RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond man was sentenced today to nine years and two months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court documents, on April 19, 2024, agents with the FBI Capital Area Human Trafficking Task Force arrested Herman Leroy Mallory Jr., 40, on outstanding warrants from Louisa County. When agents removed Mallory from the vehicle, they observed in plain view a handgun on top of the speaker deck and another handgun partially covered with a t-shirt on the floorboard.
During a search of the vehicle, investigators recovered two rifles, a 50-round drum magazine, and additional ammunition and firearm magazines. They also discovered a pack containing baggies of narcotics, including 27.51 grams of cocaine, 9.46 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, 0.62 grams of fentanyl, and 6.27 grams of a mixture containing heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl.
Mallory previously was convicted of felony larceny, grand larceny, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, and conspiracy to commit breaking and entering. As a previously convicted felon, he cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition.
On April 30, 2024, a victim reported to police that a rifle had been stolen from his home approximately three weeks earlier when Mallory had been a guest in his home. On June 9, 2024, the victim contacted police again to report that three other firearms had been stolen. Mallory admitted to law enforcement that the handgun observed on top of the speaker deck in his vehicle and one of the recovered rifles had come from the victim.
Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division; and Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Gilliland, an Assistant Attorney General with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Miller 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. 3:24-cr-149.
LOS ANGELES – A prominent tattoo artist, once identified in the press as “Hollywood’s Go-To Tattoo Artist,” pleaded guilty today to filing false tax returns through which he evaded the payment of more than $641,000 in federal income tax.
Daniel Joseph Winter, 43, who uses the moniker “winterstone,” pleaded guilty to one count of subscription to a false tax return.
Winter operated his tattoo business in the Los Angeles area, New York and Vancouver, Canada, specializing in single-needle fine-line tattoos and catering to high-end clients. His tattoos were expensive, and he earned substantial income from his work as a tattoo artist and related endeavors.
According to his plea agreement, Winter earned at least $1.7 million from his tattoo business from 2021 to 2023. But he declared no wages, salaries or tip income on the tax returns he signed and filed with the IRS. For 2021, he reported taxable income of negative $3,442 instead of his actual taxable income of $501,710; for 2022, he reported taxable income of $1,105 instead of his actual taxable income of $347,159; and for 2023, he reported income of $14,852, instead of his actual taxable income of $850,447.
By underreporting his actual income in this way, Winter reduced the taxes he appeared to owe by more than $641,000. At today’s hearing, Winter presented a cashier’s check in the amount of $641,959 to the court to pay the taxes he owed due to the underreporting of his income for 2021 through 2023.
Winter also admitted in court today that he knew he was required to report all his income but willfully lied about it on his tax returns. He accepted payment for his tattoo services almost exclusively in cash, making it harder for the IRS to determine his true income.
United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II scheduled an August 11sentencing hearing, at which time Winter will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison.
Assistant United States Attorney Ranee Katzenstein of the Criminal Appeals Section is prosecuting this case.
RAPID CITY – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a Pine Ridge, South Dakota, man convicted of Sexual Abuse. The sentencing took place on February 10, 2025.
Kaleb Mills, a/k/a Kayleb Mills, age 31, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
A federal grand jury indicted Mills in March 2024. He pleaded guilty on October 2, 2024.
The conviction stems from Mills sending a Facebook message to a 17-year-old female asking her if she wanted to hang out. She agreed and Mills found her a ride from her house to his house at Pine Ridge. That evening, he injected the female with methamphetamine. While she was under the influence of the methamphetamine and unable to consent to sexual activity, Mills engaged in sexual activity with her. Mills was previously convicted of a similar charge in 2013.
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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian country be prosecuted in Federal court as opposed to State court.
This case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen prosecuted the case.
Mills was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
LOS ANGELES – The former girlfriend of a cryptocurrency fraudster who dubbed himself “The Godfather” has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal tax charge for failing to report more than $2.6 million in ill-gotten gains she obtained via her then-boyfriend’s criminal activities, the Justice Department announced today.
Iris Ramaya Au, 35, of Irvine, is charged in a single-count information with subscribing to a false tax return.
Au has agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge and is expected to make her initial appearance in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming days.
According to Au’s plea agreement, from 2020 to 2024, Iza committed a series of crimes, including fraudulently obtaining access to advertising accounts and lines of credit provided by Facebook Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. and selling access to those accounts. Iza obtained millions of dollars of unreported income as a result of these schemes.
Separately, Iza engaged active Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies to provide private security for him and caused the deputies, among other things, to obtain court-authorized search warrants and confidential law enforcement information targeting people with whom Iza had financial and personal disputes.
At Iza’s direction, Au created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in the names of those entities. She then used the illicit funds placed into those accounts to pay approximately $1 million to the deputies, mostly in cash, purchase or lease luxury real estate, cars, jewelry, and clothing, pay for recreational activity for Iza and herself valued at nearly $10 million, and acquire approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency for Iza.
Au admitted in her plea agreement that she transferred more than $2.6 million from these various accounts to her personal bank accounts during the period 2020 through 2023, income that she willfully failed to report to the IRS on her federal tax returns.
After pleading guilty, Au will face up to three years in federal prison.
On January 30, Iza appeared before a federal judge and pleaded guilty to a first superseding information charging him with conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 16, at which time he will face up to 35 years in federal prison. Iza has been in federal custody since September 2024.
IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel J. O’Brien and J. Jamari Buxton of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.
Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Kathryn Rivera, Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division for New England, announced that NATIONAL WATER MAIN CLEANING COMPANY (“NWMCC”) was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport for a felony violation of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) for knowingly discharging a pollutant into Cuff Brook while refurbishing a large culvert pipe in Cheshire, Connecticut, in July 2019. The company’s unauthorized discharge of uncured geopolymer mortar killed more than 150 fish and contaminated Cuff Brook.
Judge Dooley sentenced NWMCC to a term of federal probation with environmental conditions for three years, a $500,000 federal penalty, and a payment of $500,000 to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (“CT DEEP”) to fund aquatic ecosystem enhancement projects in the South Central Coastal Watershed, where both Cheshire and Cuff Brook are located.
NWMCC is based in New Jersey and owned by Carylon Corporation based in Chicago, Illinois.
According to court documents and statements made in court, NWMCC had submitted the lowest bid and entered into a contract with the Town of Cheshire (“Cheshire”) to repair a decaying 11-foot culvert pipe underneath Marion Road. Cheshire’s project specifications required that the work be done under dry conditions along with environmental controls to prevent uncured geopolymer mortar from leaking into Cuff Brook.
With a Cheshire Department of Public Works (“DPW”) representative present each day, NWMCC began work on July 15, 2019. However, from July 16 to July 18, 2019, NWMCC sprayed geopolymer mortar onto the culvert pipe without the mandated environmental controls. On July 17, 2019, NWMCC crews continued to work despite heavy rain, which led to uncured geopolymer mortar seeping into Cuff Brook. On July 18, 2019, a Cheshire resident with property abutting Cuff Brook observed dead fish and discolored water with an oily sheen in the brook, and smelled a chemical odor similar to lighter fluid. CT DEEP responded and determined that NWMCC was responsible for the pollutant release, thereby killing more than 150 fish and contaminating the waterway. CT DEEP estimated that Cuff Brook would not return to its prior state for three to five years.
The government’s investigation revealed that NWMCC was aware that its environmental controls were deficient, but did not remediate these deficiencies during the project. Although the company attempted to blame the pollutant release and fish kill on a single employee, the investigation showed that he had been inadequately trained, directed to complete the job in an unrealistic timeframe, and was never informed that the uncured geopolymer mortar was hazardous to the environment.
The investigation also revealed that NWMCC lacked a meaningful and comprehensive environmental training program for its employees, particularly with respect to the CWA, even though NWMCC’s core business is repairing and rehabilitating infrastructure that interfaces with public waterways. In addition, NWMCC’s bonus policy incentivized site supervisors and executives to push their work crews to perform projects quickly and maximize the number of jobs completed. At the time of Cheshire project, NWMCC was operating under a Code of Conduct as part of a 2014 settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to resolve civil allegations involving environmental pollution.
NWMCC pleaded guilty to the offense on January 17, 2025.
This matter was investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen with the assistance of EPA Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel Man Chak Ng.
MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Deena M. Hintz, 53, Eau Claire, Wisconsin was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to a year in federal prison for willful failure to pay employment taxes. Hintz pleaded guilty to this offense on December 17, 2024.
Hintz owned and operated Jade Excavation and Trucking in Elk Mound, Wisconsin for nearly ten years. At times, Jade had up to fifteen employees who provided excavation, earth moving, and snow plowing services. Between 2017 and 2021, Hintz deducted over $400,000 in federal employment taxes from her employees’ payroll and instead of paying those taxes to the government, she kept the money for herself.
Judge Conley noted that a prison sentence was necessary to reflect the scope and gravity of the amount of money withheld and then used by Hintz and her business partner for their own benefit. Judge Conley also ordered Hintz to pay restitution for tax losses in the amount of $482,185.46.
The charge against Hintz was the result of an investigation conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Anderson prosecuted this case.
EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the conviction and sentencing of Frank Whittaker, 56, of Kingston, NY, and his daughter Christine Ellsworth, 39, of Accord, NY, for stealing more than $230,000 from a vulnerable elderly victim in Ulster County. Whittaker and Ellsworth gained the trust of the elderly victim by providing lawn maintenance and assisting with household tasks, and eventually gained access to the then 92-year-old’s checkbook and finances. Whittaker had himself appointed as a Power of Attorney (POA) over the elderly victim’s finances and from July 2021 through August 2022, Whittaker and Ellsworth stole over $230,000 by writing themselves checks and illegally transferring funds from the victim’s bank and investment accounts into an account in Whittaker’s name. Whittaker was sentenced today to five years of probation and must pay restitution to the elderly victim. Ellsworth was sentenced today to three years of probation during which she is prohibited from working with the elderly.
“Scamming vulnerable seniors out of their savings that took a lifetime of hard work to earn is heartless,” said Attorney General James. “Frank Whittaker and Christine Ellsworth maliciously gained the trust of an innocent, elderly woman and stole her life savings in order to treat themselves to a new car and visits to restaurants and casinos. I thank the New York State Police and our partners in law enforcement for their continued assistance in this investigation. Anyone who attempts to defraud New Yorkers to line their own pockets will be brought to justice.”
“I want to thank the Attorney General’s Office for their strong partnership that has led to the sentencing of these two individuals and their dishonest act,” said New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James. “This joint investigation found that Mr. Whittaker and Ms. Ellsworth preyed on a vulnerable victim who entrusted them to provide care for her, but instead chose to financially profit off her situation. The New York State Police will continue to put an end to these crimes and ensure innocent victims will not be taken advantage of.”
Beginning in 2021, Whittaker and Ellsworth gained the trust of the victim, who needed assistance caring for herself and her home. Whittaker convinced the victim to grant him POA over her affairs and added himself as the POA on multiple bank and annuity accounts belonging to the victim, with Ellsworth named as the successor POA. Though he had POA, Whittaker was not legally allowed to spend the victim’s money for his and his daughter’s personal benefit.
Over the next year, Whittaker and Ellsworth stole over $230,000 from the victim and used the stolen funds to purchase a new 2021 GMC Sierra pickup truck costing $57,500, and also spent thousands of dollars at local restaurants and stores, including Walmart, a jeweler, and florists, among other personal expenses. They also made numerous cash withdrawals, including at ATMs located in Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, and the Saratoga Casino Hotel in Saratoga Springs.
In August 2024, Whittaker and Ellsworth were charged by an Ulster County Grand Jury with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a Class C felony). Simultaneous with their arrests, the Office of the Attorney General executed a search warrant to seize the remaining funds in Whittaker’s bank account, recovering over $92,000 of the victim’s stolen money.
On November 12, 2024, before Judge Bryan Rounds in Ulster County Court, Whittaker pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a Class D felony) and Ellsworth pleaded guilty to Petit Larceny (a Class A misdemeanor). Whittaker was sentenced today to five years’ probation, and must pay $192,000 in restitution to the elderly victim, including forfeiture of the $92,000 that OAG seized from his bank account. Ellsworth was sentenced to three years’ probation and as a condition of her probation, she is prohibited from working with the elderly for three years.
Attorney General James thanks the New York State Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit, the Ulster County Department of Social Services, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office for their valuable assistance in this matter.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Cheryl J. Lee of the Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau (CEFC). Analytical work was provided by Legal Analyst Kai Tsurumaki, under the supervision of Supervising Analyst Paul Strocko and Deputy Supervising Analyst Jayleen Garcia. Forensic accounting was performed by Forensic Auditor Kirven Bashiri, under the supervision of Chief Auditor Kristen Fabbri and Deputy Chief Auditor Sandy Bizzarro of the Forensic Audit Section. CEFC is led by Bureau Chief Stephanie Swenton and Deputy Bureau Chief Joseph G. D’Arrigo.
The criminal investigation was conducted by Detectives Eamon H. Murphy and Jason Johnston, under the supervision of Assistant Chief Samuel Scotellaro and Deputy Chief Juanita Bright of the Major Investigations Unit. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Investigator Oliver Pu-Folkes. Both CEFC and the Investigations Bureau are part of the Division for Criminal Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Jose Maldonado and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)
Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that MICHAEL HABIB, an associate of the Canadian criminal organization known as the Wolfpack Alliance, was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison for trafficking narcotics. HABIB pled guilty on December 20, 2023, before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan, who imposed today’s sentence. HABIB’s sentencing follows the imposition of sentences of 18 years, 17 and a half years, and four and half years on his co-defendants, SURINDER SINGH CHEEMA, BHUPINDER SINGH VIRK, and CHRISTOPHER BURGOS, on December 19, 2024, July 17, 2024, and December 16, 2024, respectively.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “Wolfpack and its associates have spread drugs and violence in the United States and in Canada. Michael Habib and his co-conspirators are responsible for transporting thousands of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine across our northern border, ordering drug-related shootings and kidnappings, and attempting to smuggle wanted international hitmen into the United States from Canada. Today’s prison sentence will help protect the public from wanton violence and dangerous narcotics, and demonstrates our resolve to root out transnational criminal organizations like Wolfpack.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said: “The associates of the Wolfpack Alliance have all been rightly sentenced for establishing an international drug trafficking route to assist the flow of thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine through our country into Canada. This conspiracy caused significant amounts of dangerous drugs to enter the United States, endangering the public’s safety. The FBI will continue to dismantle and hold accountable any criminal enterprise member, regardless of their origin, which utilizes our nation as an economic foothold and throughfare for their illegal operations.”
According to the Indictment, public filings, and statements made in court proceedings:
From at least in or about February 2022 through at least in or about November 2022, HABIB, CHEEMA, VIRK, BURGOS and others conspired to distribute narcotics by shipping thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine across the U.S. and into Canada. In or about March 2022, law enforcement seized approximately 400 kilograms of cocaine shipped by the conspirators from a warehouse in New Jersey, and approximately 96 kilograms of cocaine and 86 kilograms of methamphetamine in the vicinity of Kansas City, Kansas. In connection with their guilty pleas, HABIB admitted to conspiring to distribute at least approximately 400 kilograms of cocaine; CHEEMA admitted to conspiring to distribute at least approximately 1.3 metric tons of methamphetamine and 764 kilograms of cocaine; VIRK admitted to conspiring to distribute at least approximately 1.1 metric tons of methamphetamine and 480 kilograms of cocaine; and BURGOS admitted to conspiring to distribute at least approximately 400 kilograms of cocaine.
The defendants engaged in additional criminal activities. HABIB and BURGOS, on behalf of the Wolfpack Alliance, assisted two Wolfpack-aligned hitmen, Gene Lahrkamp and Duncan Bailey, in their attempt to escape Canada and evade Canadian law enforcement, until Lahrkamp and Bailey were killed in an accidental plane crash in Canada on or about April 30, 2022. CHEEMA, in or about the spring of 2024, subsequent to his guilty plea and while awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, directed his confederates in the greater Toronto, Canada area to conduct shootings and issue threats of violence in connection with drug debts. VIRK was arrested in or about November 2022 in California with three unregistered “ghost” guns and approximately $487,900 in cash.
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In addition to their prison terms, HABIB, 38, of Toronto, Canada; CHEEMA, 31, of Brampton, Canada; VIRK, 31, of Fresno, California; and BURGOS, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, were sentenced to five, four, four, and three years of supervised release, respectively, and were ordered to forfeit $487,900 and a 2020 Mercedes Benz AMG GT63.
Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Podolsky further thanked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Peel Ontario Regional Police for their assistance and cooperation in the investigation.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles criminal organizations using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas S. Burnett, Jane Y. Chong, and Matthew R. Shahabian are in charge of the prosecution.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)
Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James E. Dennehy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging VADIM KOMISSAROV, the former Chief Executive Officer of Trident Acquisitions Corp. (“TDAC”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), with engaging in a scheme to defraud TDAC investors and investors in TDAC’s successor company, Lottery.com Inc., by publicly reporting false and misleading revenue and business information. KOMISSAROV was arrested yesterday evening and will be presented this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “As alleged, Vadim Komissarov, the former CEO of Trident Acquisitions Corp., engineered sham transactions and reported false and misleading revenue, all to ensure his SPAC merger went through and to make himself wealthy. To make matters worse, he tried to cover up his crimes by lying to the SEC under oath. This Office, and our partners at the FBI, will continue to pursue executives of public companies, including executives of SPACs, who defraud unsuspecting investors.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said: “Vadim Komissarov allegedly tried to secure a winning ticket by developing an elaborate scheme comprised of inflated profits, falsified transactions, and perjurious statements to sell company shares. Komissarov allegedly abused his authority as the company’s CEO to conjure a façade of success and interfere with an investigation into his suspected misconduct. The FBI will never permit any individual who attempts to unlawfully cash out at the expense of their investors’ money and trust.”
According to the allegations contained in the Indictment[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
From November 2020 through May 2022, KOMISSAROV engaged in a scheme to defraud TDAC investors and investors in TDAC’s successor company, Lottery.com Inc., by publicly reporting false and misleading revenue and business information about a prospective acquisition target and by profiting from the effect of the deception by selling shares of Lottery.com before other market participants realized the true state of the company (the “Revenue Scheme”).
The Revenue Scheme arose from an effort by KOMISSAROV to identify a suitable target for TDAC before TDAC reached a deadline to either use or return investor funds that had been raised to support an acquisition. In November 2020, KOMISSAROV settled on AutoLotto, Inc., d/b/a Lottery.com as a target for TDAC. To deceive TDAC shareholders about the nature of AutoLotto’s business, and to thereby secure their approval for TDAC’s acquisition of AutoLotto (the “Business Combination”), KOMISSAROV worked with others to improperly and misleadingly inflate AutoLotto’s revenue and to report those inflated figures to TDAC’s shareholders through public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which KOMISSAROV signed or caused to be filed as the principal executive, financial, and accounting officer of TDAC.
The Revenue Scheme created the false appearance of revenue-generating business activity for AutoLotto and later for Lottery.com through a series of sham transactions, including a fraudulent $9 million roundtrip transaction that KOMISSAROV engineered using the alias “Vlad.”
In April 2022 and May 2022, KOMISSAROV sold almost 300,000 Lottery.com shares for more than $600,000, months before Lottery.com disclosed to investors that it had identified errors in the company’s reported revenue and available cash.
By June 2023 and August 2023, the enforcement staff of the SEC had begun to investigate TDAC and Lottery.com. After receiving a subpoena from the SEC for documents and testimony in connection with the SEC’s investigation, KOMISSAROV schemed to obstruct the SEC’s investigation. For example, during a call with two Lottery.com executives, KOMISSAROV said he wanted to “sync” his “clock[]” with them and align on a false and misleading narrative that concealed his involvement in some of the sham transactions that were part of the Revenue Scheme. KOMISSAROV warned the Lottery.com executives, “guys, you do understand, you say that I was involved with this transaction . . . . if Trident and me specifically knew about it, then I am in deep, deep, deep, deep water . . . . So, if you come out and say that I was involved, then I am in deep shit.”
KOMISSAROV also personally tried to obstruct the SEC’s investigation. On November 20, 2024, KOMISSAROV provided sworn testimony to the SEC in connection with the SEC investigation into TDAC and Lottery.com. During his testimony, KOMISSAROV gave false and misleading answers about his prior communications with the Lottery.com executives and his involvement in the $9 million fraudulent roundtrip transaction that was part of the Revenue Scheme.
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KOMISSAROV, 53, of New York, New York, was charged in the Indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, to make false and misleading statements in proxy statements, and to make false filings with the SEC; one count of securities fraud; five counts of making false and misleading statements in proxy statements; one count of obstruction of justice; and one count of perjury. The conspiracy charge and the perjury charge each carry a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. The charges of securities fraud, making false and misleading statements in proxy statements, and obstruction of justice each carry a maximum prison term of 20 years.
The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding work of the FBI. Mr. Podolsky also thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance and cooperation in the investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Justin V. Rodriguez and Matthew R. Shahabian are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the descriptions of the Indictment constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Two men have been charged with firearms trafficking and other offences following an investigation by Bridgewater Criminal Investigation Branch. Police were called to an alleged aggravated robbery in Bagdad on Tuesday, 18 February after two men reportedly assaulted a resident and rammed their car when attempting to leave the scene. On Tuesday, 4 March police attended an address in Brighton and arrested two men, a 22-year-old and a 31-year-old. A search warrant was then executed, with police locating a stolen firearm, illicit drugs and other stolen property. Both men were charged with firearms trafficking, possession of stolen firearms, motor vehicle stealing, and other offences. The 31-year-old was also charged with aggravated robbery and will appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court this morning.
ALPINE, Texas – Two Fort Cavazos soldiers, Enrique Jauregui and Angel Palma, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Alpine to one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.
According to court documents, Jauregui organized a smuggling event, recruiting Palma and another co-conspirator, Emilio Mendoza Lopez. Jauregui provided Palma and Mendoza Lopez the location information to pick up illegal aliens to smuggle, supported them with encouraging messages and instructions, and intended to pay Palma and Mendoza Lopez after they dropped off the illegal aliens.
On Nov. 27, 2024, Palma and Mendoza Lopez drove from Fort Cavazos to Presidio and picked up three illegal aliens before leading U.S. Border Patrol agents on a high-speed chase. At one point, the defendants hit a marked USBP vehicle with an agent inside, causing injuries. Palma and Mendoza Lopez, along with the three illegal aliens, fled the vehicle on foot. All were apprehended with the exception of Palma, who was located at a hotel in Odessa and eventually arrested.
Jauregui and Palma are both scheduled to be sentenced on May 23. They each face up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Mendoza Lopez pleaded guilty to the same aiding and abetting charge on Jan. 27 and is scheduled to be sentenced April 25. He also faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.
Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigations Division are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Cayton is prosecuting the case.
WASHINGTON – Tywan J. Cummings, 44, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today to 204 months in federal prison for an armed carjacking spree in May 2020 that led to a car chase with police, his firing shots on police officers, and his burglarizing an occupied residence where he was eventually caught hiding.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., for the District of Columbia, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Cummings pleaded guilty August 18, 2023, in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to carjacking; using, possessing, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence; and assaulting, resisting, or interfering with a police officer with a dangerous weapon. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Cummings to serve five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, on the morning of May 17, 2020, in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C., Cummings pointed an AR-style rifle at a man who was putting air into his tire of his BMW 325i on the 1200 block of Raum Street. Cummings took the vehicle at gunpoint. Cummings then drove the BMW, with the valve of the pump still attached to the tire, into Maryland and, minutes later, carjacked a nurse of her Hyundai Tucson at gunpoint outside a hospital in Prince George’s County. In the early morning hours of May 18, 2023, multiple Maryland law enforcement agencies from the Bowie, Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County Police Departments pursued Cummings—who was by this time driving a stolen Honda Ridgeline—into Southeast Washington, D.C. MPD officers were also on scene to assist.
At the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Alabama Avenue SE, Cummings crashed the Honda into another car near a gas station. On foot with police in pursuit, Cummings fired multiple shots on Maryland and MPD police officers with a handgun. Shortly after 2 a.m., Cummings broke into an occupied residence on the 3900 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE and hid in an upstairs bedroom. Police declared a barricade at 2:28 a.m.
Members of the MPD’s Emergency Response Team responded and apprehended Cummings. Officers recovered a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun, the AR-style rifle from the stolen vehicle, and over 100 rounds of ammunition. No victim sustained physical injuries during the spree. Cummings has been in custody since his arrest.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force and the Metropolitan Police Department with valuable assistance provided by the Bowie Police Department, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department. The matter was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Emory V. Cole and Paul V. Courtney.
Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Leslie R. Backschies, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of a Complaint in Manhattan federal court charging JAMES DINNIGAN, a/k/a “Charlie Ward,” and MARTIN MAUGHAN, a/k/a “Lawrence Rogers,” with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a multi-year, multi-state organized construction fraud scheme that targeted at least 24 victims, including numerous elderly and vulnerable victims. MAUGHAN was transferred from state custody to federal custody this afternoon and will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Robyn Tarnofsky. DINNIGAN is in federal immigration custody and will be transferred to the Southern District of New York.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “As alleged, these defendants and their co-conspirators carried out a brazen scheme to defraud vulnerable members of our community by posing as legitimate home repair contractors and tricking homeowners into paying for thousands of dollars in unnecessary and unwanted home repairs. Today’s charges should serve as a reminder that this Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and bringing to justice those who seek to enrich themselves by victimizing vulnerable members of our community.”
Acting Assistant Director in Charge Leslie R. Backschies said: “James Dinnigan and Martin Maughan allegedly enticed prospective consumers with illegitimate home improvement advertisements before intentionally destroying their property to extort unanticipated additional costs. These illegal foreign nationals allegedly laid the foundation to prey upon a vulnerable population across the northeast, ultimately stealing a significant sum from elderly victims. The FBI remains committed to protecting our citizens from any fraudulent company attempting to cement false promises to garner illicit profits.”
As alleged in the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
Between at least in or around October 2023 through at least in or about February 2025, DINNIGAN and MAUGHAN participated in a construction fraud scheme involving dozens of victims in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and several other states. Participants in the scheme were usually foreign nationals from Ireland and the United Kingdom who were illegally in the U.S. and falsely posed as legitimate home repair contractors.
The scheme generally proceeded as follows: To get hired by the victims, members of the scheme made false statements to victims about their operation of legitimate home repair businesses, their occupation as contractors or engineers, and about home improvement and construction projects the victims needed to obtain. After being hired, members of the scheme tricked victims into paying for additional unwanted or unnecessary home repairs and other construction, including by purposefully damaging or destroying the victims’ property. The perpetrators of the scheme then forced victims, including through threats, into paying them tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
DINNIGAN, MAUGHAN, and other perpetrators of the scheme communicated with victims using cellphones and email. The victims frequently wrote checks and transferred money to bank accounts controlled by members of the scheme, including into an account at a particular financial institution in Manhattan, New York. The perpetrators of the scheme also operated websites in the names of at least two purported construction companies: Local Masonry and Construction and Pine Valley Home Improvements, Inc. Below are screenshots from websites that the perpetrators used to lure victims into the scheme:
The FBI has identified more than two dozen victims—many who are elderly individuals—who have lost at least $1 million as a result of this scheme.
DINNIGAN entered the U.S. on or about April 4, 2023, using a tourist visa. A review of relevant records has revealed no known documentation showing that DINNIGAN departed the U.S. as required, or that DINNIGAN applied for and received authorization to legally remain in the U.S. On or about February 25, 2025, DINNIGAN was encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) in Champlain, New York.
On or about August 9, 2023, MAUGHAN was encountered by CBP officers in the vicinity of Laredo, Texas. MAUGHAN was subsequently ordered removed from the U.S. to the United Kingdom on or about October 30, 2023. According to MAUGHAN’s order of removal, he was prohibited from reentering or attempting to reenter the U.S. for a period of five years. On or about February 7, 2025, MAUGHAN was found inside the U.S. when he was arrested at the Boston Logan International Airport moments before departing on a flight to Dublin, Ireland.
If you believe that you have additional information about this scheme or if you believe you have been a victim of the defendants or their co-conspirators, please contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov, and reference this case.
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DINNIGAN, 27, of Ireland, and MAUGHAN, 31, of the United Kingdom, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York and Philadelphia field offices. Mr. Podolsky also thanked CBP; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations; Lower Merion Police Department; Cheltenham Police Department; Bernards Township Police Department; and Lambertville Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon D. Harper is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from paralegal specialist William A. Coleman IV.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact descried therein should be treated as an allegation.
TUCSON, Ariz. – Gerardo Tejada-Calleja, 22, of Mexico, was arrested by the United States Border Patrol on March 2, 2025, and charged with Assault on a Federal Officer and Illegal Entry Into the United States.
The government’s complaint alleges that, on March 2, 2025, a United States Border Patrol agent responded to a report of suspected illegal aliens in the area of Vamori, Arizona. When an agent approached the area, Tejada-Calleja was found hiding under a tree, attempting to evade apprehension. Tejada-Calleja ran down a wash upon seeing the agent. After a brief pursuit, Tejada-Calleja and another individual were found hiding under a tree and some brush. During attempts to apprehend the two individuals, the agent reached for his radio to let other agents know he needed assistance. Tejada-Calleja grabbed the agent’s gun belt area and his radio in an attempt to rip it out of the agent’s hands. During the assault, Tejada-Calleja wrapped his arms around the agent, taking him down to the ground backwards and onto his back. Tejada-Calleja and the other individual were able to evade apprehension again until they were subsequently captured and taken into custody.
United States Border Patrol conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Precup, District of Arizona, Tucson, is handling the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: 25-04720MJ-1 RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-029_Tejada-Calleja
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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZfor the latest news.
TREVON WRIGHT, also known as “Tre,” 23, was sentenced today U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 300 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for his involvement in a violent Bridgeport street gang, multiple shootings, and his murder of a rival gang member in 2020.
Today’s announcement by Marc. H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; Joseph T. Corradino, State’s Attorney for the Fairfield Judicial District; Bridgeport Police Chief Roderick Porter; Anish Shukla, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Boston Field Division; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, and Acting U.S. Marshal Lawrence Bobnick.
According to court documents, statements made in court, and the evidence presented during a month-long trial, the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Bridgeport Police have been investigating multiple Bridgeport-based gangs whose members are involved in narcotics trafficking, murder and other acts of violence. Wright has been a member of the “East End gang,” which began as a local street gang based in the East End of Bridgeport, but currently has members and associates who are either incarcerated or living throughout Bridgeport and surrounding towns. The East End gang has been aligned with other groups, including the PT Barnum Gang, the East Side gang and 150, which is a geographic gang based on the West Side of Bridgeport. These groups were aligned against rival organizations in Bridgeport, including the “Original North End” (“O.N.E.”) and the “Greene Homes Boyz,” (“GHB/Hotz”), based in the Charles F. Greene Homes Housing Complex in Bridgeport’s North End.
Due to the level of gun violence Bridgeport was experiencing, the investigation commenced shortly before East End members shot and killed Myreke Kenion and shot and attempted to kill D’Andre Brown, both members and associates of the GHB/Hotz gang, on January 26, 2020. The next day, in retaliation for these shootings, GHB/Hotz and O.N.E. members attempted to kill East End gang members and associates in a brazen afternoon shooting in front of a state courthouse on Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport that resulted in four victims being shot while sitting inside a car.
Wright and other East End members distributed heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills; used and shared firearms; and committed at least six murders and other acts of violence against rival gang members and other individuals. East End members celebrated their criminal conduct on social media websites such as Facebook and YouTube, and committed acts of intimidation and made threats to deter potential witnesses to their crimes and to protect gang members and associates from detection and prosecution by law enforcement authorities.
The investigation determined that on August 23, 2019, Wright shot and wounded an associate of the GHB/Hotz gang and a female companion; on September 15, 2019, Wright shot and attempted to kill Marquis Isreal, also known as “Garf” or “Gbaby,” a member and associate of the O.N.E. gang; on December 8, 2019, Wright shot and attempted to kill Arvan Smith, also known as “Arv Barkley,” an associate of the O.N.E. gang; and on January 26, 2020, Wright shot and killed Myreke Kenion and shot and attempted to kill D’Andre Brown, both members and associates of the GHB/Hotz gang.
On December 5, 2023, a jury found Wright and three associates guilty of conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity.
Wright has been detained since January 21, 2021.
Approximately 47 members and associates of the East End, O.N.E. and the GHB/Hotz gangs have been convicted of federal offenses stemming from this investigation, which has and solved eight murders and approximately 20 attempted murders.
This investigation has been conducted by the FBI’s Safe Streets and Violent Crimes Task Forces, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Bridgeport Police Department, Connecticut State Police and the Bridgeport State’s Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory and the Waterbury Police Department. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis, Stephanie T. Levick, Rahul Kale, and Karen L. Peck.
This prosecution is a part of the Justice’s Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Project Longevity and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) programs.
PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Project Longevity is a comprehensive initiative to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities. Through Project Longevity, community members and law enforcement directly engage with members of groups that are prone to commit violence and deliver a community message against violence, a law enforcement message about the consequences of further violence and an offer of help for those who want it. If a group member elects to engage in gun violence, the focused attention of federal, state and local law enforcement will be directed at that entire group.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
BIRMINGHAM Ala. – A convicted felon has been sentenced for illegal possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Nashville Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Stankiewicz.
U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco sentenced Keundre Levelle Brown, 25, of Birmingham, to 57 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the plea agreement, on October 11, 2023, a Birmingham Police Officer responded to a 911 call regarding a shooting at a motel in Birmingham. Brown was found alone inside of a motel room that showed evidence of gunfire, with the shots appearing to have been fired from within the room. The officer searched Brown and found a loaded Taurus G2C pistol in his waistband. The pistol had been reported stolen about a year earlier in Birmingham. Brown is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior felony convictions in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, Bessemer Division, for Theft of Property, Burglary and Robbery.
ATF investigated the case along with the Birmingham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Lee Gilmer prosecuted the case.
GRAND RAPIDS – Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge today announced that Ethan Eversman, 25, of Ionia, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison for the distribution of child pornography.
In May 2024, at Eversman’s request, a 15-year-old child in New York created several sexually explicit videos and sent them to Eversman. A month later, Eversman sent two of those videos to another person online. Eversman was a corrections officer for the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office at the time.
“Today’s sentencing of Ethan Eversman, a former Corrections Deputy, reinforces the FBI’s unwavering commitment to enforcing the highest standards of integrity in law enforcement,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. Members from the FBI’s Lansing Resident Agency, in collaboration with our law enforcement partners at the Michigan State Police, worked tirelessly throughout this investigation, in an effort to halt Mr. Eversman’s predatory actions. I also want to express my gratitude to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Michigan for their vital role in ensuring this child predator faces justice.”
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, county prosecutor’s offices, the Internet Crimes Against Children task force (ICAC), federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement are working closely together to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children. The partners in Project Safe Childhood work to educate local communities about the dangers of online child exploitation, and to teach children how to protect themselves. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Individuals with information or concerns about possible child exploitation should contact local law enforcement officials.
The FBI and Michigan State Police investigated this case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Roth.
ST. LOUIS – A man from Overland, Missouri on Tuesday admitted possessing child sexual abuse material and engaging in sexual contact with a teen he’d met online.
James Donald Goings, 36, pleaded guilty to one felony count of receipt of child pornography. He admitted that investigators were alerted by CyberTipline Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after Goings uploaded child sexual abuse material to a Google account. On July 21, 2022, St. Louis County Police Department officers conducted a court-approved search of Goings’ house and recovered computer equipment. Investigators then learned that Going traveled to Illinois and engaged in sexual contact with a 15-year-old that he met via Grindr and was in contact with another teen from Georgia that he’d also met on Grindr, Goings’ plea says. The second victim told investigators that on multiple occasions he had video calls with Goings during which Goings directed him to perform specific sexual acts on video, the plea says.
Goings also possessed 2,500 images containing child sexual abuse material on a computer and 190 images in his Google account.
Going is scheduled to be sentenced in June. The charge is punishable by five to 20 years in prison. He has also agreed to forfeit cell phones, computer equipment and storage devices.
The St. Louis County Police Department and the Edwardsville (Illinois) Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman is prosecuting the case.
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 of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A previously convicted sex offender who sexually exploited two minor females and forced one of the girls to engage in commercial sex acts with men at hotels pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today.
Anthony Sims, 56, of Columbus, was scheduled to begin trial on March 17. He pleaded guilty today to two counts of sexually exploiting a minor and one count of sex trafficking a minor.
The guilty plea includes a sentencing recommendation of 25 to 50 years in prison.
Sims admitted that he raped a 12-year-old girl 40 to 50 times over the span of six months in 2020. Sims provided the girl marijuana and alcohol and talked her into getting high and drinking. At times, during the sexual assaults, Sims would hold down the victim’s arms or hold her in place. He also forced the girl to pose for photos in sexual positions either while nude or while wearing lingerie.
Likewise, Sims convinced another, a 13-year-old girl, to smoke marijuana with him, and once she was high, Sims raped her. He also held down this victim. Sims would take nude photos of her and made her pose with stuffed animals or pillows.
Sims also took the 13-year-old to various hotels to force her to have sex with men who paid Sims. The victim was forced to have sex with approximately 50 different men. Sims sold pornographic photos of the victim and coordinated the dates at the hotels.
At the time of his most recent crimes, Sims was a registered sex offender with two convictions out of Michigan.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission’s Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI); and Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Czerniejewski and Tyler J. Aagard are representing the United States in this case.
Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton today sentenced four individuals to federal prison terms for their roles in conspiring to distribute kilograms of cocaine in central Florida. Each previously pleaded guilty. The conspirators also forfeited $464,031 in cash seizures in the case.
Name (age, city of residence)
Sentence Imposed
Israel Miranda
(36, Kissimmee)
10 years in federal prison
Abiezer Laboy Lozada
(36, Orlando)
10 years in federal prison
Jorge Antonio Gonzalez de la Fuente (31, St. Cloud)
7 years, 3 months in federal prison
Carlos Antonio Garcia Garcia
(35, Kissimmee)
5 years in federal prison
According to the plea agreements, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) identified a group of individuals working to distribute kilogram quantities of cocaine and the proceeds of those sales during 2022. On May 1, 2023, the DEA surveilled Miranda as he distributed drugs to Laboy Lozada in a parking lot. In this and similar meetings during the conspiracy, Laboy Lozada admitted to obtaining 20-30 kilograms of cocaine from Miranda. On October 4, 2023, Miranda delivered a shoe box to Gonzalez de la Fuente, who delivered it to Garcia Garcia. When law enforcement stopped Garcia Garcia’s vehicle, he was found to be carrying that same box containing a kilogram of cocaine.
Over the course of the conspiracy, Gonzalez de la Fuente met with his conspirators two or three times a month and was involved in distribution of 15 – 50 kilograms of cocaine. Gonzalez de la Fuente continued to engage in drug distribution after being charged federally and was detained when this was discovered.
On October 13, 2023, Miranda delivered drug proceeds to an individual who was found to be transporting $262,257 in a brown paper bag. At the same time, Miranda texted a conspirator an image of the stacks of bills he was distributing with the message “should be 110k.” Similar enforcement actions resulted in the seizure of $51,989 from Miranda on November 7, 2023, and $149,785 from Miranda on March 6, 2024. Over the course of the conspiracy, Miranda distributed drugs or drug proceeds reflecting distribution of more than 89 kilograms of cocaine.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Florida Highway Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Secret Service, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dana E. Hill.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
On February 27, 2025, Punnichy RCMP received a report of a missing 44-year-old male, Jarod Norton.
Jarod was last seen by loved ones around February 8, 2025 on Muskowekwan First Nation.
Jarod is described as:
Eye colour: brown
Hair colour and style: brown, short
Other descriptors: scar on his neck, ‘Norton’ tattooed on his arm
Jarod is known to travel to the Regina and Saskatoon areas, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
If you have seen Jarod or know where he is, contact Punnichy RCMP at 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
La Loche RCMP arrested Keistin Moise on February 12, 2025 in La Loche.
He is scheduled to appear in court in La Loche on March 24, 2025.
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Backgrounder
La Loche RCMP asking public to report sightings of Keistin Moise
2025-02-11
La Loche RCMP is asking the public to report sightings and information on the whereabouts of 25-year-old Keistin Moise. He also goes by the name ‘Philip J. Fry’.
Keistin Moise is wanted by La Loche RCMP for charges including assault, mischief – damage to property, and failing to attend court. These charges were laid in relation to a May 2024 investigation.
Keistin Moise is described as approximately 5’8″ tall and 130 lbs. He has brown eyes and black hair.
La Loche RCMP continue to investigate.
Report all sightings and information about the whereabout of Keistin Moise to your local police at 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
La Loche RCMP arrested Rolfe Herman on March 2, 2025 in La Loche.
He is scheduled to appear in court in La Loche on March 3, 2025.
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Contact information
La Loche RCMP asking public to report sightings of Rolfe Herman
2025-02-10
La Loche RCMP is asking the public to report sightings and information on the whereabouts of 35-year-old Rolfe Herman.
Rolfe Herman is wanted by La Loche RCMP for charges including assault with a weapon, uttering threats, and fail to comply with probation order. These charges were laid in relation to a February 7, 2025 investigation.
Rolfe Herman is described as approximately 6’2″ tall and 190 lbs. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He has a skull and snake tattooed on his right shoulder and tribal art tattooed on his right arm.
Rolfe Herman is known to frequent the Saskatoon and North Battleford areas, but his current whereabouts are unknown.
La Loche RCMP continue to investigate.
Report all sightings and information about the whereabout of Rolfe Herman to your local police at 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
On August 31, 2024, Waskesiu RCMP received a report of a sexual assault.
Investigation determined a male approached a female in a washroom at the beach in Waskesiu during the late evening hours and attempted to sexually assault her. The woman was able to escape. She did not report physical injuries to police.
Waskesiu RCMP has been investigating this incident since and is now asking the public for assistance in identifying the suspect.
He is described as an Asian male between 16 and 21 years old, with a medium complexion and straight dark hair, which came approximately halfway down his forehead.
He is approximately 5’5″ to 5’7″ tall with a small build.
He was wearing black Crocs, grey socks, baggy black jeans or cargo pants, a woven fabric belt with a silver metal buckle, a light grey or white shirt and an oversize grey zip-up hoodie he was wearing half off his shoulders.
If you have information about this incident, think you know who the suspect may be, or saw the suspect in Waskesiu in late August/early September 2024, contact Waskesiu RCMP by dialling 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Florida woman has been sentenced March 3 to house arrest and ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for wire fraud and tax fraud following a joint investigation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Feliciano Rodriguez, 47, of Orlando, was ordered to pay $3,338,558 in restitution, and ordered to serve a five-year term of supervised release. The court also entered a money judgment against Rodriguez in the amount of $347,760, representing the proceeds of the wire fraud.
“Fraudulent schemes that provide under-the-table cash payments ultimately exploit undocumented aliens for large profits and undermines the integrity of the industry, endangering both the workers and the system that’s meant to protect them,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Hemker. “ICE, alongside our law enforcement partners, will investigate those who engage in illegal practices and hold them accountable for their actions.”
According to court documents, Rodriguez established a shell company that purported to be involved in the construction industry. She obtained a workers’ compensation insurance policy in the name of the shell company to cover a minimal payroll for a few purported employees, then “rented” the workers’ compensation insurance to work crews who had obtained subcontracts with construction contractors on projects in various Florida counties as well as contractors in other states. Rodriguez sent the contractors a certificate as “proof” that the work crews had workers’ compensation insurance, as required by Florida law. By sending the certificate Rodriguez falsely represented that the work crews worked for the shell company. Over the course of the scheme, Rodriguez “rented” the certificates to dozens of work crews, defrauding the worker’s compensation carrier, typically allowing numerous undocumented illegal workers to be employed unlawfully.
As part of the scheme, the contractors issued payroll checks for the workers’ wages to the shell companies and Rodriguez cashed these checks, then distributed the cash to the work crews, after deducting their fee, which was typically about 6 percent of the payroll. During the scheme, Rodriguez cashed payroll checks totaling approximately $13 million. Neither the shell company nor the contractors reported to government authorities the wages that were paid to the workers, nor did they pay either the employees’ or the employer’s portion of payroll taxes – including Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax. The amount of payroll taxes due on wages collected by Rodriguez totaled over $3 million.
The scheme also facilitated the avoidance of the higher cost of obtaining adequate workers’ compensation insurance for the numerous workers on the work crews to whom Rodriguez “rented” the workers’ compensation insurance. The policy that Rodriguez purchased and then “rented” out was for an estimated payroll of $121,800 and the insurance company issued a policy for a premium of approximately $8,006. Had a workers’ compensation insurance policy been purchased for the actual payroll totaling approximately $5 million dollars, the policy premium would have totaled about $461,679.
“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that off the books payroll schemes which enable illegal immigrants the ability to work without paying taxes will not be tolerated. These schemes are violations of a number of serious federal criminal statutes including wire fraud and tax evasion. The impact of this scheme, and others like it, harm law-abiding businesses and legal workers who are unable to compete against the tax-free labor of illegal immigrants,” said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker, of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Tampa Field Office. “We are proud to work alongside our partners at Homeland Security Investigations on this case, and we will continue this partnership to ensure all employers are on an even playing field.”
This case was investigated by ICE Jacksonville, IRS-CI, and the Florida Department of Financial Services. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cannizzaro.
Tampering with a Monitoring Device/Clean Air Act, Conspiracy
Trials
United States v. Jason Lee Wagner
No. 3:22-CR-01754(Western District of Texas)
ECS Senior Litigation Counsel Todd Gleason
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner
ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris
On February 7, 2025, a jury convicted Jason Lee Wagner of conspiracy and 12 smuggling violations (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 545, 2). Sentencing is scheduled for June 25, 2025.
Between March 2015 and December 2019, Wagner and others bought and sold endangered reptiles from individuals in Mexico. Wagner and other co-conspirator suppliers and middlemen used social media to offer reptiles for sale and to negotiate the terms of the sale and delivery with customers in the United States and Mexico. His co-conspirators also used international money transfers to provide for “crossing fees,” sales and purchases, and other expenses. They then packaged and re-packaged the reptiles for illegal crossings using USPS and other courier services to transport them between Mexico and the United States.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Indictments
United States v. Roy Ladell Weaver, et al.
No. 1:25-CR-00048 (Middle District of Pennsylvania)
ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan
AUSA David Williams
RCEC Patricia Miller
On February 19, 2025, a grand jury indicted Roy Ladell Weaver and his company, Pro Diesel Werks, LLC, with conspiring to impede the lawful functions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA), and substantive CAA violations (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Pro Diesel Werks provided vehicle repair and maintenance and performance enhancement services, including services on diesel engines and vehicle emission systems. The indictment alleges that between 2013 and March 2024, Weaver and the company, along with co-conspirators, disabled the hardware emissions control systems on the diesel vehicles of Pro Diesel Werks’ customers (a practice referred to as a “delete” or “deleting”), defeating the systems’ ability to reduce pollutant gases and particulate matter released to the atmosphere. The defendants are also alleged to have tampered with the monitoring device and method required under the CAA, that is they disabled the onboard diagnostic system on vehicles preventing the system software from monitoring the emission control system hardware deletes (a practice referred to as a “tune” or “tuning”).
The defendants charged customers between approximately $2,000 and $4,000 per vehicle to remove and disable the emission control systems on motor vehicles with diesel engines.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
On February 7, 2025, Corey Potter pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for illegally transporting crab from Alaska (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 13, 2025. Kyle Potter, his son, was previously sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine and complete a five-year term of probation. A third defendant, Justin Welch, was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation.
Corey Potter owns two crab catching vessels; Kyle Potter and Welch worked as vessel captains. In February and March 2024, the vessels harvested more than 7,000 pounds of Tanner and Golden king crab in Southeast Alaska. Corey Potter directed Welch and Kyle Potter to land the crab to Seattle, Washington, where they intended to sell it at a higher price than they would have in Alaska. Neither captain landed the harvested crab at a port in Alaska, and they never recorded the harvest on a fish ticket, as required under state law.
A large portion of the king crab that arrived in Seattle from Alaska had died and was unmarketable. Corey Potter knew that some of the crab aboard was infected with Bitter Crab Syndrome (BCS), a parasitic disease fatal to crustaceans. Officials were forced to destroy more than 4,000 additional pounds of Tanner crab due to the risk of BCS infection. If the defendants had properly landed the crab in Alaska, authorities could have inspected the harvest and removed the infected crab before leaving Alaska.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
United States v. Kendall Glenn Hacker
No. 5:25-CR-00002 (Eastern District of Kentucky)
AUSA Emily Greenfield
On February 7, 2025, Kendall Glenn Hacker pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to violating the Animal Crush statute (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 48(a)(2), (a)(3)).
Between November 2021 and June 2022, Hacker sent money through online payment applications, such as PayPal and Venmo, to Michael Macartney, an online chat group administrator. The members and participants of these groups funded, created, obtained, received, exchanged and/or distributed animal crush videos.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
United States v. Chamness Dirt Works, et al.
No. 3:24-CR-00430 (District of Oregon)
AUSA Bryan Chinwuba
RCEC Karla Perrin
On February 7, 2025, property management company Horseshoe Grove, LLC, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for asbestos work practice standards (42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(h),7413(c)(1)). Horseshoe Grove’s owner and operator Ryan Richter pleaded guilty to a CAA negligent endangerment violation (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4)). Construction and demolition company Chamness Dirt Works, Inc., pleaded guilty to violating the CAA NESHAP for asbestos, and company owner and president, Ronald Chamness, pleaded guilty to a CAA negligent endangerment violation (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4)). Sentencing is scheduled for April 3, 2025.
In November 2022, Horseshoe Grove acquired a property in The Dalles, Oregon, which included a mobile home park and two dilapidated apartment buildings. The previous owner provided the new buyers with an asbestos survey from December 2021, which identified more than 5,000 square feet of friable chrysotile asbestos within the two deteriorating buildings, with levels ranging from 2% to 25%. The survey also noted non-friable asbestos in various building materials, including siding and flooring, throughout the apartments. Despite these findings, Horseshoe Grove failed to implement the necessary precautions for asbestos removal.
In March 2023, Chamness Dirt Works began demolishing the two asbestos-laden structures without following proper removal procedures. Chamness did not engage a certified asbestos abatement contractor, did not wet the asbestos-containing debris, and dumped the material in a regular landfill.
Horseshoe Grove paid Chamness Dirt Works a total of $49,330 for the demolition, which did not meet the required safety standards.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
Nos.4:25-CR-00018, 4:24-CR-00006, 00084 (District of Montana)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
ECS Trial Attorney Sarah Brown
AUSA Jeff Starnes
ECS Paralegal Tonia Sibblies
On February 10, 2025, Hollis G. Hale pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1538(a)(1)(G), 3372(d)(2), 3373(d)(3)(B)). Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2025.
Hale conspired with Jack Schubarth to create giant hybrid sheep for captive hunting. Schubarth smuggled Marco Polo argali sheep parts from Kyrgyzstan into the United States. This protected species of sheep, native to high elevations in the Pamir region of Central Asia, is deemed the largest in the world.
In 2013, Schubarth provided genetic material to a third-party cloning facility, and, in 2016, received successfully cloned pure Marco Polo argali embryos. Schubarth raised a pure male argali clone that he named “Montana Mountain King.” In 2018, Schubarth began breeding Montana Mountain King with other species and selling the offspring throughout the U.S. To evade detection, Schubarth falsely labeled the offspring on Certificates of Veterinary Inspection and other official forms.
In June and July 2020, Hale facilitated the purchase and interstate transport of twelve hybrid Marco Polo argali sheep from Schubarth and falsely identified 43 species of sheep on a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. Hale falsified these documents knowing these sheep are prohibited in Montana. Schubarth was sentenced in September 2024 to six months’ incarceration, followed by three years’ supervised release.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks conducted the investigation.
United States v. Zackery Brandon Barfield
No. 5:25-CR-00011 (Northern District of Florida)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
AUSA Joseph Ravelo
On February 12, 2025, Zachary Brandon Barfield pleaded guilty to three counts of poisoning and shooting dolphins in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1372(a)(2)(A), 1375(b); 7 U.S.C. §§ 136j(a)(2)(G), 136l(b)(2)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 21, 2025.
Barfield is a charter and commercial fishing captain operating out of Panama City, Florida. In the summer of 2022, Barfield became frustrated with dolphins eating red snapper from the lines of charter fishing clients. Between June and August 2022, Barfield and others placed a commercial methomyl insecticide inside bait fish to feed to and poison the dolphins that surfaced near his boat.
While captaining another fishing trip in December 2022, Barfield saw dolphins eating snapper from fishing lines. This time, he used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot and kill a dolphin that surfaced near his vessel. In the summer of 2023, while on a charter fishing trip, Barfield used the same shotgun to shoot a dolphin that surfaced near the lines of clients.
The National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
United States v. James H. Spencer
No. 23-CR-00015 (Western District of Virginia)
AUSA Michael Baudinet
On February 21, 2025, James Howard Spencer, the Mayor of Glen Lyn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(2)(A)). Spencer admitted to directing employees of the Town of Glen Lyn to illegally discharge raw sewage and other pollutants into the East River, a tributary of the New River, on three occasions- in the summer of 2019, December 2020, and June 2021.
The discharges occurred at a pump station located behind the Glen Lyn Post Office, which was not an authorized discharge point of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Glen Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The East River, a perennial stream and a tributary of the New River, is a protected waterway under the CWA.
Spencer knowingly violated multiple conditions of the NPDES permit, including discharges from unauthorized locations and failing to report the discharges to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Virginia State Police conducted the investigation.
United States v. Liza Hash
No. 1:25-CR-20007 (Southern District of Florida)
AUSA Tom Watts-FitzGerald
On February 25, 2025, Liza Hash pleaded guilty to discharging oil into United States and contiguous zone waters, violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1319(c)(2), 1321(b)(3)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 21, 2025.
Hash was the owner and operator of the S/V Juliet, a sailing vessel used for multi-day scuba diving trips between Miami and the Bahamas. Over the course of approximately six years, Hash’s vessel carried up to 12 passengers per trip, along with the crew, between the U.S. and the Bahamas.
On June 16, 2023, U.S. Coast Guard investigators boarded the Juliet following its return from the Bahamas. After noticing an active oil sheen originating from the vessel, they conducted a safety examination.
During the inspection, they noted oily water in the bilge, and a pump connected to the vessel’s grey water tank, to facilitate illegal overboard discharges. Hash had used the vessel’s grey water tank (which is intended to hold liquid waste from the boat’s washer, dryer, sinks, and showers) to store oil-contaminated bilge water and discharge overboard.
Investigators estimate that Hash discharged approximately 26,000 gallons of oily water during the five-year period.
The United States Coast Guard conducted the investigation.
United States v. Old Dutch Mustard Company, Inc., d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company, et al.
No. 1:25-CR-00002 (District of New Hampshire)
ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan
AUSA Matthew Hunter
ECS Paralegal Tonia Sibblies
On February 24, 2025, The Old Dutch Mustard Company, d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company (Old Dutch), and company owner and president Charles Santich, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319(c)(2)(A)).
Old Dutch manufactured vinegar and mustard products, generating acidic wastewater during the process. Much of this wastewater consisted of spilled or leaked vinegar, or discarded vinegar that did not meet specifications. Old Dutch did not have a permit to discharge process wastewater. Instead, it stored the process wastewater in tanks and a trucking company hauled one or two truckloads of the wastewater off-site daily to the Rochester Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). Old Dutch paid the trucking company for transporting each load. A second wastewater stream consisted of stormwater that became acidic after flowing through areas of the facility (especially the tank farm) where vinegar spilled. Old Dutch also paid the trucking company to haul the acidic stormwater to the POTW.
Santich decided to reduce costs by ordering workers to discharge some of the wastewater to a manmade ditch formed by an abandoned railroad bed at the top of a hill behind the facility, from which the wastewater would flow into the Souhegan River. In May 2017, Santich hired an excavation company to extend an underground pipe to the top of the hill behind the facility. He then directed an employee to repeatedly pump wastewater through the underground pipe to the abandoned railroad bed. Once the process wastewater or contaminated stormwater discharged at the top of the hill, it flowed to the river. Old Dutch did not have an NPDES or any other permit to discharge pollutants into the river.
In March 2021, Santich directed the same excavation company to install a sump at the corner of the tank farm area to collect the acidic stormwater and pump it directly up the hill through the buried pipe. Similarly, during the Fall of 2022, Santich hired the excavation company to clean out the undergrowth in the manmade ditch at the top of the hill and line it with riprap to create a better drainage ditch and facilitate the flow of wastewater to the river.
On August 2, 2023, EPA agents executed a search warrant at the Old Dutch facility and witnessed this illegal activity. Agents observed liquid that smelled like vinegar discharging from the end of the underground pipe into the riprap-lined ditch. The wastewater discharge had a pH of 3.6. The agents then conducted a dye test starting at the sump outside the corner of the tank farm area. The dye discharged from the underground pipe at the top of the hill and flowed along the riprap-lined drainage ditch and down to the river.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation, with assistance from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
On February 26, 2025, Fabcon Precast LLC (Fabcon) pleaded guilty to willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation (29 U.S.C. § 666(e)). The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head.
Fabcon operates several facilities in the United States, including one in Grove City, Ohio, that manufactures precast concrete panels. At Fabcon, employees known as batch operators were responsible for the operation and cleaning of the facility’s only concrete mixer. Concrete was discharged from the bottom of the mixer through a pneumatic door. By design, the mixer had an exhaust valve that released the pneumatic energy powering the discharge door, rendering it inoperable. Some months prior to June 6, 2020, the handle that operated the valve broke off and was not replaced.
On June 6, 2020, Zachary Ledbetter, a batch operator since January 2020, was on duty when the discharge door failed to close after releasing a batch of concrete. Because the valve was broken, Ledbetter could not perform the proper procedure to make the door safe to work around. When he attempted to free the door it closed on his head, trapping him. Eventually, Ledbetter was freed and transported to a hospital where he died five days later.
The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.
No. 3:24-CR-00618 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
On February 27, 2025, a court sentenced Vyacheslav I. Piglitsin to time served and to pay $4,355 in restitution. On March 2, 2024, Piglitsin drove over the border from Mexico with Mexican pesticides that he failed to present for inspection (19 U.S.C. §§ 1433 and 1436). Inspectors found seventy-two 1-liter bottles of “Bovitraz” in his vehicle.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
Sentencings
United States v. Michael Hart
No. 3:24-CR-00383 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
Former AUSA Melanie Pierson
AUSA Mark Pletcher
On February 3, 2025, a court sentenced Michael Hart to time served followed by one year of supervised release. Hart also will pay $1,500 in restitution. Hart pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally import hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) into the United States from Mexico and sell them in violation of law (18 U.S.C. § 371). In addition, Hart admitted to conspiring to illegally import hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), namely HCFC 22, which is banned under the Clean Air Act.
Between June and December 2022, Hart purchased refrigerants in Mexico and smuggled them into the United States in his vehicle, concealed under a tarp and tools. Hart posted the refrigerants for sale on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and other sites, and sold them for a profit.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.
United States v. Thalia Zambrano
No. 3:24-CR-01552 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
On February 6, 2025, a court sentenced Thalia Zambrano to time served, after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371).
On June 28, 2024, authorities apprehended Zambrano when she drove into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with 18 bottles of undeclared “Taktic” (Amitraz) concealed beneath a blanket on the back seat her car. Regulators in the United States canceled this pesticide due to the high concentration of amitraz.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.
United States v. Andrew Laughlin
No. 2:24-CR-00104 (Eastern District of California)
AUSA Kathryn Lydon
On February 10, 2025, a court sentenced Andrew Laughlin to pay a $5,000 fine, complete a two-year term of probation, and pay $4,209 in restitution into the Lacey Act Reward Fund. Laughlin pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling reptiles into the United States (18 U.S.C. § 545).
In 2017, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents identified Laughlin as part of a nationwide investigation into the smuggling of turtles from the United States to an individual in Hong Kong (Individual A). Individual A met and maintained contact with certain wildlife-smuggling associates via Facebook. Investigators identified Laughlin as a suspect in the wildlife smuggling ring from Individual A’s Facebook contacts and communications with covert agents. In addition to corresponding on Facebook, Laughlin also sent text messages to Individual A and co-conspirators.
Between March and April 2018, Laughlin acted as a “middleman” in an international amphibian smuggling ring. During a conversation with an undercover agent, Laughlin said that he participated in the ring in order to acquire hard-to-find newts. He shipped or received at least four packages of amphibians, including packages to or from individuals located in Hong Kong and Sweden. The packages were falsely labeled as items including a “toy car,” “rubber toys,” or “a ceramic art piece.” The boxes actually contained live animals, including eastern box turtles, spotted turtles, and a variety of newt species.
A search warrant executed at the defendant’s residence uncovered 80 live newts of various species. Some of them tested positive for a virulent fungus which originated in Asia and has spread throughout the illegal pet trade. The restitution covered expenses incurred to store and test the animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Photo of newts seized from Laughlin’s residence; photo included in case press release at time of guilty plea
Nos. 1:22-CR-00131, 00132 (Eastern District of California)
AUSA Karen Escobar
On February 10, 2025, a court sentenced Jose Angel Beltran-Chaidez to 24 months incarceration, followed by two years of supervised release. Beltran-Chaidez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin in this multi-defendant case involving drugs and animal welfare violations (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)).
Between March and April 2021, Jorge Calderon-Campos (who calls himself “Americano”) supplied 26 pounds of methamphetamine to co-defendants Mark Garcia and Alberto Gomez-Santiago, and an additional 60 pounds to Francisco Javier Torres Mora. Between January and April 2022, Calderon-Campos also possessed roosters he used to participate in an animal fighting venture.
During a search of his residence on April 26, 2022, law enforcement officers found numerous hens and roosters, various cockfighting implements (including razors and spurs) and six cockfighting trophies, including several with plates inscribed with “Team Amkno” (shorthand for “Team Americano”). At Calderon-Campos’s “stash house,” law enforcement officers found 14 hens and 77 roosters, cockfighting leashes, a cockfighting trophy, and a variety of syringes and pill bottles containing substances related to cockfighting supplements.
Jorge Calderon-Campos was sentenced in November 2024 to eight years and one month of incarceration. Calderon-Campos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and to violating the Animal Welfare Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)); 7 U.S.C. § 2156(b); 18 U.S.C. § 49(a)).
On August 26, 2024, a court sentenced Antonio Beltran-Chaidez to 46 months’ incarceration, followed by 24 months’ supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with the intent to distribute (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)).
In January 2024, co-defendant Gomez-Santiago was sentenced to four years and nine months incarceration, followed by 60 months supervised release. Mora was sentenced to four years and nine months incarceration. Horacio Ortega-Martinez, another associate of Calderon-Campos, was sentenced in April 2023 to 18 months incarceration, followed by 36 months supervised release, after pleading guilty to possessing gamecocks for an animal fighting venture (7 U.S.C § 2156 (b)).
Co-defendant Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced on March 3, 2025, to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by two years of supervised release. Byron Adilio Alfaro-Sandoval is scheduled for status conference June 18, 2025.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Kern County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the Kern County Probation Department, and the Bakersfield Police Department.
On February 11, 2025, a court sentenced Christopher Lee Carroll to serve nine years of incarceration and to pay $3 million in restitution. A jury convicted Carroll in August 2024 of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA), 13 violations of the CAA, and two counts of threatening a witness (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2, 1014, 1512 (b)(3), 1344; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Carroll and his business partner, George Reed, owned a time share exit company called Square One Group LLC. In April of 2020, they submitted a false and fraudulent application for a $1.2 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. The loan application falsely stated that the spouses of Reed and Carroll owned the company to conceal Carroll’s status as a paroled felon, which would have precluded his company from receiving PPP funds. Carroll also used his wife’s name to avoid any potential liability for the fraud.
The PPP loan was supposed to help save businesses and jobs, but Carroll did not use the money to pay dozens of employees who were out of work or keep paying for health insurance for 17 of those employees. Instead, he used it to start a trucking company, Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC. Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses. Additionally, Reed and Carroll later sought a second loan of more than $1.6 million, taking a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company after the loan was approved.
From May 2020 through December 2021, Carroll and Whiskey Dix violated the CAA by unlawfully removing the emissions control systems from more than 30 diesel-fueled trucks. In January 2022, Carroll tried to pressure two employees to take responsibility for the emissions tampering. When one of the employees said he was going to talk to federal investigators, Carroll threatened to stop paying for the employee’s attorney.
The court sentenced Whiskey Dix to complete a three-year term of probation after the jury convicted the company on 16 CAA violations. Reed pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September of 2022 and was sentenced January 23, 2025, to time served, and five years of supervised release. Reed was held jointly liable for $3 million in restitution.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
On February 13, 2025, a court sentenced Jeffrey Radtke to 21 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Radtke pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos (18 U.S.C.§§ 371, 48(a)(2), (a)(3)).
Between June 2021 and August 2022, Radtke sent more than 40 payments (ranging from $1 through $300) he received from co-conspirators to pay videographers in Indonesia and other locations outside of the United States to create videos depicting the torture and deaths of juvenile macaque monkeys.
During the execution of a search warrant in April 2023, law enforcement found more than 2,600 videos and 2,700 images depicting animal crushing on Radtke’s computer.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
United States v. Jonathan Achtemeier
No. 3:24-CR-05072 (Western District of Washington)
AUSA Seth Wilkinson
AUSA Lauren Staniar
SAUSA Karla Perrin
On February 14, 2025, a court sentenced Jonathan Achtemeier to pay a $25,000 fine and serve four months’ incarceration, followed by one year of supervised release. Achtemeier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA) for his role in tampering with required monitoring devices on diesel trucks (18 U.S.C. § 371).
Between 2019 and 2022, Achtemeier modified the software on hundreds of trucks nationwide to prevent the monitoring devices from detecting the removal of emissions controls. Achtemeier conspired with mechanics and truck fleet operators, instructing them on how to remove or disable anti-pollution hardware on diesel trucks, a process known as “deleting.” Achtemeier tampered with the monitoring device on his clients’ trucks by connecting laptops to the trucks’ onboard computers and remotely “tuning” the vehicles’ computers, which rendered required monitoring devices inaccurate. This allowed the trucks to run without functioning emissions control systems and resulted in the trucks emitting significantly more pollution than legally allowed.
Achtemeier charged as much at $4,500 per truck for work that often took him two hours or less. He advertised his services on social media nationwide, doing business as Voided Warranty Tuning or Optimized Ag. Between 2019 and 2022 his company took in more than $4.3 million in gross profits.
The Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
Assistance from ECS Senior Counsel Elinor Colbourn
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Andres Alejandro Sanchez to complete a three-year term of probation to include six months’ home detention. Sanchez pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for illegally importing a spider monkey into the United States (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)(2)).
On October 7, 2024, Sanchez travelled from Mexico to Laredo, Texas, and failed to declare a spider monkey he had in his vehicle to Customs and Border Protection officers as he attempted to cross the border.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Case photo of baby spider monkey rescued by authorities
United State v. Jose Carrillo
No. 8:23-CR-00222 (Middle District of Florida)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matt Morris
AUSA Erin Favorit
ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Jose Carrillo to 84 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Carrillo pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Animal Welfare Act and knowingly possessing a firearm after a felony conviction (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 922(g)(1) and 924(d)).
On June 7, 2023, authorities executed a search warrant at Carrillo’s residence, seizing a total of 10 pit bull-type dogs. Several of the dogs exhibited scarring consistent with dogfighting. Authorities also discovered a .22 caliber rifle, a bloodstained wooden dogfighting “pit,” syringes, veterinary medications, a skin stapler, break sticks used to separate fighting dogs, and other suspected dogfighting paraphernalia.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the following agencies: Homeland Security Investigations; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshal Service; and the Pasco County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office.
Photo of dogs from Carillo’s home included in press release, link below.
Nos. 2:23-CR-00600, 2:24-CR-00890 (District of Arizona)
AUSA Glenn McCormick
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Eric T. Scionti to 47 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Scionti pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and Animal Crushing in two separate cases (18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(8), 48(a)(1)).
In December 2022, federal authorities received an anonymous tip that Scionti, a convicted felon, possessed a number of handguns, as well as grenades and bullet-proof body armor. On January 18, 2023, agents executed a search warrant, seizing six firearms and 1,826 rounds of ammunition from areas of a residence controlled by the defendant. Scionti has multiple Arizona state felony convictions and was prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.
While researching the defendant’s online activities, agents found video evidence depicting Scionti torturing pigeons. Agents executed a subsequent search warrant on September 29, 2023, for records and information associated with Scionti’s email account. During that search, agents seized approximately 168 videos and 89 digital photographs depicting Scionti torturing and mutilating live pigeons.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigations in these cases.
On February 19, 2025, a court sentenced Manuel Domingos Pita to 48 months’ incarceration and to pay more than $55 million in restitution. Also, Pita will forfeit real estate and cash/bank accounts. Pita pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and a willful violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act for causing the death of an employee (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1343; 29 U.S.C. § 666(e)).
Pita created and operated several shell construction companies, including one named Domingos 54 Construction, Inc. Pita used Domingos 54 to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying the number of workers for which he sought coverage in worker’s compensation insurance applications. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022.
Pita failed to disclose the number of workers he had. Had he properly disclosed the number of workers, he would have paid an additional $22.7 million+ in premiums. Additionally, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.
Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations, and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.
Nos. 3:24-CR-00101, 00116 (Northern District of Florida)
ECS Deputy Chief Joe Poux
ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman
On February 20, 2025, a court sentenced Fernando Cruz Rubio to time served. Rubio pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for failing to maintain an oil record book (ORB) (33 U.S.C. § 1908(a)).
Rubio worked as a chief engineer on the M/V Suhar, a Panamanian-flagged ocean-going bulk carrier that routinely hauled cement from Tampico, Mexico, to Pensacola, Florida. The ship was managed by Gremex Shipping S.A. de C.V., which was responsible for the ship’s day-to-day operations, including hiring all crew, and ensuring compliance with all environmental and international regulations.
The Coast Guard inspected the ship when it arrived in Pensacola on August 25, 2023. Inspectors determined that the vessel’s crew regularly discharged untreated oily bilge water overboard, bypassing onboard pollution control equipment, and falsified the ship’s ORB to conceal these discharges. On various trips, between March 2021 through August 25, 2023, Rubio, as the Suhar’s chief engineer, failed to accurately maintain the ORB and did not record overboard bilge water discharges.
Gremex was sentenced in October 2024 to pay a $1.75 million fine, serve a four-year term of probation, and implement an environmental compliance plan. The shipping corporation also pleaded guilty to violating APPS.
The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service conducted the investigation.
United States v. Clancy Logistics, Inc., et al.
No. 3:24-CR-00344 (District of Oregon)
AUSA Andrew Ho
RCEC Gwendolyn Russell
On February 25, 2025, a court sentenced to Clancy Logistics, Inc., and owner Timothy C. Clancy, to each complete three-year terms of probation. They were also ordered to pay a fine of $101,510.00, jointly and severally. The defendants pleaded guilty to a felony count of tampering with a Clean Air Act monitoring device (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Between October 2019 and July 2023, Timothy C. Clancy tampered with the onboard diagnostic systems (OBDs) and caused others to tamper with the OBDs, of at least 13 Class 8 diesel semi-trailer trucks owned or operated by his companies, Clancy Transport, Inc., and Clancy Logistics, Inc. The defendants’ actions prevented the OBDs from detecting malfunctions caused by the deletion of the vehicles’ emission control systems, in violation of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
As part of this process, Clancy directed his employees to disable and remove the emissions hardware from his companies’ vehicles. This involved removing exhaust systems and their corresponding emissions control components from the vehicles, hollowing out the functioning portion of the devices so that only the casing remained, and re-installing the casing to create the appearance that the emissions controls were intact. The vehicles’ OBDs were then tuned so that they could no longer detect the removal of the control equipment.
Clancy and his companies tampered with the OBDs on their diesel semi-trailer trucks so that they could operate the vehicles with real or perceived increased performance and fuel efficiency and reduce or eliminate the cost and burden associated with maintaining the vehicles. As a result, a greater volume of pollutants was emitted from the vehicles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
No. 5:24-CR-00028 (Western District of North Carolina)
AUSA Katherine T. Armstrong
On February 27, 2025, a court sentenced Robert G. Gambill to pay a $9,500 fine and to forfeit a rifle, scope, and ammunition for killing a bald eagle in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. § 668(a)). As required under provisions of the Act, $2,500 of the fine will be apportioned equally between two witnesses who reported the shooting.
On June 5, 2024, Gambill set his firearm on a fencepost and targeted, shot, and killed a bald eagle that was perched in a tree near a bridge in Sparta, North Carolina. After killing the eagle, Gambill drove away from the scene, abandoning the carcass on the bank of the New River. Two witnesses recovered the carcass and turned it over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The U.S. FWS forensic laboratory determined that injuries suffered by the bald eagle were consistent with a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office.
On February 28, 2025, a court sentenced Willie Russell to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by three years’ supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and exhibiting dogs in an animal fighting venture (7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 371). Russell is the fourteenth and final defendant to plead guilty in this federal dog fighting case. The other co-defendants are: Tamichael Elijah; Marvin Pulley, III; Brandon Baker; Christopher Travis Beaumont; Herman Buggs, Jr.; Terrance Davis; Timothy Freeman; Terelle Ganzy; Gary Hopkins; Cornelious Johnson; Rodrecus Kimble; Donnametric Miller; Willie Russell; and, Fredricus White.
On April 24, 2022, the defendants converged on a property in Donalsonville, Georgia, where they held a large-scale dog fighting event. They brought a total of 24 pit bull-type dogs to fight in a series of matches over that weekend. Law enforcement personnel who disrupted the event found numerous dogs inside crates in cars on the property.
The participants used their cars to store dogs who had already fought, as well as those awaiting their turn in the fighting pit. Some dogs were kept on chains on the property. Law enforcement rescued a total of 27 dogs, including a badly injured dog that later perished from its injuries. Dogs in the cars also bore recent injuries and scars.
All defendants but Freeman pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to violate the animal fighting prohibition of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Defendants Beaumont and Miller also pleaded guilty to sponsoring or exhibiting (i.e., handling) a dog in a dog fight. Defendants Baker, Davis, Ganzy, Johnson, Pulley, and White further pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting a dog for purposes of using the dog in an animal fighting venture. Freeman pleaded guilty to spectating at an animal fight. Defendants Miller and Pulley also pleaded guilty to unlawfully possession of a firearm by a person with a prior felony conviction.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General; and the Seminole County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Bay County, Florda, Sheriff’s Office.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) cautions about misuse of telecom resources Warns miscreants against tampering or spoofing of telecommunication identifiers like Mobile Numbers, IP Address, IMEI and SMS headers
Telecommunications Act, 2023 enforces stringent penalties for misuse of telecom resources
DoT implementing advanced solutions and policies ensuring a secure and safe telecom ecosystem for all citizens
Posted On: 04 MAR 2025 5:51PM by PIB Delhi
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has undertaken various initiatives for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime and financial frauds. Fraudsters are deploying various tactics for misuse of telecom resources. Cases have been observed where miscreants acquire Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards or other telecommunication identifiers like SMS header to send bulk SMS to citizens through fraud, cheating or personation. It has also been observed that some persons procure SIM cards in their name and give them to others for using. Sometimes the persons to whom the SIM has been given, misuses it for cyber-frauds, making the original user also an offender.
It has also been observed that in some cases SIM cards are being procured through fake documents, fraud, cheating or personation. This is an offence under the Telecommunication Act, 2023. At times it has been found that the Point of Sale has been involved in facilitating such procurements which tantamount to abetting in the offence.
Cases are observed where miscreants modify the telecommunication identifiers like Calling Line Identity (CLI), commonly referred to as phone number through various means like Mobile Apps. Other telecom identifiers that uniquely define a user or a device like IP Address, IMEI (Mobile handset identifier), SMS headers are also tampered to either send fraudulent message.
All such activities violate the provisions of the Telecommunication Act, 2023 and are considered offence under this Act. Section 42 (3) (c) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 specifically bars tampering of telecommunication identification. Further, Section 42 (3) (e) prohibits a person from obtaining subscriber identity modules or other telecommunication identifiers through fraud, cheating or impersonation. Section 42 (7) of the said Act envisages that such offences are cognizable and non-bailable notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Under Section 42(3), such offences are punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend up to fifty lakh rupees, or with both. Section 42 (6) of the act also envisages same punishment for those who abets any offence under the Act.
The above provisions of the Telecommunications Act 2023 are meant to be a deterrence for the miscreants, ensuring a secure and safe telecom ecosystem for all citizens. DoT is steadfastly committed to preventing the misuse of telecom resources by implementing advanced solutions and policies.
Waterloo, IA – From March 2-4, the U.S. Marshals Service partnered with six law enforcement agencies in Black Hawk County to conduct Operation Black Hawk County, an enforcement/compliance initiative to investigate and arrest non-compliant and fugitive sex offenders.
Operation Black Hawk County’s goal is to ensure 100% compliance of the 322 registered sex offenders in Black Hawk County. By mid-day March 4, law enforcement personnel also conducted 284 sex offender compliance checks, and arrested six total offenders on outstanding warrants.
As a part of Operation Black Hawk County, one registered offender was identified as having an active deportation order through Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE). On March 2, law enforcement officers took the individual into custody at his residence without incident. ICE transported him from Black Hawk County, where he awaits deportation to the country of Myanmar.
“The safety and well-being of our community is our highest priority,” said U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Iowa Christopher Barther. “We remain committed to working tirelessly, using every resource available, to protect our citizens, uphold the law, and ensure justice prevails.”
Operation Black Hawk County investigators initiated both state and federal criminal cases for failure to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, apprehended sex offenders in violation of registration requirements or wanted on active warrants and conducted sex offender compliance checks to increase police presence and identify non-compliant sex offenders for further investigation.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
As the federal government’s primary agency for sex offender and fugitive investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service use its resources and investigative expertise to make neighborhoods safer. The agency has a key mission to help keep non-compliant sex offenders accountable.
Convicted sex offenders are required to comply with federal, state, and local requirements to register. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (AWA) authorizes USMS to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities in the location and apprehension of non-compliant and fugitive sex offenders; investigate violations of the AWA for federal prosecution; and assist in the identification and location of sex offenders relocated because of a major disaster.
The U.S. Marshals Service is the federal government’s primary agency for fugitive investigations. Nationwide, 60 local task forces are dedicated to violent crime reduction by locating and apprehending wanted criminals. These task forces also serve as the central point for agencies to share information on fugitive matters. The Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force comprises officers from the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Cedar Rapids Police Department, Waterloo Police Department, Marion Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Iowa Department of Corrections.
HARRISBURG– The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Latika Rainey, age 35, of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was indicted on February 19, 2025, by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking charges.
According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, the indictment charges Rainey for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, cocaine, and marijuana between February 26, 2023 and March 1, 2023. The indictment further charges Rainey for distributing cocaine, as well as possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base, cocaine, and marijuana on March 1, 2023.
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 violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the 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.
The case was investigated by the Harrisburg Bureau of Police – Organized Crime Vice Control Unit, the Harrisburg Bureau of Police – Street Crimes Unit, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Wesley (Wes) Mishoe is prosecuting the case.
The maximum penalties under federal law for the indicted offenses are 100 years imprisonment, a term of supervised release after imprisonment, a fine, and a special assessment. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a man who admitted recording his sexual activity with a child to 30 years in prison.
Steven Lee Brown, 33, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in December to one count of producing child pornography.
According to court documents, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office received a report that Brown had sexually abused a 10-year-old child last May. The child was interviewed and confirmed the abuse. Officers immediately responded to Brown’s residence. During an interview, Brown admitted that he engaged in various sexual acts with the child. Brown further admitted that he used his cell phone to record some of the sexual activity. Officers seized Brown’s phone and discovered sexually explicit images of the minor child on the device. At his guilty plea hearing, Brown admitted that he used his cell phone to produce the sexually explicit material. After serving his 30-year sentence, Brown will be subject to lifetime supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester handled the prosecution for the Government.
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 of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.