spree when they robbed a Citgo Mini Mart in Virginia Beach. Spencer and Ross entered the store and pointed firearms at employees, taking money, lottery tickets, and cigarettes. Later that day, Spencer and Ross, while still armed, robbed a Circle D Food Mart in Virginia Beach. During the robbery, Spencer fired his handgun twice at a fleeing customer.
On Feb. 7, 2022, Spencer, Ross, and a third individual robbed an Express Food Mart in Norfolk. On Feb. 19, 2022, Spencer, Ross, and Marvin Eugene Lockhart Jr., 34, of Virginia Beach, robbed a Crown Gas Station in Virginia Beach. During both robberies, all of the conspirators pointed firearms at employees and customers and stole money and cigarettes. During the Express Food Mart robbery, the men also took lottery tickets and cigars.
On March 5, 2022, Spencer, Ross, and Roshaun Devon Griffin, 36, of Virginia Beach, robbed an Arrowhead Food Mart in Virginia Beach, again taking money, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. During the robbery, Spencer and Ross pointed firearms at an employee.
On March 12, 2022, Spencer, Ross, and Lockhart robbed a Jr. Market in Norfolk, taking money and lottery tickets. During the robbery, all three pointed firearms at an employee.
On March 18, 2022, Ross, Spencer, Lockhart, Griffin, and Jon Demetrious Jacques Morgan, 34, of Portsmouth, attempted to rob a Tiger Mart in Virginia Beach. During the attempted robbery, Ross, Lockhart, Griffin, and Morgan approached the Tiger Mart as a group while Spencer remained in a vehicle nearby as a getaway driver. Ross, Lockhart, Griffin, and Morgan aborted the robbery and ran back to the getaway vehicle. The group then attempted to flee from the police. As they attempted to escape, the conspirators threw from the car the firearms they had possessed during the robbery. Virginia Beach Police used spike strips to disable the vehicle and all five conspirators were arrested.
On Oct. 4, 2022, Griffin pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by means of robbery; interference and attempted interference with commerce by means of robbery; and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. On June 9, 2023, Griffin was sentenced to 15 years and four months in prison.
On Oct. 14, 2022, Ross pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by means of robbery; interference and attempted interference with commerce by means of robbery; and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. On June 13, 2023, Ross was sentenced to 27 years and one month in prison.
On Dec. 13, 2022, Spencer and Morgan were convicted at trial. Spencer and Morgan were convicted of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by means of robbery; attempted interference with commerce by means of robbery; and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Spencer was also convicted of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. On Nov. 7, 2023, Morgan was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison and Spencer was sentenced to 42 years and three months in prison.
On Oct. 6, 2022, Lockhart pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by means of robbery; interference and attempted interference with commerce by means of robbery; and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Lockhart, who left a family member’s birthday party to commit one of the armed robberies, was sentenced today to 22 years and one month in prison.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, and Paul Neudigate, Chief of Virginia Beach Police, made the announcement after Lockhart’s sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys John F. Butler and Joseph E. DePadilla prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:22-cr-106.
El Departamento de Justicia llega a un acuerdo con la Policía de Antioch, California, para resolver la investigación de discriminación por motivos de razaRead the Press Release
El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy un acuerdo con la Policía de Antioch, California (APD, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Ciudad de Antioch para resolver una investigación de conducta racista y discriminatoria de agentes de la APD contra miembros del público en Antioch.
El Departamento inició su investigación después de la divulgación pública de mensajes de texto discriminatorios que decenas de miembros del personal de la APD supuestamente intercambiaron entre septiembre del 2019 y enero del 2022. La División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia y la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Norte de California investigaron conjuntamente el cumplimiento de la APD con el Título VI de la ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964 (Título VI) y las disposiciones antidiscriminatorias de la Ley General de Control de Delitos y Calles Seguras (ley de Calles Seguras). El Título VI y la ley de Calles Seguras prohíben, en su conjunto, la discriminación por motivos de raza, color de piel, origen nacional, sexo o religión por parte de entidades que reciben apoyo financiero federal, tal como la APD.
«La vigilancia policial justa y no discriminatoria es fundamental para la aplicación efectiva de la ley, especialmente para aquellas agencias que reciben financiación federal», comentó Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal General Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. «Al trabajar con el Departamento de Justicia para instituir una reforma policial, la Policía de Antioch está enviando un mensaje fuerte que la discriminación y la conducta indebida que impulsaron esta investigación no se tolerarán. El acuerdo que hemos conseguido garantizará que las prácticas policiales de Antioch estén libres de discriminación en el camino futuro—la comunidad no merece menos».
«La aplicación de la ley sólo es eficaz cuando inspira la confianza pública», afirmó Ismail Ramsey, el Fiscal Federal para el Distrito Norte de California. «Una fuerza policial que discrimina por motivos de raza y otras clases protegidas socava tanto la seguridad pública como la confianza pública. El acuerdo de hoy ayudará a garantizar que la vigilancia policial en Antioch se realice de manera constitucional y ayudará a restablecer la confianza pública».
En respuesta a la investigación, la APD, la Ciudad de Antioch, y la Administradora de la Ciudad trabajaron en cooperación con el Departamento para alcanzar un acuerdo de resolución que encarnase un compromiso con la ausencia de discriminación en las operaciones de vigilancia policial de la APD y el avance de sus esfuerzos continuos por prevenir y abordar las prácticas discriminatorias de aplicación de la ley.
En virtud del acuerdo, la APD contratará a un consultor experto en aplicación de la ley seleccionado conjuntamente por las partes para revisar y actualizar los procedimientos, políticas y capacitación de la APD sobre una variedad de temas, lo que incluye la vigilancia policial no discriminatoria, el uso de la fuerza, la contratación y ascensos, investigaciones de conducta indebida, la disciplina, la vigilancia comunitaria y el acceso lingüístico, entre otros temas. El acuerdo contempla una función para la Comisión de Supervisión de la Policía de Antioch y establece un marco para la recopilación de datos y la presentación de informes durante un período de cinco años de supervisión departamental, entre otras disposiciones.
La no discriminación en virtud del Título VI y la ley de Calles Seguras es una de las principales prioridades de la División de Derechos Civiles. Hay más información sobre la División de Derechos Civiles a www.justice.gov/crt. Los miembros del público pueden denunciar posibles infracciones de los derechos civiles en civilrights.justice.gov/report/.
Drug Dealer Receives 106-Month Sentence After Selling Quarter-Pound of Methamphetamine to an Undercover AgentRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Sherice Dismang, age 42, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on January 3, 2025, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Chief United States District Court Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Dismang to 106 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Dismang’s release from prison, she will begin a 5-year term of supervised release.
On February 27, 2023, law enforcement set up a controlled drug transaction against Dismang in Omaha, Nebraska. During the controlled drug transaction, Dismang met with her source of supply and acquired the 100 grams of lab-confirmed actual meth which she then turnaround and sold directly to the undercover agent.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Defense Contractor Agrees to Pay $628,000 to Settle False Claims Act AllegationsRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. - A Vermont company will pay $628,328 to resolve allegations that it sold substandard items to the United States Army, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced today.
The settlement resolves allegations that from July 13, 2018 through November 21, 2019, Live Wire, LLC made false claims in conjunction with contracts awarded to it by the United States Army. Live Wire contracted with the Army to sell electronic communications headsets and admits in the settlement that it provided non-compliant headsets that were not tested to the appropriate military specifications prior to their sale. Upon discovering that the headsets were not properly tested, Live Wire self-disclosed that information to the Government and cooperated with the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the United States Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty, and special agents of the United States Army, Army Criminal Investigation Division, Northeast Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joel Kirch, for the investigation of the allegations against Live Wire.
The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark C. Orlowski of the U.S. Attorney’s Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.
livewire.settlementagreement.pdf
Booz Allen Agrees to Pay $15.875M to Settle False Claims Act AllegationsRead the Press Release
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (Booz Allen) has agreed to pay the United States $15,875,000 to resolve allegations that Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services LLC (BES), a wholly owned subsidiary of Booz Allen, violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting fraudulent claims to the United States in connection with a General Services Administration (GSA) task order to supply computer military training simulators and systems to Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, including the Air Force. Booz Allen, which is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, provides a range of management, consulting and engineering services to the government. BES was an engineering services firm located in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, with offices in Dayton, Ohio, and other locations.
The settlement announced today resolves allegations that BES, through its former program managers John G. Hancock and Karen K. Paulsen, knowingly engaged in a fraudulent course of conduct with Keith A. Seguin, then a civilian Air Force employee and contracting official, and David J. Bolduc Jr., the co-owner and manager of a BES subcontractor, QuantaDyn Corporation, that resulted in GSA awarding BES a task order for training simulators. BES, in turn, awarded task orders (or “modules”) to QuantaDyn. The government alleges that Seguin improperly and illegally divulged confidential government contracting and budget information, a competitor’s confidential bid or proposal information and source selection information to Hancock and Paulsen, who used the illicit information despite knowing they were not authorized to possess it. Through this conduct, Hancock and Paulsen successfully influenced GSA to award the task order to BES.
Additionally, the government alleges that, after the GSA award, Hancock, Paulsen, Seguin and Bolduc made use of confidential government budget information to formulate and submit price quotes to GSA for the individual modules that BES awarded to QuantaDyn on a sole-source basis. As a result of the conduct described above, BES, through Hancock and Paulsen, knowingly submitted fraudulent claims to GSA under the 37 modules awarded to QuantaDyn, which GSA paid. Hancock, Paulsen, Seguin and Bolduc previously resolved criminal charges related to this conduct.
“Government contractors that improperly receive confidential government information during the procurement process corrupt the integrity of that process,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This settlement demonstrates our continuing commitment to protecting the integrity of the government’s procurement process.”
“Over the past several years, my office has used every tool at its disposal — from civil settlements to criminal prosecution to asset forfeiture — to hold accountable the companies and individuals that helped a corrupt federal employee at Randolph Air Force Base defraud the United States by steering training simulator contracts,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas. “I am grateful for the assistance of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and our law enforcement partners in finally closing the book on this fraud scheme with the civil settlement announced today.”
“This case demonstrates the unwavering dedication of the DoD Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), along with our law enforcement partners, to aggressively pursue those who undermine the integrity of the DoD contracting process,” said the Honorable Robert P. Storch, Inspector General of the Department of Defense. “This settlement announcement highlights the steadfast commitment of DCIS and our investigative partners to holding accountable those who seek to enrich themselves by jeopardizing the welfare of America’s warfighter and defrauding American taxpayers.”
“The GSA Office of Inspector General will continue working with law enforcement partners to protect taxpayer dollars and the integrity of federal contracting,” said GSA Deputy Inspector General Robert C. Erickson.
The civil resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, with assistance from the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG); DCIS; and the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Headquarters, Operations Investigative Support Division (OIS).
Attorneys Seth W. Greene and Art J. Coulter of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Parnham Jr. for the Western District of Texas handled the matter, with assistance from GSA OIG Special Agent Gregory A. Fallecker.
In September 2020, the United States entered into a civil settlement agreement with QuantaDyn and William T. Dunn Jr., the majority owner, president and CEO of QuantaDyn.
The claims resolved by the United States are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.
Settlement
Baton Rouge Man Indicted for Distribution of Heroin and Fentanyl with Death and Serious Bodily Injury Resulting from the Use of the Heroin and FentanylRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury recently returned a two-count indictment charging Ecknozzio C. Jackson, Jr., age 33, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with distribution of heroin and fentanyl with death and serious bodily injury resulting from the use of the heroin and fentanyl. On January 2, 2025, Jackson appeared for his arraignment and pled not guilty to the pending charges.
According to court documents, on or about December 16, 2019, Jackson distributed a substance containing a detectable amount of heroin, with serious bodily injury resulting from the use of the heroin after being ingested by an individual. Then on or about December 17, 2019, Jackson distributed a substance containing detectable amounts of heroin and fentanyl with death and serious bodily injury of an individual resulting from the use of said heroin and fentanyl.
The indictment counts are each punishable by a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 20 years and up to life.
This matter is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul L. Pugliese.
NOTE: An indictment is an accusation by a grand jury. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless adjudicated guilty at trial or through a guilty plea.
Ardmore Resident Pleads Guilty to Federal Firearm ChargeRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Michael Adrian Wrenn, age 36, of Ardmore, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to an Information of one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
The Information alleged that on December 9, 2023, Wrenn knowingly possessed a semiautomatic 9mm caliber pistol, after having been convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.
The charge arose from an investigation by the Ardmore Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Honorable D. Edward Snow, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. Wrenn will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.
Amite Man Charged with Kidnapping Resulting in Death and Transporting a Minor in Interstate Commerce with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual ActivityRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that DANIEL WAYNE CALLIHAN (“CALLIHAN”), age 37, a resident of Amite, Louisiana, was charged today in a two-count bill of information with kidnapping resulting in death, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1201(a) (Count 1), and transporting a minor in interstate commerce with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2423(a) (Count 2). CALLIHAN was previously charged for his crimes in a federal complaint on June 14, 2024, and has remained in federal custody since that time.
According to the bill of information, on or about June 13, 2024, CALLIHAN kidnapped Minor Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 from Loranger, Louisiana, and transported them to the State of Mississippi, using a 2012 Chrysler 200. CALLIHAN's actions resulted in the deaths of Minor Victim 1 and Adult Victim 1.
Additionally, the bill of information alleges CALLIHAN transported Minor Victim 2 from the State of Louisiana to the State of Mississippi with intent that Minor Victim 2 engage in sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, namely violations of criminal laws of the State of Louisiana, including La. Rev. Stat. 14.81 and La Rev. Stat. 43.1, and the State of Mississippi, including Miss. Code § 97-3-95 and Miss. Code § 97-5-23.
For Count 1, CALLIHAN faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison, up to three years of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. For Count 2, CALLIHAN faces a mandatory minimum of ten (10) years in prison, and up to life in prison, at least five (5) years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. A conviction on Count 2 may also require CALLIHAN to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section(CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter and expressed appreciation for the support provided by the United States Marshals Service, Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and Jackson (Mississippi) Police Department. Additionally, U.S. Attorney Evans commended the work of the U.S Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg, Chief of the Public Integrity Unit, and Sarah Dawkins, of the Violent Crime Unit, are in charge of the prosecution.
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Activity in the U.S. Attorney's Office Recent SentencingsRead the Press Release
Firearm Offenses
Anthony William Glandt, 45, of Casper, WY, was sentenced to 8 months with 2 years of supervised release to follow, for being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court documents, on November 17, 2023 Glandt was in possession of three firearms after law enforcement was called to the defendant’s residence for a possible domestic disturbance. Glandt is a previously convicted felon and is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Glandt was indicted on July 18. U.S. District Court Judge Alan B Johnson. imposed the sentence on December 20 in Casper. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives and the Casper Police Department investigated the crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Hammer prosecuted the case. Case No. 20-CR-00112.
Illegal Re-Entry of a Previously Deported Alien
Hector Valencia-Cuevas, 33, of Mexico, was sentenced to time served plus up to 10 days for deportation proceedings with one year unsupervised release to follow and will be deported for illegal reentry into the United States. According to court documents, on Oct 04, Valencia-Cuevas was arrested in Rock Springs, WY for Delivery or Possess with intent to Deliver Narcotics. The defendant claimed to be a citizen of Mexico and agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were contacted. They determined that Valencia-Cuevas had previously been removed from the U.S. on three occasions and had not applied for permission to reenter. Valencia-Cuevas was last removed on 06/24/2018. ICE investigated the crime, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron J. Cook prosecuted the case. U.S. District Court Judge Kelly Rankin imposed the sentence on Jan 3, in Cheyenne. Case No. 24-CR-00178.
About the United States Attorney’s Office
The United States Attorney’s Office is responsible for representing the federal government in virtually all litigation involving the United States in the District of Wyoming, including all criminal prosecutions for violations of federal law, civil lawsuits brought by or against the government, and actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and taxpayers. The Office is involved in several programs designed to make our communities safer. They include:
Environmental Justice
The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Project Safe Childhood
Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is a DOJ initiative that combats the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for sexual contact is well-known and serious.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide commitment to reducing gun and gang crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful.
Victim Witness Assistance
The Victim Witness Coordinator for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming is dedicated to making sure that victims of federal crimes and their family members are treated with compassion, fairness, and respect.To report a federal crime, go to: https://www.justice.gov/actioncenter/report-crime
2 January 2025
Virginia Beach doctor agrees to $625,000 False Claims Act settlementRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – Dr. Scott Saffold, of Virginia Beach, and his practice, Chesapeake Bay, ENT, P.C. (Chesapeake Bay), located in Belle Haven, have agreed to pay $625,000 to settle a civil fraud case that claimed Dr. Saffold and his medical practice engaged in the routine and systematic practice of falsely billing government health care programs.
The United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia alleged that Saffold and Chesapeake Bay billed federal and state payors for balloon sinus dilations that were not medically necessary. The government alleged that Saffold and Chesapeake Bay performed these surgeries on six sinuses for many patients even when there was no medical indication of need in some or all dilated sinuses. The government further alleged that Saffold and Chesapeake Bay staged these procedures, performing each side at separate times, to increase reimbursement from government payors and without any medical justification. The government also alleged that Saffold and Chesapeake Bay routinely billed government payors for endoscopies with sphenoid sinusoscopy under Current Procedural Terminology Code 31235 when they were not actually performing that code.
The settlement arises in connection with a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act. A whistleblower suit, or qui tam action under the False Claims Act, is commenced by an individual filing a complaint under seal in the U.S. District Court and providing a copy of the complaint and evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The United States then has an opportunity to investigate the claims. The False Claims Act provides whistleblowers with a share of the government’s recovery.
The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia; Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General; Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Office of the Attorney General.
The matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Wuerker and Senior Assistant Attorney General Kristin Gray and Assistant Attorney General Airen Adamonis from the Virginia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Case records may be found on PACER under case number 2:18cv435.
The civil claims settled are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.
Upper St. Clair Man Who Traveled to Lebanon and Syria with Goal of Joining Hizballah Indicted on Terrorism Offense and for Lying to FBIRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A former resident of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization Hizballah and making false statements involving international terrorism to a department or agency of the United States, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.
The three-count Indictment names Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, formerly of the Upper St. Clair suburb of Pittsburgh, as the sole defendant. Molloy was previously charged on December 6, 2024, by way of Criminal Complaint with the false statement charges, with much of the conduct underlying the charges in the Indictment set forth in the Complaint Affidavit. Read the full affidavit filed in support of the Criminal Complaint against Molloy here. The Indictment is available here. Molloy was arrested in Chicago, Illinois, on December 6, 2024, and transported by the United States Marshals Service to Pittsburgh on December 30, 2024.
As alleged in the Indictment and Complaint Affidavit, from in and around August 2024 through in and around December 2024, in Lebanon, Syria, the Western District of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, Molloy attempted to provide material support and resources—namely, personnel (including himself) and services—to Hizballah, a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), knowing that the organization was a designated terrorist organization and that the organization had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism. As outlined in the court documents, Hizballah, also commonly spelled Hezbollah, was formed in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli and Western targets, including against American military and diplomatic personnel.
As alleged, Molloy—a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, who previously served on active-duty status in the U.S. Army—traveled to Lebanon in August 2024 and attempted to join Hizballah. While in Lebanon, Molloy was told by multiple individuals that the time was not right, and that he needed to take other steps before he could join the terrorist organization. Molloy then traveled from Lebanon to Syria in October 2024 in an effort to fight for Hizballah in Syria. After returning to the United States, Molloy resided in Upper St. Clair, where he continued his attempts to join Hizballah, including through communication with individuals online and in Lebanon. During his time in the United States and abroad, Molloy also allegedly expressed his hatred toward, and promoted violence against, Jewish people. Molloy’s alleged animus toward Jews was also evidenced by multiple images and videos on his electronic devices and the usernames he chose for his social media and email accounts, including the username “KIKEKILLER313” on the social media platform X. In one alleged WhatsApp exchange with a family member, Molloy agreed that his “master plan was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews.” And while he was residing in Upper St. Clair, Molloy also allegedly visited a website detailing the possible incarceration location of Robert Bowers, who carried out the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting during which he murdered 11 Jewish worshippers.
The Indictment further alleges that, upon arriving at the Pittsburgh International Airport on October 20, 2024, Molloy lied to agents of the FBI when he told them (1) that he had no current or future plans to become involved with Hizballah, and (2) that he had no business in, nor was he meeting with anyone, in Syria. These statements and representations were false because Molloy knew at that time that (1) he did have current and future plans to become involved with Hizballah and (2) Molloy travelled to Syria in furtherance of his attempts to join Hizballah, and while in Syria, set up a meeting with an individual there.
“As alleged, Jack Molloy, an avowed adherent of Hizballah harboring deep-seated animus against Jews, took many steps over a period of months—at home and abroad—in his effort to join and fight for this deadly foreign terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney Olshan. “This case is yet another sobering reminder of the threat of radicalized violence against Americans. And while the defendant appears to have worked hard to achieve his terrorist goals, today’s charges demonstrate that the resolve of our office and our partners in law enforcement is stronger. We will continue working every day to ensure that members of the Jewish community and every other community in this country can live their lives without fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack.”
“The FBI’s number one priority is to protect the American people from both domestic and international terrorist threats,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek. “To achieve that end, the FBI will leverage the entirety of our resources, partnerships, and all applicable laws to bring to justice anyone who seeks to support or aid any foreign terror organizations, especially groups as deadly as Hizballah.”
The maximum sentence for the material support offense is a term of imprisonment of 20 years, a fine of $250,000, or both. Each of the false statement charges carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. Under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Nicole Vasquez Schmitt and Trial Attorney Andrew Briggs of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The Pittsburgh and Chicago offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation leading to the Indictment, with substantial assistance following Molloy’s arrest on the Criminal Complaint from the United States Marshals Service.
An indictment and a criminal complaint are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
USAO General Crimes Unit Ends 2024 with Notable AchievementsRead the Press Release
CLEVELAND – The General Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Ohio is responsible for prosecuting individuals who violate a wide variety of federal laws in any of the 40 northern counties in the state of Ohio which the district serves.
These Assistant U.S. Attorneys focus on prosecuting crimes that involve firearms violations, illegal drugs, and violent crimes such as armed robberies, carjackings, and/or make threatening communications. They also hold those accountable who sexually abuse children, fail to register as sex offenders, possess and/or distribute pornographic images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and engage in human trafficking.
Reducing violent crime has been a top focus of the Department of Justice and the USAO. To further those efforts, a new Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) was opened in the District in June 2024. Attorney General Merrick Garland and ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, alongside U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko, announced the center’s opening at a press conference earlier this year. The CGIC serves as a hub for federal and local law enforcement to investigate and prevent gun violence in the region. It utilizes cutting-edge technology and tracing systems to rapidly develop and pursue investigative leads that have helped to drive violent crime rates down in Northern Ohio this year. With these experts located in the same facility, this team of firearm evidence examiners, intelligence analysts, and investigators can rapidly collect, analyze, and share information about guns used in violent crimes.
“Driving down violent crime has, without a doubt, been one of our office’s top priorities,” said U.S. Attorney Lutzko. “With the CGIC now fully operational, it allows us to connect the dots between crimes so we can prosecute, convict, and lock up the bad actors who commit violent crimes and remove “crime guns” from the streets faster, so neither continue to endanger innocent people in neighborhoods throughout Northern Ohio.”
Notable operations and cases for fiscal year 2024 include the following:
Violent Crime Reduction Operation – After a three-month, violent crime reduction initiative in the summer of 2023, a total of 84 defendants were charged in connection with firearms-trafficking, straw purchasing firearms, narcotics, conspiracy, and other firearms offenses. The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and resulted in the seizure of more than 255 firearms, of which 47 were traced back to other crimes. The seizure also included 17 untraceable firearms, also known as “ghost guns.” Seventy defendants were charged federally and the remaining 14 faced state charges. Sixty of those entered guilty pleas, 49 of which have been sentenced to date. Of the 14 defendants charged in the state, 12 have pled guilty and been convicted and sentenced. Some notable prison sentencings for various federal firearms violations include Darvell Jackson, sentenced to 168 months; Cortez Buggs sentenced to 132 months; Kenneth Smith sentenced to 135 months; Darion Shelton, sentenced to 100 months; Willie Earl Jackson sentenced to 84 months.
U.S. v. Conner Walker – In early January 2024, the FBI Cleveland Division received a lead that a sexually explicit picture of a two-year-old was likely a child residing in Northeast Ohio. After the FBI confirmed the child’s identity, they learned that she spent time at an in-home day care in Parma, Ohio. Walker was identified as a friend of the day care owner’s adult son who frequented the home and often stayed the night. During an interview, he admitted to sexually abusing the child, filmed it on his phone, and distributed the video online. Walker entered guilty pleas to sexual exploitation, receipt, distribution, and possession of child pornography and is currently awaiting sentencing.
U.S. v. Shannon Matheny – On Oct. 26, 2022, a bank in Lorain, Ohio, was robbed by a man armed with a small silver semi-automatic firearm. The teller reported that the suspect entered, approached counter, slid a note under plexiglass indicating that it was robbery, that he had a gun, not to touch the alarm, and to hand over all fifty, hundred, and twenty-dollar bills. When the teller retrieved the cash from her drawer and handed it to him, he walked away with more than $4,000 from the bank. The Lorain Police Department investigated anonymous tips and reviewed surveillance videos. Two days later, Matheny was located and then arrested after a police chase. A bookbag containing a loaded firearm, fentanyl, cocaine, and two cellphones were seized from Matheny. Matheny was convicted on all counts after a five-day trial in April 2024. In August, he was sentenced to 78 months in prison, plus 84 months consecutive for brandishing a firearm during the course of a robbery, for a total of 162 months.
Additionally, to address regional crime issues, the USAO conducted numerous outreach efforts to diverse members of the community. These included discussions with religious and ethnic groups with concerns about the rise in hate crimes.
To report crimes, visit https://tips.fbi.gov/home.
USAO Forfeits More Than $7M in Criminal Assets in FY24, with More Than $50M of Assets Still PendingRead the Press Release
CLEVELAND – The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Ohio forfeited $7,701,470 in criminal assets for fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The total forfeited assets were from investigations throughout the District’s 40 northern counties in the state of Ohio. The District’s headquarters is located in Cleveland, with branch offices in Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown.
At the end of FY24, the USAO had more than $50 million of assets still pending forfeiture orders in cases districtwide. They included items such as cash, cryptocurrency, vehicles, real estate, and jewelry. These assets were acquired from 214 cases brought under the three types of federal forfeiture proceedings, which include criminal, civil judicial, and administrative. Criminal forfeiture involves personal assets used in conjunction with a crime and is included as part of a defendant’s sentence. Civil judicial forfeiture concerns assets derived from or used in criminal activity. Administrative forfeiture involves assets for whom no one has filed a claim contesting the seizure.
Because of the time it can take to process appeals, payments to victims can stem from previous fiscal years. In FY24, a total of $11,077,758 of forfeited funds were earmarked for return to crime victims to whom defendants owed restitution.
Some of the forfeited assets were deposited into the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF), which was established in 1984 by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act. The AFF is used to restore funds to crime victims and pay expenses associated with forfeiture operation, such as asset management, storage, protection, and disposal. It is also used for a variety of law enforcement purposes. Other assets seized were deposited into the Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund, which functions in a similar way to the AFF.
In addition, a portion of each fiscal year’s forfeited funds are authorized to be shared with local law enforcement agencies that contributed time and resources to federal investigations. In FY24, $10,523,635 was shared across 83 agency partners in the Northern District of Ohio, as well as other districts, for supporting federal prosecution efforts to fight crime.
“Asset forfeiture is a vital tool that we use to punish criminals and financially deter, disrupt, or dismantle criminal activity and criminal organizations. When we take the assets used to commit, or gained as the result of crime, we deprive criminals of the tools they need to engage in criminal activity and, indeed, their reason for committing such crimes in the first place. Additionally, forfeiting criminal assets allows us to return money lost by victims who were scammed by criminals in deceitful and fraudulent schemes or otherwise harmed by crime,” said Rebecca Lutzko, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “The amount of assets forfeited this year and still pending forfeiture by the court far exceeds our annual office budget. We take pride in returning such significant amounts of money to our community and constituents from the work that our office undertakes.”
Cases with significant forfeitures in FY24 include the following:
United States v. Christen Clark
Clark pled guilty to federal drug and gun violations. During a search warrant execution, agents seized six kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of fentanyl, 50 pounds of marijuana, and six handguns. The USAO forfeited $1,004,496 and a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe from Clark.
United States v. Rocco Ferruccio
Defendant pled guilty to illegal gambling operations in Canton. The USAO forfeited $1,118,442 seized from Ferruccio’s residence.
United States v. Christos Karasarides
Related to the Ferruccio case, Karasarides was convicted of illegal gambling operations in Canton. The USAO forfeited $419,768 in U.S. currency. Karasarides’ residence was also determined to have been acquired with gambling proceeds and forfeited.
United States v. $774,830 in U.S. Currency
During an Ohio Highway Patrol traffic stop, a K-9 alerted to the trunk of a defendant’s rental car, and U.S. Currency was seized from a suitcase in the trunk. The defendant declined to provide the source of the currency. The USAO forfeited a total of $774,830.
United States v. Kevin Clay
Clay was found guilty of healthcare fraud and agreed to the USAO’s forfeiture of approximately $539,770 in proceeds of his fraud, along with the forfeiture of a home purchased with fraud proceeds. But, as alleged in a pending indictment, before the government took possession of his home, Clay instructed his wife to remove fixtures and appliances from it to sell, profiting about $5,000. In the process, his wife caused more than $20,000 in damage to the home and the government subsequently charged the couple with destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure.
United States v. 947,883 Tether (“USDT”)
In this elder fraud case, on Nov. 26, 2024, the United States filed a civil complaint in forfeiture against 947,883 Tether (“USDT”) cryptocurrency, valued at approximately $947,883. At the time the asset was frozen, the cryptocurrency address had a balance of 947,883 USDT, valued at approximately $947,883. If successful in this forfeiture action, the United States would seek to return these stolen funds to the victim of the scheme. Claims made in the Complaint in Forfeiture are allegations that the United States will need to prove should the case proceed to trial.
All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The mission of the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program (AFP) is to use asset forfeiture as a tool to deter, disrupt, and dismantle criminal enterprises, denying them the proceeds and the instruments of criminal activity. The AFP involves federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies across the country.
USAO Collects Nearly $28M in Civil and Criminal Actions for FY 2024Read the Press Release
CLEVELAND - In the fiscal year 2024 (FY 2024), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio collected $27,882,120.34 in civil and criminal actions. Of this amount, $12,537,202.34 was collected for civil damages, penalties, and interest owed to the United States, while $15,344,918 was collected for criminal restitution to victims of federal crime.
In addition to those amounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO), working with partner agencies and divisions, also separately forfeited in FY 2024 $7,701,470 in assets connected to criminal activity, with more than $50M in additional assets still pending forfeiture orders. Forfeited assets are deposited into the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund or the Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund and used to restore funds to crime victims and for various law enforcement purposes.
Accordingly, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected a combined $35,583,590.34 in FY 2024.
“Every year, dedicated USAO employees work hard to collect debts owed to the government based on false claims, environmental damage, controlled-substance violations, and the like, and return that money to the U.S. taxpayers. They also work to recover money for victims of crime to make them whole and ensure that justice is served from a financial perspective,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “The USAO’s FY 2024 collection efforts were tremendously successful, and we remain committed, in 2025 and beyond, to using all available legal remedies to collect restitution for victims and recover taxpayer dollars improperly taken through fraud, waste, and abuse.”
Notable collections in FY 2024 include:
Civil Cases
Cleveland Clinic Foundation – Payment of $7,600,000 to settle False Claims Act allegations relating to federal grant applications and progress reports. That amount is now paid in full.
Ohio Refining Co., Chevron USA Inc., Energy Transfer (R&M) LLC, Pilkington North America Inc., and Chemtrade Logistics Inc. – Payment of $7,282,518.92 to settle allegations of historic industrial pollution discharges near Toledo. That amount is now paid in full.
Republic Steel – Payment of a civil penalty as part of a consent decree to settle Clean Air Act allegations. Republic Steel paid $1,051,169.49 as part of the consent decree, which also included air pollution reductions.
Criminal Cases
U.S. v. Aydin Kalantarov – Defendant was sentenced in May 2023 for conspiring to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The court ordered Kalantarov to pay $7,799,400.00 in restitution to the Small Business Association (SBA). In January 2024, the USAO facilitated the transfer of $5,624,627.21 in forfeited funds to the Clerk of Courts for payment to the SBA.
U.S. v. Matthew Maluchnik – Defendant was sentenced in October 2023 for committing healthcare fraud and making false statements on his tax returns. The court ordered him to pay $941,068.50 in restitution. In April 2024, the USAO facilitated the transfer of $715,979.50 in forfeited funds to the Clerk of Courts for payment to Maluchnik’s victims.
U.S. v. Christopher Hardin – Defendant was sentenced in September 2019 for committing mail fraud and was ordered to pay $671,699.73 in restitution to over a dozen victims. In FY2024, the USAO collected $655,574.73 from Hardin for his victims.
The 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country, along with the Department of Justice’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss.
While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the Department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Collection and Enforcement Efforts Exceed $40 Million in Fiscal Year 2024Read the Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. – United States Attorney Carlton S. Shier, IV announced today that, in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky collected more than $20 million for crime victims and taxpayers, and also obtained civil settlements totaling more than $20 million through its affirmative civil enforcement efforts.
“Our enforcement of the law includes pursuing restitution for victims of crime, recovering illegally obtained funds, and protecting taxpayer dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse,” said United States Attorney Shier. “These collection and enforcement results demonstrate our commitment to these critical goals. I want to commend the dedicated personnel in our Office, for their persistent efforts on behalf of victims and for safeguarding our taxpayer funds.”
In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $14,299,361.43 through its Financial Litigation Program. This Program is responsible for collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States, and criminal restitution debts owed to federal crime victims who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While criminal restitution is paid to victims, criminal fines and assessments are paid to the Department of Justice’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
Additionally, due to successful asset forfeitures in fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office secured $4,161,490 for federal law enforcement efforts, shared $1,508,364 with state and local law enforcement agencies, and restored $472,830 to crime victims. In asset forfeiture actions, the United States seizes money and property that were proceeds of crime or used in furtherance of a crime. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund are used for a variety of law enforcement purposes. Funds shared with state and local agencies reflect the degree of their participation in law enforcement efforts resulting in forfeiture. When money or property is forfeited by a defendant who also owes restitution, the Office can ask that the value of the forfeited property be paid to the victim to make him or her whole.
The Office’s Civil Division also protects the interests of the United States in cases involving property on which the government holds a lien. In fiscal year 2024, the Office collected $1,382,137.49 on behalf of taxpayers in such cases.
Finally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement program obtained civil settlements and judgments valued at $20,078,263.98. Over $19.7 million of this amount were obtained through enforcement of the False Claims Act, which is a federal law that imposes treble damages and penalties on those who knowingly and falsely claim money from the United States. The False Claims Act thus serves to safeguard government programs that provide health insurance, support American businesses and workers, offer disaster and other emergency relief, and provide many other critical services and benefits. More than $300,000 of the settlements represent civil penalties paid by healthcare providers who violated the Controlled Substances Act, a federal law that aims to protect the public’s health and safety from dangers posed by highly addictive or dangerous controlled substances that are diverted into the illicit market. The remainder of these settlements result from penalties and compensatory damages paid for violations of the American with Disabilities Act, a federal law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in many areas of public life.
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U.S. Attorney’s Office Reaches Agreement with Ellsworth Veterinarian for Alleged Controlled Substances Act ViolationsRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Maine: A Maine veterinarian, Dr. Alan Toothaker, DVM, agreed to pay $145,360 to resolve claims he violated the Controlled Substances Act through improper storage of controlled substances and recordkeeping violations.
The settlement announced today resolves allegations that Dr. Toothaker improperly stored controlled substances; failed to keep appropriate records of controlled substances stored, dispensed, or distributed by the veterinary practice; and did not conduct regular inventories.
As alleged, in May 2023 and July 2023, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was unable to conduct an audit at Dr. Toothaker’s registered location due to record keeping deficiencies. Among the issues the resulting inspection revealed:
- Minimal oversight of the ordering, receiving, and handling of controlled substances, creating an opportunity for significant diversion of controlled substances, particularly Tramadol.
- Controlled substances stored in safes with non-controlled substances with employees having unsupervised access.
- Incomplete recordkeeping resulting in unaccounted-for controlled substances purchased, dispensed, or administered.
- Continual refills of prescriptions.
- Transferring of controlled substances to a second practice location for which Dr. Toothaker did not maintain a registration.
“The DEA investigation revealed a practice that lacked adequate security and oversight, making it difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether controlled substances were missing, who took them or even when they went missing,” said U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee. “Particularly amid an opioid crisis, that is concerning. All DEA registrants have an obligation to maintain complete records, and it is an essential practice to prevent potentially addictive medications from being diverted from the legitimate drug supply.”
“The DEA is committed to ensuring that veterinarians, like all registrants, are in compliance with the required regulations, which are enforceable through the Controlled Substances Act, handle controlled substances in a lawful manner, and provide effective controls to prevent diversion,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Stephen Belleau, New England Field Division. “Failure to do so increases the diversion potential and jeopardizes public health and safety.”
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
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U.S. Attorney’s Office Credits Multi-Jurisdictional Crime Reduction Collaborative for Sharp Decline in Violent Crime Across MarylandRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced that statewide violent crime continued to significantly decline in 2024. In Maryland, homicides and non-fatal shootings are down, and Baltimore City’s violent-crime rate dropped for the third year in a row.
Since 2021, statewide homicides have declined by 32 percent while Baltimore City, which saw 201 homicides in 2024, has recorded a 41-percent decrease during the same timeframe. The U.S. Attorney’s Office credits strategic collaboration between Federal, State, City law enforcement, and community partners for the positive direction.
“I’m very proud of the leadership that this office’s public servants have shown in coordinating law enforcement and community efforts throughout Maryland and beyond to protect our nation and promote safer communities,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. “We will continue to be a force-multiplier for the work of our various Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, and community-based partners.”
These efforts are connected to the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). This program brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone. Recent results show how the power of strong collaborations correlate with major declines in violence, as Baltimore City recorded its lowest homicide total since 2011. For example, in Baltimore City, the multi-jurisdictional collaborative has:
- Assembled the largest-ever, State-funded team of special federal prosecutors, and legal and investigative professionals to indict firearm offenses. In 2023, this enabled the U.S. Attorney’s Office to adopt a record-high number of gun cases from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.
- Strategically investigated and federally prosecuted repeat violent offenders, who drive the most violence in our communities, by any legal means necessary. This tactic has led to impactful prosecutions. For example, the collaborative shut down an international Chinese money laundering and drug trafficking organization after investigating one of its ringleaders who was shot at twice within a two-week span of violence in Baltimore City.
- Leveraged the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s multi-agency taskforce to not only federally prosecute violent criminal organizations, but to also help local partners land impactful prosecutions. For example, through Operation Tornado Alley, the largest takedown in Baltimore in decades, the State’s Attorney’s Office charged 40 individuals with drug trafficking and firearm offenses.
Through these strategic, collaborative efforts, the office has reduced costly and unnecessary incarceration. The collaborative’s use of strategic law enforcement, along with various prevention and intervention methods, has resulted in a 40-percent decline in the federal pre-trial detention rate since 2018. For example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office actively supports reducing barriers to successful reentry and collaborative community-based outreach efforts aimed at youth and young adults, including by working with organizations such as ROCA Baltimore.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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- Assembled the largest-ever, State-funded team of special federal prosecutors, and legal and investigative professionals to indict firearm offenses. In 2023, this enabled the U.S. Attorney’s Office to adopt a record-high number of gun cases from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.
U.S. Attorney, FBI Announce Federal Charges Against Arizona Man for Sexual AbuseRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – A Phoenix man has been charged with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child under 12 years old.
The indictment alleges that between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, Jeremy Blueeyes, 25, a member of the Navajo Nation, unlawfully and knowingly engaged in and attempted to engage in sexual acts with a child who had not yet attained the age of 12 years.
Blueeyes will remain in custody pending trial, which has not been scheduled. If convicted, Blueeyes faces a minimum of 30 years and up to life in prison.
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Marshall is prosecuting the case.
View the Indictment (Blueeyes).pdfAn indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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U.S. Attorney's Office Secures Sentencing of Mexican National for Attempted Aircraft Destruction and Drug TraffickingRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – A Mexican national was sentenced to 117 months in prison and ordered to pay a $600 special assessment for attempting to destroy an unmanned aerial system and federal drug trafficking offenses in New Mexico.
According to court documents, on July 3, 2023, officers from the Albuquerque Police Department tracked Rogelio Rodriguez-Salas, 29, a Mexican national who had previously been deported and was illegally present in the United States, by using a drone while he was in possession of a stolen vehicle. In an attempt to evade surveillance, Rodriguez-Salas fired a handgun at the drone to damage and disable it. Following this incident, he was arrested but subsequently released into the community.
Weeks later, on July 21, 2023, deputies from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department encountered Rodriguez-Salas again. He was found in possession of a revolver while engaged in drug trafficking activities and driving another stolen vehicle. At that time, he had more than four grams of fentanyl intended for distribution when stopped by deputies. His illegal presence in the U.S. prohibited him from possessing both firearms and ammunition.
On July 15, 2024, Rodriguez-Salas pleaded guilty to multiple charges: attempting to damage, destroy, disable, and wreck an aircraft; being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and ammunition; re-entering the United States as a removed alien; possessing with intent to distribute four grams or more of fentanyl; and possessing a firearm to further a drug trafficking scheme.
Upon his release from prison, Rodriguez-Salas will be subject to three years of supervised release and subject to deportation proceedings.
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez made the announcement today.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General conducted this investigation with the Albuquerque Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
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U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan Announces Upcoming ResignationRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan has announced his resignation, effective January 19, 2025, as the chief law enforcement officer for the Northern District of Georgia. After he was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, U.S. Attorney Buchanan was sworn in as the District’s 26th Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed United States Attorney on May 2, 2022.
During his tenure, U.S. Attorney Buchanan led an office of approximately 250 prosecutors, civil litigators, and administrative and support personnel in its mission to enforce federal civil and criminal laws, advocate for crime victims, and represent the United States’ interests in federal court. In his role, he oversaw prosecutions involving violent crimes, firearm offenses, drug trafficking organizations, child exploitation, cybercrimes, health care fraud, public corruption, organized crime rings and gang activities, hate crimes, and civil rights violations, while also achieving significant judgments and penalties in multiple civil matters.
Beyond the Northern District, U.S. Attorney Buchanan contributed to the Department of Justice’s national legal policy as a member of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Advisory Committee (the “AGAC”), a select group of United States Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on policy matters. He served as Vice-Chair of the AGAC’s Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee, leader of the Malign Foreign Influence Working Group, and a member of the Office of Management and Budget Subcommittee. In addition to Department of Justice leadership, U.S. Attorney Buchanan was a member of the interagency Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee.
In a message to the members of his office, U.S. Attorney Buchanan said:
“Earlier today, I tendered my resignation as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia to President Biden and Attorney General Garland. It is nearly impossible for me to reduce to writing my admiration and gratitude for you. You embody the high ideals of the Department of Justice, and you live out our mission daily. The Northern District, the State of Georgia, and the United States are safer because of your efforts. During my tenure as United States Attorney, the work of this office has reached six continents. At the same time, the office has remained a steadfast and engaged leader in communities from southwest Atlanta to the Appalachian foothills. That global legal work and local community impact are hallmarks of this office. Daily, we have worked collaboratively and forged lasting partnerships with law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders, leading to innovative, thoughtful, and effective approaches to advancing safety, upholding the rule of law, and protecting civil rights for nearly eight million people in the Northern District. The talent, excellence, and integrity of this office are unparalleled. It has been the privilege of my life to serve with you as colleagues, and I am forever grateful and honored to call you my friends.”
Under Mr. Buchanan’s leadership, the Northern District of Georgia achieved noteworthy successes outlined below in criminal and civil cases. U.S. Attorney Buchanan created a new dedicated section, the Public Integrity & Civil Rights Section, to formalize and expand the office’s civil and criminal civil rights work. And as described further below, Mr. Buchanan initiated and spearheaded many innovative collaborations with law enforcement and community stakeholders.
Notable Violent Crime and National Security Achievements
- A five-member minor sex trafficking group was prosecuted and sentenced, following a report that a minor victim had gone missing in Miami, Florida. The victim’s parents realized she failed to board a flight to Honduras. The minor was transported by two defendants to Georgia and forced to commit commercial sex acts and participate in “sex parties” hosted by other members of the group. The court imposed sentences ranging from seven to 30 years in prison.
- A jury convicted Jalal Hajavi for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, smuggling goods from the U.S., unlawfully exporting and reexporting goods from the U.S. to Iran without a license, and unlawfully engaging in transactions and dealings based on his participation in a scheme to unlawfully export heavy equipment from the U.S. to Iran by routing the shipments through the United Arab Emirates. He was convicted by a jury, and subsequently sentenced to two years in prison.
- Kenny Wells made headlines when he recklessly discharged a firearm at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the busy weekend before Thanksgiving in 2021. His unlawful actions created enormous panic throughout the airport and forced a lockdown of the facility and surrounding area for hours after he discharged a firearm detected inside a bag he had carried into an airport security screening area. Wells was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of multiple felony offenses.
- A jury convicted Mezemr Abebe Belayneh for fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by concealing his involvement in the “Red Terror,” a campaign of oppression and mass killings committed in Ethiopia that began in 1976. The Red Terror was a campaign of brutal violence in which Ethiopia’s ruling military council and its supporters detained, interrogated, tortured, and executed thousands of perceived opponents, many of whom were teenagers, based on their political opinions. Belayneh was convicted of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by lying about his role in the Red Terror persecutions and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Fraud Convictions
- Operation Five Fingers, a Priority Transnational Organized Crime case, resulted in the convictions of 40 defendants. Thirty-one of the defendants were convicted of conspiring to launder the proceeds of romance fraud schemes, bank account takeover schemes, and business email compromise schemes, which caused more than $30 million in losses to hundreds of individuals, banks, and other companies. Nine of the defendants committed bank fraud and aggravated identity theft offenses when they posed as bank customers and fraudulently withdrew funds directly from victims’ bank accounts. Two of the defendants were bank employees who facilitated laundering of fraud proceeds.
Accomplishments in Civil Cases
- A federal jury found that Charles Adams M.D. and his medical practice violated the False Claims Act (FCA). The jury concluded that the defendants violated the FCA by submitting false claims to Medicare for reimbursements of chelation therapy, which involves the use of drugs to remove heavy metals from the body. The jury found that Medicare reimbursed the defendants more than $1.1 million for these unnecessary treatments. In a post-trial ruling, the federal district judge added penalties to the jury’s verdict, bringing defendants’ total liability to more than $27 million.
- UBS AG and several of its U.S.-based affiliates (together, “UBS”) agreed to pay $1.435 billion in penalties to settle a civil action alleging misconduct related to UBS’ underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities in 2006 and 2007.
Narcotics Convictions
- Gilberto Lopez-Giraldo, Raul Lopez-Giraldo, Guillermo Escobar, and Alexander Duque-Casanova were convicted for engaging in a more than $1.4 million drug money laundering conspiracy involving major cities from across the United States, including Atlanta, Chicago, and New York to Cali, Colombia. The defendants received sentences of incarceration ranging from three to six years.
Money Laundering & Asset Recovery
- The District’s Money Laundering & Asset Recovery Section secured more than $90 million in collections for victims of crimes and to satisfy debts owed to the United States; shared in the collection of an additional $1 billion related to financial wrongdoing; and forfeited over $55 million in property seized from criminal defendants and in civil forfeiture matters.
Public Integrity and Civil Rights Work
- Former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was convicted of intentionally violating the civil rights of six pre-trial detainees by ordering them strapped into restraint chairs at the Clayton County Jail for hours without legal justification. Hill was sentenced to one year, six months in prison, which he later appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions with an opinion that opened with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s declaration: “No man is above the law and no man is below it.”
- A multi-year investigation of corruption throughout the upper echelon of the City of Atlanta’s government led to the prosecutions of 11 high-ranking city officials and contractors resulting in two convictions at trial and nine by guilty pleas. The charged conduct included bribery, theft, tax fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering offenses, but also machine gun possession, obstruction of justice, and the delivery of envelopes of cash to one of the defendants in a men’s room at a local restaurant. This investigation ultimately included convictions of the City’s Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, Watershed Commissioner, Director of Human Services, and Director of Contract Compliance, as well as the former Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff and multiple primary contractors.
- A settlement agreement was reached with Smarter Kids Child Care (“Smarter Kids”) in Smyrna, Georgia, to resolve allegations that Smarter Kids violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by denying a child an opportunity to participate in its daycare program on the basis of his autism. Under the agreement, Smarter Kids agreed to adopt a non-discrimination policy to ensure ADA compliance and to provide mandatory training for all employees who consider requests for reasonable accommodations or make enrollment decisions. Additionally, Smarter Kids will pay $7,000 in compensation to the complainant and $1,000 to the United States as a civil penalty.
- A Civil Rights investigation into Fulton County, Georgia and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office uncovered multiple violations of the constitutional and statutory rights of persons incarcerated at the Fulton County Jail on a routine basis and failures to adequately protect incarcerated persons from substantial risk of serious harm.
- A multi-year investigation of the Georgia Department of Corrections concluded that the incarcerated persons’ constitutional rights are being violated by failing to protect them from widespread physical violence and harm, including exposing incarcerated persons to unreasonable risk of harm from sexual abuse.
Law Enforcement and Community Outreach
U.S. Attorney Buchanan’s tenure reflects a steadfast and robust commitment to building relationships and partnerships with law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders within the District.
Mr. Buchanan partnered with the Georgia Department of Public Health Northwest Health District to host a community gathering designed to increase awareness of and connect residents to local resources available to help prevent opioid use, overdoses, and deaths. This collaboration resulted from a data-driven District initiative to address concerns related to Bartow County’s opioid deaths and the county’s age-adjusted opioid death rate. Local public health officials who participated in the initiative also noted the alarming nationwide increases in illicit fentanyl exposures in children younger than six years old as cause for critical concern.
Mr. Buchanan served as a member of the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion and Education (“GRACE”) Commission which was created to combat human trafficking in the State of Georgia.
He partnered with the Department of Justice to host the inaugural Historically Black Colleges and Universities Regional Forum at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.
He led the training effort with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association to provide an intensive law enforcement training, “G.R.E.A.T.” (Gang Resistance Education and Training), for more than 40 police officers from school systems in the District. These officers, specifically chosen by their respective agencies, serve at over 70 local schools that enroll more than 26,000 students.
Mr. Buchanan continued to partner with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as part of an annual Project Safe Neighborhoods Credible Messenger Youth Summer Violence Program, which provides intensive and positive youth and young adult mentorship, with a goal to reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and improve family and community engagement.
He hosted a safety briefing for houses of worship, gathering faith leaders and those involved with security at houses of worship, to provide training, education, and discussion in the areas of safety, security, security planning, hate crimes, and the growth and management of threats.
Mr. Buchanan led the creation of the Northern Georgia Fentanyl Prosecution Working Group, an innovative data-driven effort aimed at the counties in the Northern District that have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic. The effort included a coordinated multi-agency, parcel interdiction operation that resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs and firearms being shipped through the district.
He oversaw a safety briefing for school administrators and safety officials to provide education and resources for planning, assessment, and mitigation of safety threats.
And he also organized a housing summit that focused on health and safety in HUD-assisted housing with Housing and Urban Development leadership.
“I thank President Biden for nominating me, Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff for their recommendation and support, and Attorney General Garland for his leadership during my tenure,” said U.S. Attorney Buchanan. “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the American people and the Northern District of Georgia.”
Pursuant to the Vacancies Reform Act, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. will succeed Mr. Buchanan as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia until a successor is nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young Announces ResignationRead the Press Release
CONCORD – United States Attorney Jane E. Young announced today that she is resigning on January 17, 2025. She has served in the position since May 2, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Young was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on January 26, 2022, and confirmed by the United States Senate on April 27, 2022. Prior to her confirmation as United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney Young served as the New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General.
In addition to her duties as the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Officer in the District of New Hampshire, U.S. Attorney Young served on the United States Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s Subcommittees on (1) Civil Rights, (2) White Collar Fraud, and (3) Law Enforcement Coordination, Victim Assistance and Community Relations (LEVC).
“As a born and raised Granite Stater, I am honored to have served the people of New Hampshire as the United States Attorney. After more than thirty years as a prosecutor in New Hampshire, I continue to be awed by the unwavering dedication and commitment to justice exhibited by law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and staff who support the tireless work of keeping our communities safe,” said U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young. “Over the past two and a half years, law enforcement in the Granite State prioritized investigating those who illegally possessed firearms, made threats to government officials and schools, exploited our most vulnerable citizens, as well as defrauded pandemic-relief and other federal programs. I am particularly proud of the education we provided community members and the private sector on emerging frauds and scams, the expansion of the United States Attorney’s Office to include two additional prosecutors focused on civil rights and violent crimes, and the restitution orders obtained to make fraud victims whole. I also want to especially thank United State Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan for placing their trust in me when recommending me for this role.”
During U.S. Attorney Young’s tenure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted a variety of complex federal crimes, including drug trafficking, financial fraud, elder and child exploitation, and violent crime. Among these cases include:
Financial Fraud
U.S. v. Ian Freeman, a Keene man was sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for laundering over ten million dollars in proceeds of romance scams and other internet fraud by exchanging U.S. dollars for Bitcoin. The defendant was ordered to pay restitution totaling $3,502,708.62 to 29 victims of his offense.
U.S. v. Pierre Rogers and Joshua Leavitt, two finance professionals were sentenced to more than 3 years and more than 2 years in federal prison, respectively, for committing wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with $6 million in attempted CARES Act loans. Rogers went on a lavish spending spree with the funds, buying a Porsche and Rolls Royce, and luxury items from retailers such as Cartier, Bulgari, and Bottega Veneta.
Bringing in or Harboring Certain Aliens
U.S. v. Abraham Hernandez, a New York man was sentenced to 6 months in federal prison in connection with transporting nine illegal immigrants in Pittsburg, New Hampshire. This was the first successful prosecution of alien smuggling in the District of New Hampshire within the past twenty years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Project Safe Childhood
U.S. v. Michael Chick, a former school bus driver was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for cyberstalking an eight-year-old child on his bus route.
U.S. v. Chad Lawlor, a repeat sex offender was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in connection with administering an online chat group devoted to the sexual exploitation of children and the exchange of child sexual abuse material.
U.S. v. John E. Murray III, a manager at West Alton Marina on Alton Bay was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for soliciting minor employees of the marina for sexually explicit images and videos of themselves, often in exchange for money. He also subjected minor employees to unwanted sexual contact and sexual acts.
Violent Crime
In 2023, U.S. Attorney Young advocated for and was awarded an additional Assistant United States Attorney position dedicated to prosecuting violent crimes.
U.S. v. Justin Gebo, a former Belmont man was sentenced to nearly 3 years in federal prison for possession of firearms as a prohibited person. The defendant was prohibited from possessing a firearm by being in possession of a firearm while under indictment and being a felon in possession of a firearm. One of the firearms that the defendant unlawfully possessed was subsequently recovered during a homicide investigation in Franklin, New Hampshire.
U.S. v. Kyle Hendrickson, a Maine man was sentenced to more than 3 years in federal prison for threatening the Portsmouth High School. He posted a video on SnapChat, in which he brandished a handgun while in a vehicle outside of the high school. The video included a text overlay that read “imma shoot up the school.” The defendant was also ordered to pay $21,946 in restitution to Portsmouth School District.
U.S. v. Robert Reidy, a Nashua man was sentenced to more than 7 years in federal prison for the illegal possession of ghost guns and ammunition and possessing unregistered firearms. At the time of his arrest, the defendant refused multiple commands to exit his residence, and ultimately surrendered after chemical munitions were deployed into his residence.
Additionally, the United States Attorney’s Office focused on civil rights violations and enforcement actions. Among these cases include:
Controlled Substances Act
U.S. v. Cheshire Medical Center, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to keep accurate records of controlled substances, including opioids, after a nurse stole twenty-three intravenous bags of fentanyl solution from an automatic medication dispensing machine. This was one of the largest settlements of drug diversion claims against a hospital in the country.
U.S. v. Catholic Medical Center, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to keep accurate records of controlled substances, including opioids, after a certified registered nurse anesthetist had tampered with and diverted liquid fentanyl.
Civil Rights
In 2023, U.S. Attorney Young advocated for and was awarded an additional Assistant United States Attorney position dedicated to enforcing civil rights. Since then, the United States Attorney’s Office has focused on educating community members on law enforcement’s approach to investigating and enforcing violations of civil rights. The office has reached several settlement agreements related to civil rights violations including allegations that Smitty’s Cinema in Maine and New Hampshire violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not offering audio description devices and closed captioning devices for customers who have vision or hearing disabilities. Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office settled allegations that Manchester landlords violated the Fair Housing Act when they refused to consider their tenant’s reasonable accommodation request to have a Yorkshire terrier mix, as an Emotional Support Animal, reside with her.
In addition to case work, under United States Attorney Young’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office strengthened and expanded law enforcement partnerships, community outreach efforts, and accessibility to public information. Since May 2022, among other actions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office utilized federal programs and national expertise to offer 18 law enforcement trainings at no-cost to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New Hampshire or police departments. These trainings focused on strengthening New Hampshire law enforcement’s understanding of legal, investigative, and effective community policing topics, including trainings on Miranda warnings, dark web investigations, pre-indicators of violent assault, suicide prevention for all layers of law enforcement, and best practices for engaging with faith-based communities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also become a leader in addressing emerging public safety concerns, such as elder fraud and scams, bank fraud, and hate crimes, by participating in more than 30 community awareness events.
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