Burlington, Vermont – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that on June 6, 2025, Van Hoa Phung, 49, and Reason Phung, 18, both citizens of Canada, pleaded guilty to criminal complaints charging them, respectively, with illegally entering the United States at a time or place other than designated for entering the country by immigration authorities, and illegally entering the United States by making willfully false statements.
According to court records, on June 5, 2025, at approximately 2:35 p.m., the United States Border Patrol observed a man walking south and crossing the United States-Canada international border near the Haskell Free Library in Derby Line, Vermont. The Haskell Free Library and its vicinity do not constitute a time or place as designated by immigration officers to lawfully enter the United States.
After entering the U.S., the man, who was wearing a red shirt with shorts, entered the passenger side of a Red Tesla motor vehicle. Border Patrol agents stopped the vehicle in a parking lot in Derby, Vermont and identified the driver as Reason Phung, and the passenger as Van Hoa Phung, Reason Phung’s father. Van Hoa Phung was wearing a red shirt with shorts consistent with the description of the individual who illegally crossed the border.
During the vehicle stop, Border Patrol determined that the Red Tesla previously crossed through a legal port of entry in Derby, Vermont. At the time the vehicle entered, Reason Phung was the only occupant.
Reason Phung admitted that he travelled to the border where he dropped off his father, Van Hoa Phung, at the Haskell Free Library in Derby Line, Vermont. Thereafter, Reason Phung entered through the port of entry, and then picked his father up in the U.S. after Van Hoa Phung illegally crossed the border in the vicinity of the library. Reason Phung intended to transport his father to an airport and then return to Canada.
When he entered through the Port of Entry earlier, Reason Phung stated his purpose in entering the United States was to visit his grandparents. Because his real purpose was to pick up and transport his father and then return to Canada, that statement was false.
Van Hoa Phung and Reason Phung had their initial court appearances before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle on June 6, 2025, where they each pleaded guilty, and both received time-served sentences.
Acting United States Attorney Michael P. Drescher commended the investigatory efforts of the United States Border Patrol and United States Customs and Border Protection.
The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Stendig. Van Hoa Phung is represented by Federal Public Defender Michael Desautels. Reason Phung is represented by Robert Behrens, Esq.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the return of a superseding indictment charging Lee Hughes (45, Pinellas Park) with attempted transmission of harmful material to a minor, attempted enticement or coercion of a minor, and receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material. If convicted on all counts, Hughes faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison.
According to the indictment and court documents, Hughes communicated with an undercover officer in an attempt to engage in sexual intercourse with the undercover officer’s purported nine-year-old daughter. Throughout their communications, Hughes sent the undercover officer approximately 10 explicit photos and/or videos of himself, with the request they be shown to the purported child. On May 1, 2025, Hughes traveled to an agreed-upon location to engage in sexual intercourse with the purported nine-year-old girl and was arrested. Law enforcement searched Hughes’s cellphone and discovered he had received and possessed child sexual abuse material.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Abigail K. King.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Luis Ruben Martinez Calderon (26, Kissimmee) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Martinez Calderon is the final defendant to plead guilty in this case.
Name
Date of Plea
Charges
Maximum Penalties
Luis Ruben Martinez Calderon
(26, Kissimmee)
June 5, 2025
Drug conspiracy
Minimum 5 years, up to 40 years in federal prison
Quamain Alique Barber
(34, Kissimmee)
April 30, 2025
Drug conspiracy
Possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking
Minimum 5 years, up to 40 years in federal prison
Minimum 5 years, up to life in federal prison to run consecutive
Bernardo Antonio Brea
(31, Kissimmee)
April 22, 2025
Drug conspiracy
Possession of firearm by convicted felon
20 years in federal prison
15 years in federal prison
Aisha Nicolle Sanchez (25, Kissimmee)
May 20, 2025
Drug conspiracy
Minimum 5 years, up to 40 years in federal prison
Evelyn Calderon (57, Kissimmee)
May 13, 2025
Drug conspiracy
Minimum 5 years, up to 40 years in federal prison
According to the plea agreements filed in the case, Martinez Calderon regularly supplied retail dealers such as Barber from his apartment in Kissimmee, where he lived with his girlfriend, Sanchez. In January 2025, Barber sold cocaine to an undercover officer, and immediately drove to Martinez Calderon to be resupplied.
The investigation also revealed that Martinez Calderon supplied Barber with cocaine that Martinez Calderon stored with his mother, Evelyn Calderon, who resupplied him when needed. Sanchez helped to recover a suitcase with at least two kilograms of cocaine from the mother’s home for Martinez Calderon to distribute. In late January 2025, Martinez Calderon worked with Brea to obtain cocaine for Barber to distribute.
On February 6, 2025, when a series of arrest warrants were executed, Brea and Barber were found to be in possession of firearms. Brea was prohibited from possessing firearms because he was previously convicted of felonies, including possessing a firearm as a convicted felon to which he pleaded guilty one week before he was found in possession of a firearm by federal agents. Barber’s firearm was recovered along with bags of cocaine prepared for distribution.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Kissimmee Police Department, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol. It is being 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.
Defendant Allegedly Laundered More Than $500M Through the U.S. Financial System, Including by Facilitating Transactions with Sanctioned Russian Banks
A 22-count indictment was unsealed today charging Iurii Gugnin, also known as Iurii Mashukov and George Goognin, 38, a resident of New York and citizen of Russia, with various offenses related to using his cryptocurrency company Evita to funnel more than $500 million of overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions.
According to court documents, Gugnin is charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program, failing to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and related conspiracy charges. Gugnin was arrested and arraigned today in New York.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology,” said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to bring to justice those who imperil our national security by enabling our foreign adversaries to sidestep sanctions and export controls.”
“As alleged, Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money laundering operation under the guise of a cryptocurrency start-up, which he then used to evade sanctions and export controls and defraud U.S. financial institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York. “Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will vigorously prosecute those who abuse the U.S. financial system in furtherance of criminal activity, particularly when it undermines national security.”
“Gugnin’s cryptocurrency company allegedly served as a front to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for sanctioned Russian entities and to obtain export-controlled technology for the Russian government,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “Let this serve notice that using cryptocurrency to hide illegal conduct will not prevent the FBI and our partners from holding you accountable.”
As alleged in the indictment, Gugnin is the founder, President, Treasurer, and Compliance Officer of U.S-based Evita Investments Inc. (Evita Investments) and Evita Pay Inc. (Evita Pay) (collectively, Evita). Gugnin used both companies to enable foreign customers — many of whom held funds at sanctioned Russian banks — to provide him with cryptocurrency, which he then laundered through cryptocurrency wallets and U.S. bank accounts. Gugnin ultimately converted the funds into U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies and then made payments through bank accounts in Manhattan on behalf of his foreign customers. In the process, the sources of the funds were obscured, disguising the audit trail and hiding the true counterparties to the transactions. Between June 2023 and January 2025, Gugnin used Evita to facilitate the movement of approximately $530 million through the U.S. financial system, most of which he received in the form of a cryptocurrency stablecoin known as Tether, or “USDT.”
To effectuate the scheme, Gugnin defrauded various banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through which he converted funds and made wire transfers. Gugnin repeatedly lied to these banks and exchanges, telling them that Evita did not conduct business with entities in Russia and did not deal with sanctioned entities. In fact, many of Gugnin’s customers were located in Russia, and he facilitated payments in funds held at sanctioned Russian banks, including PJSC Sberbank, PJSC Sovcombank, PJSC VTB Bank, and JSC Tinkoff Bank. Gugnin maintained personal accounts at two sanctioned Russian banks, JSC Alfa-Bank and PJSC Sberbank, with which he transacted while residing in the United States. Gugnin also facilitated payments by foreign customers to procure sensitive electronics, including an export-controlled server designed by a U.S. technology company, and laundered funds from a Moscow-based supplier to purchase parts for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear technology company. To conceal his activities, Gugnin regularly obfuscated invoices by digitally “whiting out” the names and addresses of his Russian customers.
Gugnin also failed to implement Evita’s own purported anti-money laundering program and failed to file suspicious activity reports, as required under the Bank Secrecy Act. Although Gugnin represented to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that Evita followed rigorous anti-money laundering and know-your-customer requirements, in practice he flouted those requirements, as well as the requirement to file reports of suspicious activities with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Gugnin ultimately registered Evita Pay as a money transmitter with FinCEN and the state of Florida but did so by making materially false statements to the state of Florida about Evita Pay’s business. Gugnin used that fraudulently obtained state license to induce a cryptocurrency exchange to process transactions on his behalf.
In the course of his scheme, Gugnin conducted web searches that confirmed his awareness that he was breaking the law, including searches for “how to know if there is an investigation against you”; “evita investments inc. criminal records search”; “Iurii Gugnin criminal records”; “money laundering penalties US”; and “penalties for sanctions violations EU luxury goods.” He also visited website pages titled, respectively “am I being investigated?”; “signs you may be under criminal investigation”; and “what are the best ways to find out if you’re being investigated and what can someone do when they think they might be under investigation.”
If convicted, Gugnin faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each count of bank fraud; a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud, IEEPA, money laundering, and related conspiracy counts; a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and failure to file suspicious activity reports; and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Skurnik for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Dallas Kaplan of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Mantell for the Eastern District of New York’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
Today’s actions were coordinated through the Justice and Commerce Departments’ Disruptive Technology Strike Force. The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains, and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation-states.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced today that David Allen Lee, age 44, of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, was found guilty by a federal jury of one count of Second Degree Murder in Indian Country, punishable by up to life in prison.
The jury trial began with testimony on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, and concluded, on Thursday, June 5, 2025, with the guilty verdict.
During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on July 2, 2024, Lee stabbed a Tahlequah resident in the chest with a knife at the victim’s residence. Lee waited to call 911 for several hours after the victim’s death and barricaded himself inside the residence before finally surrendering to police. The crime occurred in Cherokee County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The guilty verdict was the result of an investigation by the Tahlequah Police Department, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence report. The sentencing will be scheduled following completion of the report. Lee will remain in custody of the United States Marshals until sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Gross and Patrick Flanigan represented the United States.
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Duane Taylor, 50, of Brooklyn, New York, entered a plea of guilty today before United States District Court Judge John M. Gallagher to charges arising from the abduction of a minor child from her home in Reading, Pennsylvania, and transportation of that child across state lines to Taylor’s residence.
In January 2023, Taylor was charged by superseding indictment with kidnapping, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and transportation of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to all counts.
As detailed in court filings, on the morning of August 31, 2022, City of Reading police officers responded to the victim’s home when the child’s mother reported her missing from her bedroom, where she had last seen her daughter around 10:30 p.m. the evening prior before going to bed. After searching for the child, her mother observed that the back door of their residence was wide open, and law enforcement found the chain lock on that door was broken.
Investigators reviewed video surveillance footage from the home’s security system, which showed a person entering the living room area at approximately 2 a.m. and proceeding to the stairs leading to the second floor. A short time later, the victim is seen walking down those stairs and through the living room, followed by the person who was later identified as the defendant, whom the victim’s mother also stated was her former boyfriend.
Reading investigators contacted the New York City Police Department, who traced the defendant to his residence in Brooklyn, but did not locate the victim there. The victim was located later that day when a citizen called 911 to report a child alone and asking for help because she had been kidnapped from Pennsylvania.
The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 and faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Reading Police Department, and the New York City Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rosalynda M. Michetti and Josh A. Davison.
DETROIT – A Monroe, Michigan, resident was arrested on a criminal complaint for calling Spirit Airlines and reporting a fake bomb threat for a flight departing from Detroit Metropolitan Airport yesterday, announced United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr.
Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea Gibson, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division.
Charged was John Charles Robinson, 23.
According to the affidavit, on June 5, 2025, at approximately 6:25 am, an individual later identified as Robinson, used a cellphone to call into Spirit Airlines and conveyed false information about a bomb threat to Flight 2145 departing from Detroit Metro bound for Los Angeles. During the call, Robinson stated in part, “I was calling about 2145… because I have information about that flight,” and “there’s gonna be someone who’s gonna try to blow up the airport,” and “there’s gonna be someone that’s gonna try to blow up that flight, 2145.” After giving a description of an individual, he then stated: “they’re going to be carrying a bomb through the TSA,” and “they’re still threatening to do it, they’re still attempted to do it, they said it’s not going to be able to be detected. Please don’t let that flight board.” The flight was immediately canceled, and the flight’s passengers and crew were deplaned. Bomb sniffing dogs and FBI agents were deployed to sweep the airplane. No bomb or explosives were found.
Agents soon learned that Robinson was booked on Flight 2145 but missed the flight and was told at the gate that he needed to rebook. FBI agents subsequently arrested Robinson when he returned to the airport to depart on another flight bound for Los Angeles.
U.S. Attorney Gorgon said, “No American wants to hear the words ‘bomb’ and ‘airplane’ in the same sentence. Making this kind of threat undermines our collective sense of security and wastes valuable law enforcement resources.”
“Anyone who threatens to bomb an aircraft and endanger public safety will be swiftly investigated and brought to justice,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The alleged bomb threat prompted a coordinated response by our FBI Detroit Joint Terrorism Task Force, in partnership with the Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department and the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service, leading to the arrest of John Robinson as he attempted to board another flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. We remain committed to protecting the public and confronting those who seek to spread fear in our communities.”
Robinson appeared in federal court in Detroit this afternoon and was released on bond. His next court appearance will be June 27 for a preliminary examination.
The charges in a complaint are merely allegations. A defendant remains innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
This case is being investigated by special agents from the FBI.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hank Moon and Douglas Salzenstein are prosecuting the case.
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Scranton and Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia, FBI Scranton, IRS-Criminal Investigations Scranton, the U.S. Marshals Service Scranton and other law enforcement partners executed a worksite enforcement operation at Wyoming Valley Pallets Inc. in Exeter on June 5. The operation resulted in the administrative arrests of three illegal aliens from Mexico: Miguel Bruno-Vasquez, Vicente Coyotecal Matias and Jesus Gallardo-Bautista. Additionally, Geoli Perez-Santana, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was arrested. All were illegally working in the United States.
“Today’s operation highlights the significant detriments of employing illegal workers, which undermines the integrity of our immigration system and puts lawful businesses at a disadvantage,” said Special Agent in Charge of HSI Philadelphia Edward V. Owens. “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify and apprehend those who violate immigration laws and to protect the interests of both legal workers and employers who follow the law.”
This investigation began on or about March 14, when HSI Scranton was notified by ERO of a positive employment hit confirmation on Gallardo, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for driving under the influence. All four individuals were transported to the Pike County Jail for processing after their arrests. This enforcement action is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative.
Gallardo last entered the U.S. on June 16, 2007, with authorization to remain until Dec. 11, 2007; however, he remained beyond that date without authorization. Gallardo was ordered removed from the U.S. on May 8, 2013, in absentia. Gallardo was previously arrested by the Scranton Police Department on April 29, 2021, for driving under the influence and driving without a license. The case is still pending.
Coyotecal was previously arrested at the U.S. border on March 1, 1999, and June 3, 1999, and given voluntary returns.
Bruno-Vasquez has no previous encounters with ICE.
Perez-Santana was previously arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol on Oct. 25, 2022, near Calexico, California, after illegally crossing the U.S. border from Mexico. Perez-Santana was served a notice to appear and released on his own recognizance.
Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the return of an indictment charging Jack Dymond Leach (43, St. Augustine) with one count of attempted production of child sexual abuse materials, two counts of receipt of child sexual abuse materials, and one count of possession of child sexual abuse materials. If convicted of the attempted production offense, Leach faces a minimum of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison. For each receipt and possession offense, Leach faces a minimum of 5 years, up to 20 years, in federal prison.
According to court documents, Leach engaged in conversations on an online chat platform during which he paid money to receive child sex abuse images. An investigation into the account resulted in Leach being identified. Federal search warrants were executed at Leach’s home and business in St. Augustine where law enforcement seized numerous electronic devices. A forensic examination of the devices reveled child sexual abuse material.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Detectives can confirm the body found in Hampshire on Saturday, 7 June is sadly that of Yajaira Castro Mendez from Ilford.
Yajaira was last seen in Camden on Thursday, 29 May. Following extensive enquiries by officers a murder investigation was launched.
Detectives carried out urgent enquiries and during searches in the Bolderwood area of Hampshire, they found a body.
Formal identification has now taken place. Her family continue to be supported by specialist officers.
Acting Detective Chief Inspector Sean Beasley, who is leading the investigation, said: “This is a very sad development in the investigation and our thoughts are very much with Yajaira’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.
“Officers have been working around the clock and continue to investigate the circumstances.
“There are still crime scenes in place and we’re working closely with Hampshire Police. We thank the community for their patience as we carry out our investigation and we continue to appeal to anyone with information that could assist the investigation to please come forward.”
On Friday, 6 June, Juan Francisco Toledo, 51 (17.10.1973), of Lambeth appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court charged with murder.
He was remanded in custody to next appear on Tuesday, 10 June at the Old Bailey.
He had been arrested on Wednesday, 4 June in Lambeth.
Anyone with information relating to this investigation is asked to contact police via 101 or @MetCC quoting CAD 3020/06JUN2
To remain 100 per cent anonymous call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.
Kings District RCMPis seeking information from the public to identify a person involved in a sexual assault against a youth victim in Canning.
On June 6, at approximately 3:40 p.m., RCMP officers responded to a report of a sexual assault that occurred on a walking trail between Northeast Kings Education Centre and the Glooscap District Arena.
Responding officers learned that approximately 10 minutes prior, a male assaulted then sexually assaulted a youth victim who was walking to the arena from the school.
A search of the area, assisted by RCMP Police Dog Services, was not successful in locating the suspect.
At this time, the male, who approached the victim from behind, is believed to be a youth. He is described as white, 5-foot-5 and heavy build. At time of the incident, he was wearing a ski mask, a red shirt and winter gloves.
“I want to assure everyone in our communities that this investigation is a top priority for us. We have engaged various specialized units to assist our committed local investigators”, says S/Sgt. Ed Nugent, King District RCMP. “We encourage anyone who may have information about the incident to contact us. You can also provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers.”
Kings District RCMP: 902-679-5555
Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers: toll-free, 1-800-222-TIPS (8477),www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or the P3 Tips app.
If you have experienced sexual violence, you are not alone. The elimination of gender-based and sexual violence continues to be a priority for the Nova Scotia RCMP, and the RCMP employs a trauma-informed approach. Survivor support is available and you can contact us and discuss an incident before deciding to further participate in the investigation and court process.
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a registered sex offender who possessed child sexual abuse material and initiated a sexual conversation with a 11-year-old girl via Facebook Messenger to 16 years in prison.
Seth Allen Barger, 42, of Jefferson County, Missouri, sent a friend request to the victim in 2023. Via Facebook Messenger on July 26, 2023, he sought to engage her in a sexual conversation. The victim’s mother contacted the St. Louis County Police Department, and a detective interviewed Barger. Barger said his account had been hacked. After Barger consented to a search of his phone, a detective with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office found 35 images containing child sexual abuse material.
Barger pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of enticement of a minor.
The St. Louis County Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards prosecuted 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.
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Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, we do not endorse or guarantee the legitimacy of any listed casinos. Online gambling involves financial risk and may be subject to legal restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Please ensure compliance with local laws before engaging in any gambling activities. We encourage responsible gambling and recommend that players exercise caution when participating in online gambling. Always verify the details of any casino and consult legal advisors before making decisions.
FARGO – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl announced that beginning on May 15, 2025, a multi-state law enforcement operation resulted in the arrests of nine defendants following their indictment by a federal grand jury in the District of North Dakota for roles in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy with ties to the Almighty Latin King Nation criminal street gang.
The defendants arrested are:
Ricardo Jaquez, 46, Oakes, North Dakota
Israel David Flores, a/k/a Izzy, 45, Audubon, Minnesota
Michelle Lee Fuller, 38, Audubon, Minnesota
Jose Manuel Jaquez, a/k/a Cash, 36, Oakes, North Dakota
All defendants have made appearances in federal court in North Dakota and face up to life in prison with a 10-year minimum mandatory if convicted.
This case is part of Operation Crown Down, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into methamphetamine trafficking in North Dakota and other states. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
An indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Drug Enforcement; Homeland Security Investigations; the Oakes Police Department; the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation; the Cass County Drug Task Force; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force; the Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force; the CEE-VI Drug Task Force; the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and the Brown County (South Dakota) Sheriff’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew P. Kopp.
A Mexican national who operated as a high-level cocaine trafficker was sentenced today to 232 months in prison for directing an international drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to court documents, Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares, also known as Cadete, 41, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was a leader and organizer of a transnational drug trafficking organization that was responsible for shipping multiple tons of cocaine from Central America into Mexico for further distribution into the United States, specifically Los Angeles. Perez Cazares used violence to protect his narcotics shipments and worked with a close affiliate of the co-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares was a major Mexican narcotrafficker responsible for shipping multiple tons of cocaine from Central America into Mexico for distribution in Los Angeles,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Drug traffickers like Perez Cazares use violence to profit off bringing poisonous drugs into the United States with no regard for the welfare of our citizens. Today’s sentence demonstrates that the Department of Justice will not rest in bringing drug trafficking leaders to justice.”
“This sentence marks the downfall of a trafficker who fueled violence and addiction on both sides of the border,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to target the command structure of these cartels and dismantle their operations.”
“Jorge ‘Cadete’ Perez Cazares wasn’t just moving multi-ton quantities of cocaine — he was fueling a criminal empire. Perez Cazares funneled substantial amounts of narcotics into the United States and profited off the pain of addiction,” said Acting Administrator Robert Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “The government proved he was no middleman — he was a leader. And now, justice is delivering a sentence worthy of the destruction he caused.”
In February 2014, U.S. law enforcement targeted Perez Cazares’s Los Angeles-based distribution network, raiding three stash houses and seizing $1.4 million in cash and more than 70 kilograms of cocaine. Around the same time, Perez Cazares personally negotiated a deal with a Guatemalan drug trafficker for over $23 million in cocaine. Days later, he was arrested by Guatemalan authorities while traveling in a truck with 514 kilograms of cocaine. In June 2016, he was arrested again in Mexico pursuant to a U.S. provisional arrest warrant and extradited to the United States on July 30, 2021.
In April 2024, shortly before trial, Perez Cazares pleaded guilty to the sole count of conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case. The DEA Miami Office and DEA Guatemala Country Office provided critical assistance. Perez Cazares’s capture and extradition were made possible thanks to key international coordination between the Government of Guatemala, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Trial Attorney Douglas Meisel of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
A Delaware corporation with a manufacturing facility in Ohio was sentenced today to pay a $500,000 fine, the statutory maximum, after pleading guilty to willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule. In addition to the fine, Fabcon will serve two years of organizational probation and comply with a Safety Compliance Plan. The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head.
Fabcon Precast LLC makes precast concrete panels at its facility in Grove City, Ohio. Batch operators were employees responsible for operating and cleaning the facility’s only concrete mixer, which discharged concrete from its bottom through a pneumatic door. The mixer had an exhaust valve that, by design, released the pneumatic energy which powered the discharge door to make it inoperable.
The valve’s handle broke off, and was not replaced, prior to June 6, 2020. On that day, batch operator Zachary Ledbetter was injured trying to close the discharge door due to the broken valve. Ledbetter was eventually freed from the door, but he died at a hospital five days later.
“Today’s sentencing reflects Fabcon’s willful failure to implement measures to protect its workers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “Sadly, this led to Zachary’s death. This tragedy shows the importance of following safety standards.”
“Fabcon Precast LLC willfully failed to adhere to OSHA safety regulations which resulted in the tragic and preventable loss of a worker’s life. This sentencing highlights our steadfast commitment to continue working with OSHA and our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who jeopardize workers’ safety,” said Special Agent in Charge Megan Howell of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Great Lakes Region.
Federal law makes it a class B misdemeanor to willfully fail to follow an OSHA safety standard, where the failure causes the death of an employee. The class B misdemeanor is the only federal criminal charge covering such workplace safety violations.
The Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.
Senior Trial Attorney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cullman, of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and for the Southern District of Ohio respectively, prosecuted the case.
New INTERPOL taskforce targeting criminal networks in Latin America launched during Brazilian state visit to international police’s global headquarters
LYON, France – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva today underscored Brazil’s commitment to combating transnational organized crime during his visit to INTERPOL, the world’s largest policing organization.
The visit represents a strong endorsement of INTERPOL’s mission and its leadership role as central to tackling one of the most urgent security challenges of our time.
A new INTERPOL Task Force Against Organized Crime in Latin America was also officially launched during the visit of President Lula and the Brazilian delegation, which included Ricardo Lewandowski, Minister of Justice and Public Security, Mauro Vieira, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues, General Director of the Brazilian Federal Police and the Ministers of Mines and Energy, and of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Aimed at targeting criminal networks and drug trafficking across the region and beyond, the International joint Task force, based at INTERPOL’s offices in Latin America and the Caribbean, will focus on disrupting and dismantling the most dangerous transnational organized crime groups, capturing high-value targets, and targeting the financial infrastructure of these networks.
The Letter of Intent between Brazil and INTERPOL signed during the state visit will see an even greater exchange of information, expertise and best practice in the fight against crime, further strengthening Brazil’s position as a leader in combating all forms of crime.
Welcomed by INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza and President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, the Brazilian President was briefed on INTERPOL’s critical work in supporting member countries to protect vulnerable populations, preserve the environment and dismantle organized crime networks.
President Lula said:
“The election of Valdecy Urquiza as Secretary General of INTERPOL is recognition of Brazil’s prominent role in combating transnational crime.
“This Organization works to search for and apprehend some of the most dangerous criminals on the planet, combats terrorism, rescues victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation, and protects the environment.
“Crime is evolving at an unprecedented speed, requiring urgent and coordinated multilateral action.
“No country will be able to defeat transnational crime alone.
“As with other current challenges that require collective action, such as climate change and digital governance, police cooperation will remain a priority in Brazilian foreign policy.”
INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said:
“We are confronting a security landscape more volatile than ever, as transnational organized crime reaches unprecedented levels — more dynamic, more digital, and more deeply embedded across borders.
“This is no longer just a security issue. Organized crime is a global phenomenon threatening justice, undermining climate resilience, as well as stalling social and economic progress.
“The threat is real, it is growing, and the moment to act is now.
“The agreement between INTERPOL and Brazil sends a powerful message: we are placing the fight against organized crime at the top of the global agenda.
“Now is the time for countries to follow Brazil’s lead and reinforce INTERPOL’s efforts. Only by working together — through a truly global and coordinated response — can we dismantle criminal networks and ensure a safer world for all.”
During the visit, President Lula awarded Secretary General Urquiza with Brazil’s Order of Rio Branco Medal, at the rank of Grand Officer. Established in 1963, the decoration recognizes individuals—both Brazilian and foreign—who have made significant contributions to Brazil’s international relations and global cooperation.
A Mexican national who operated as a high-level cocaine trafficker was sentenced today to 232 months in prison for directing an international drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to court documents, Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares, also known as Cadete, 41, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was a leader and organizer of a transnational drug trafficking organization that was responsible for shipping multiple tons of cocaine from Central America into Mexico for further distribution into the United States, specifically Los Angeles. Perez Cazares used violence to protect his narcotics shipments and worked with a close affiliate of the co-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares was a major Mexican narcotrafficker responsible for shipping multiple tons of cocaine from Central America into Mexico for distribution in Los Angeles,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Drug traffickers like Perez Cazares use violence to profit off bringing poisonous drugs into the United States with no regard for the welfare of our citizens. Today’s sentence demonstrates that the Department of Justice will not rest in bringing drug trafficking leaders to justice.”
“This sentence marks the downfall of a trafficker who fueled violence and addiction on both sides of the border,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to target the command structure of these cartels and dismantle their operations.”
“Jorge ‘Cadete’ Perez Cazares wasn’t just moving multi-ton quantities of cocaine — he was fueling a criminal empire. Perez Cazares funneled substantial amounts of narcotics into the United States and profited off the pain of addiction,” said Acting Administrator Robert Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “The government proved he was no middleman — he was a leader. And now, justice is delivering a sentence worthy of the destruction he caused.”
In February 2014, U.S. law enforcement targeted Perez Cazares’s Los Angeles-based distribution network, raiding three stash houses and seizing $1.4 million in cash and more than 70 kilograms of cocaine. Around the same time, Perez Cazares personally negotiated a deal with a Guatemalan drug trafficker for over $23 million in cocaine. Days later, he was arrested by Guatemalan authorities while traveling in a truck with 514 kilograms of cocaine. In June 2016, he was arrested again in Mexico pursuant to a U.S. provisional arrest warrant and extradited to the United States on July 30, 2021.
In April 2024, shortly before trial, Perez Cazares pleaded guilty to the sole count of conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case. The DEA Miami Office and DEA Guatemala Country Office provided critical assistance. Perez Cazares’s capture and extradition were made possible thanks to key international coordination between the Government of Guatemala, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Trial Attorney Douglas Meisel of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The North East London NHS Foundation Trust has been found guilty of a health and safety offence, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police into the death of 22-year old Alice Figueredo at Goodmayes Hospital in 2015.
The ward manager of the hospital, Benjamin Aninakwa, 53 (25.06.1971) of St Francis Way, Grays was also found guilty of a health and safety offence.
Alice was being treated on the Hepworth Ward at the hospital after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in February 2015.
During a trial lasting seven months, the court heard that the Trust and Aninakwa failed in their duty of care to protect Alice from harm across the six months she was on the ward, before she took her own life on 7 July 2015.
Alice’s parents, Jane and Max Figueredo, said: “We would like to thank all those involved in the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and their barristers for their diligent dedication to investigating and prosecuting Alice’s death.
“Thank you for believing that her life mattered and that the way she was so heartbreakingly, abysmally failed by the staff at this hospital, should not just be ignored and kicked into the long grass – which is what we believe NELFT set about doing after Alice died.
“We also want to thank the Judge and the jury in this case for their very evident hard work and conscientious commitment in what has been a much lengthier trial than any of us expected.”
Detective Inspector Jonathan Potter, who led the investigation, said: “My thoughts remain with Alice’s family. They have had to endure years of heartbreak before sitting through a long and difficult trial where they heard time and time again about the tragic series of inactions that led to their daughter’s death.
“This was a complex investigation led by the Metropolitan Police Service, into a unique case that has led to the conviction of the Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa for health and safety offences.
“There is nothing I can say that will bring back Alice, but I hope that today’s verdict offers some comfort to her family.
“While there are thousands of NHS workers that do a commendable job every day, today’s result must also ensure that lessons are learnt to stop the same mistakes happening again.”
Nine months after Alice’s death, following a report by her parents, the Met’s Specialist Crime Command launched an investigation into the Trust and Aninakwa.
To build evidence of the offences committed, officers developed a careful understanding of the ward itself, painstakingly combing through more than 2,600 medical documents, many of them hundreds of pages long, as well as dozens of witness statements from staff, family and friends of Alice. Officers also interviewed Aninakwa and took statements from various members of the trust.
Despite the rarity of a case like this and amid investigative difficulties presented by Covid, officers gathered a range of experts to consult about their experience of being on similar wards. This included nursing staff and psychiatric practitioners, as well as senior colleagues in other NHS trusts and groups including the Care Quality Commission and NHS England.
Their investigation revealed the extent of negligence by the Trust and Aninakwa, who as ward manager, had failed in his responsibility to make sure that Alice was safe.
Although Aninakwa knew that Alice had a history of self-harm – dating back to 2013 when she had previously been admitted, and again in 2015 – officers discovered that he repeatedly failed to report such instances and ensure other staff were aware. This was even though Alice had been, according to Aninakwa himself, his only patient who was actively trying to harm themselves.
In records seen by investigating officers, a mere 13 instances of self-harm were reported, out of a possible 81. Only three of these, out of a possible 19, related to specific items that Alice had used to self-harm on the ward. Even during a scoping exercise by the Trust about the use of possible items, Aninakwa failed to highlight Alice’s history of self-harming behaviour.
As part of a wide range of failings, officers also found that Aninakwa had failed to direct staff to remove specific items from the communal areas of Hepworth Ward. Nor did he ensure that patients were properly observed by staff and that sufficient steps were taken to lock communal areas that were of concern.
Consequently, Alice was able to access one of the communal areas on the ward where she took her own life on 7 July 2015.
Following a complex investigation in partnership with the CPS, the CPS authorised the Met to charge North East London NHS Foundation Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa with health and safety offences corporate manslaughter in September 2023. They were cleared of corporate manslaughter offences at the Old Bailey on Monday, 9 June.
Sentencing will take place at a court and on a date that is yet to be arranged.
Aninakwa was found guilty of an offence under section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, having failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others.
The Trust was found guilty of an offence under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, by failing to ensure that others are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.
New INTERPOL taskforce targeting criminal networks in Latin America launched during Brazilian state visit to international police’s global headquarters
LYON, France – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva today underscored Brazil’s commitment to combating transnational organized crime during his visit to INTERPOL, the world’s largest policing organization.
The visit represents a strong endorsement of INTERPOL’s mission and its leadership role as central to tackling one of the most urgent security challenges of our time.
A new INTERPOL Taskforce Against Organized Crime in Latin America was also officially launched during the visit of President Lula and the Brazilian delegation, which included Ricardo Lewandowski, Minister of Justice and Public Security, Mauro Vieira Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues, General Director of the Brazilian Federal Police and the Ministers of Mines and Energy, and of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Aimed at targeting criminal networks and drug trafficking across the region and beyond, the International joint Taskforce, based at INTERPOL’s offices in Latin America and the Caribbean, will focus on disrupting and dismantling the most dangerous transnational organized crime groups, capturing high-value targets, and targeting the financial infrastructure of these networks.
The Letter of Intent between Brazil and INTERPOL signed during the state visit will see an even greater exchange of information, expertise and best practice in the fight against crime, further strengthening Brazil’s position as a leader in combating all forms of crime.
Welcomed by INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza and President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, the Brazilian President was briefed on INTERPOL’s critical work in supporting member countries protect vulnerable populations, preserve the environment and dismantle organized crime networks.
President Lula said:
“The election of Valdecy Urquiza as Secretary General of INTERPOL is recognition of Brazil’s prominent role in combating transnational crime.
“This organization works to search for and apprehend some of the most dangerous criminals on the planet, combats terrorism, rescues victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation, and protects the environment.
“Crime is evolving at an unprecedented speed, requiring urgent and coordinated multilateral action.
“No country will be able to defeat transnational crime alone.
“As with other current challenges that require collective action, such as climate change and digital governance, police cooperation will remain a priority in Brazilian foreign policy.”
INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said:
“We are confronting a security landscape more volatile than ever, as transnational organized crime reaches unprecedented levels — more dynamic, more digital, and more deeply embedded across borders.
“This is no longer just a security issue. Organized crime is a global phenomenon threatening justice, undermining climate resilience, as well as stalling social and economic progress.
“The threat is real, it is growing, and the moment to act is now.
“The agreement between INTERPOL and Brazil sends a powerful message: we are placing the fight against organized crime at the top of the global agenda.
“Now is the time for countries to follow Brazil’s lead and reinforce INTERPOL’s efforts. Only by working together — through a truly global and coordinated response — can we dismantle criminal networks and ensure a safer world for all.”
During the visit, President Lula awarded Secretary General Urquiza with Brazil’s Order of Rio Branco Medal, at the rank of Grand Officer. Established in 1963, the decoration recognizes individuals—both Brazilian and foreign—who have made significant contributions to Brazil’s international relations and global cooperation.
Four people allegedly involved in an elaborate Queensland-based money laundering scheme that smuggled cash around the country and washed millions of dollars of criminal proceeds have been charged following an 18-month, multi-agency investigation.
The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) has also restrained assets across Queensland and NSW suspected of being the proceeds of crime, which have a combined value of about $21 million and include 17 properties, bank accounts and vehicles.
More than 70 members from the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (QJOCTF), comprised of the AFP, Queensland Police Service, Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC and Australian Taxation Office, executed 14 search warrants at homes and businesses across Brisbane and the Gold Coast on 5 and 6 June 2025.
AUSTRAC and the ATO also provided analytical expertise and support during the investigation, which was centred on Southeast Queensland but also monitored cash dead drops in multiple cities around Australia.
A Brisbane man, 32, from Heathwood, who was allegedly a major client of the money laundering operation and washed $9.5 million in 15 months, was charged on Thursday (5 June) with money laundering and failing to provide the password to a mobile phone. He has been remanded in custody and is scheduled to face Brisbane Magistrates’ Court today (9 June).
In December 2023, the QJOCTF began investigating suspicious financial transactions. The investigation linked the Heathwood man to a company that had received millions of dollars transferred by suspicious third-party transactions.
Investigators following the money trail allegedly identified the man was a customer of a sophisticated money laundering operation allegedly being run through the armoured transport unit of a security company that transferred $190 million cash into cryptocurrency.
Investigations into the source of the $190 million converted into cryptocurrency by the security company remain ongoing.
A Gold Coast man, 48, and woman, 35, who were the director and general manager respectively of the security business, were each charged on Friday (6 June) with a money laundering offence. The couple, from Maudsland, was granted watchhouse bail and is scheduled to face Southport Magistrates Court on 21 July 2025.
Another Brisbane man, 58, from West End, who allegedly funnelled laundered money through a business account to a separate business account controlled by the Heathwood man, was also charged on Friday with two money laundering offences. He was granted watchhouse bail and is scheduled to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on 1 August 2025.
The QJOCTF alleges the Gold Coast-based security company used a complex network of bank accounts, businesses, couriers and cryptocurrency accounts to launder millions of dollars of illicit funds over 18 months.
The security company, which transferred cash between businesses and banks, allegedly mixed cash from its legitimate business arm with illicit funds deposited by suspected criminals.
To further obfuscate the source of the funds from law enforcement, the security company allegedly channelled the money through a web of transactions including through a sales promotion company, a classic car dealership and cryptocurrency exchange services.
The organisation then paid out the funds to beneficiaries using cryptocurrency or those third-party companies.
The Heathwood man allegedly controlled the sales promotion company and received about $9.5 million in cash and cryptocurrency originating from the security company over 15 months.
The QJOCTF will allege the Heathwood man attempted to distance himself from the money laundering scheme by setting his wife up as a ‘straw director’ of the promotions company, while he maintained effective control.
The QJOCTF alleges the West End man was the director of a classic car dealership that received about $6.4 million from the security company and laundered it through his business over a 17-month period.
The director allegedly opened at least seven bank accounts with different banks to conceal the source of the money as he moved it around. The illicit money was then allegedly mixed with legitimate money from the car dealership before being transferred to the sales promotions business.
It is alleged the security company was also the front for the movement of millions of dollars of illicit cash from other states to Southeast Queensland for laundering.
The cash, which was allegedly generated by organised criminal ventures, was left at dead drop locations around the country and collected by a network of couriers who sent it as domestic cargo on flights to Queensland. It was then collected by the security company’s couriers in Southeast Queensland.
During search warrants last week, investigators seized crypto wallets containing about $170,000 in cryptocurrency, $30,000 cash, encrypted devices, along with business records and documents related to the alleged money laundering scheme.
The Maudsland man, 48, the director of the security company, was charged with one count of dealing with the proceeds of general crime, worth $10 million or more, contrary to section 400.2B(6) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years’ imprisonment.
His wife, 35, who was the general manager of the business, was charged with one count of dealing with the proceeds of general crime, worth $10 million or more, contrary to section 400.2B(3) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is imprisonment for life.
The Heathwood man, 32, allegedly linked to the sales promotion company, was charged with:
one count of dealing with proceeds of crime, worth $1 million or more, contrary to section 400.3(2B) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is 12 years’ imprisonment, and
one count of failure to comply with a 3LA Order, contrary to section 3LA(5) of the Crimes Act (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years’ imprisonment.
The West End man, 58, who was the director of the classic car company, was charged with:
two counts of dealing with proceeds of crime, money or property worth $1 million or more, contrary to section 400.3(2B) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is 12 years’ imprisonment
one count of uttering a forged document, contrary to section 488(1)(b) of the Criminal Code (QLD). The maximum penalty for this offence is three years’ imprisonment, and
one count of dealing with identification information to commit or facilitate an indictable offence, contrary to section 408D of the Criminal Code (Qld). The maximum penalty for this offence is 5 years’ imprisonment.
Investigations are ongoing, and further arrests have not been ruled out.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said money laundering undermined Australia’s national security, the economy and social security system.
‘Many Australians are feeling the financial pinch but remain law-abiding and honest citizens,’ Det Supt Telfer said.
‘Criminals always choose greed over decency and will constantly find opportunities to increase their wealth at the expense of others.’
‘We allege this organisation intentionally concealed and disguised the source, value and nature of their illicit money, and distanced themselves from the funds to try to avoid getting caught by authorities.’
‘This plot was elaborate and calculated, and it demonstrates the lengths criminals will go to make money.’
‘Money laundering investigations are incredibly challenging due to the complex web of deception used by criminals, and this crime cannot be tackled by one agency alone.’
‘This result is a testament to the great work done by the investigators, forensic accountants in the QJOCTF, the CACT, and our Taskforce Avarus partners.’
Queensland Police Service Crime and Intelligence Command, Detective Acting Superintendent David Briese, from the Drug and Serious Crime Group, said money laundering was far from a victimless crime.
‘Criminal networks use money laundering to legitimise their profits and exploit legitimate businesses, harming communities and economies. It fuels serious organised crime, enabling everything from drug trafficking and exploitation to fraud and violence,’ Det a/Supt Briese said.
‘This case demonstrates both the complexity of money laundering operations, and the extreme lengths criminals will go to conceal their illicit gains.’
‘The result reflects the strength of our collaboration across law enforcement, intelligence, and regulatory bodies, and our shared commitment to protecting the public from the harms of serious and organised crime.’
ABF Acting Commander Troy Sokoloff praised the efforts of ABF officers working alongside partner agencies in the QJOCTF.
‘Today’s outcome sends a formidable message to those who seek to engage in criminal money laundering. This act is illegal and unacceptable, and all branches of law enforcement can and will work together to bring such crimes to justice,’ a/Commander Sokoloff said.
‘I would like to acknowledge the dedication of our highly trained investigator who was engaged as a co-case officer for the entirety of this investigation. He has worked tirelessly with his colleagues to achieve this outcome, drawing upon ABF digital intelligence sharing and observations which were critical to the success we see today.’
‘This type of illegal activity is insidious – and the ABF will continue to work hand in hand with its partners to detect and deter such schemes.’
ATO Deputy Commissioner John Ford reinforced the ATO was assisting partner agencies in disrupting, investigating and penalising the perpetrators of organised crime.
‘Serious and organised crime harms our community, economy, government and way of life, and robs the community of funding for essential services such as health and education,’ Mr Ford said.
‘This week’s action is a strong reminder to those involved in money laundering – while you may think you can wash away the evidence, this is simply not the case. We will continue to work together with our partner agencies to disrupt these criminals and hold them to account.’
AUSTRAC National Coordinator, Law Enforcement, Markus Erikson said AUSTRAC intelligence was pivotal in putting a stop to these crimes.
‘The intelligence AUSTRAC provided to law enforcement painted a vivid trail of criminal activity being undertaken by disparate individuals,’ Mr Erikson said.
‘I would like to recognise the businesses who report to AUSTRAC for their commitment to protecting the financial system from harm. Without their reporting, this disruption would not have been possible, and the offending may have continued undetected.’
‘I would also like to acknowledge the incredible work of our partner agencies in this matter. Operations like this take significant resources, hard work, and personal sacrifice to accomplish.’
‘This outcome is a testament to the dedication of everyone involved in Taskforce AVARUS as well as the Queensland Police Service and Australian Taxation Office.’
ACIC National Manager Boyd Doherty emphasised the critical role of the QJOCTF.
‘The ACIC works closely with partners to disrupt the highest threat criminal networks. Serious and organised crime groups thrive off money made from criminal activities,’ Mr Doherty said.
‘We are committed to disrupting the operations of these groups, denying them the ability to profit and making Australia a hostile environment for them to operate in.’
The QJOCTF is a multi-agency team focused on targeting and dismantling transnational serious organised crime networks in Queensland.
Taskforce Avarus was established in 2022 to target the highest priority money laundering threats facing Australia. The Taskforce comprises the AFP, AUSTRAC, ACIC and ABF who work in partnership to uncover methods criminals use to conceal their illegal funds.
The CACT – which brings together the resources and expertise of the AFP, ABF, Australian Taxation Office, ACIC and AUSTRAC – was permanently established in 2012 as a proactive and innovative approach to trace, restrain and ultimately confiscate criminal assets.
A man has been jailed for life for fatally stabbing his victim during an unprovoked attack in a Battersea car park two years ago.
Earl Morin-Briton, 36 (22.01.87), of Rosehill, Sutton was found guilty on Friday, 6 June of murdering 32-year-old Theo Porteous and possession of a knife following a trial at Kingston Crown Court.
At his sentencing on Monday, 9 June he was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 27 years.
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, from Specialist Crime South, who led the investigation, said: “My thoughts remain with Theo’s family and friends who have had to sit in court and re-live the devastating events of that day. Nothing will ever bring Theo back to them but I do hope this outcome will give them some sense of closure.
“Morin-Briton murdered Theo in an unprovoked and senseless attack in broad daylight. Theo was simply sitting in his car when Morin-Briton approached him, saying something which caused Theo to get out of the vehicle. What he was tragically unaware of was that the defendant had in his possession a large knife which he then used to stab Theo numerous times.
“Our investigation combined solid detective work with crucial CCTV evidence – enabling us to get justice for Theo’s family and take a very dangerous individual off the streets.”
The court heard that at around 12.35hrs on Saturday, 24 August 2023 Theo was sat in the car park of a block of flats in Nine Elms, Battersea when Morin-Briton approached his vehicle and spoke to him through the open driver’s window. Theo got out of the vehicle and was immediately confronted by Morin-Briton who pulled a knife from his shorts and stabbed him three times – to his face, neck and back.
Members of the public witnessed the attack, and once Morin-Briton left the scene, they rushed to Theo’s aid. Despite their best efforts, and those of the Metropolitan Police officers and paramedics from the London Ambulance Service who were called to the scene, Theo sadly died from his injuries.
Detectives launched an immediate investigation, trawling through hours of CCTV. The attack on Theo was captured in full on CCTV, and further footage was obtained from a variety of locations, including buses and trains to track Morin-Briton’s movements that day.
After identifying him through their enquiries, officers launched a manhunt and Morin-Briton was arrested just over a week later – on 1 September – at an address in Norwood. He was charged the following day.
Woman invented business to claim Covid loan then sent money to Poland
Jagoda Rubaszko guilty of fraud after inventing a business to apply for a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan which she then sent to bank accounts in Poland
Rubaszko invented a business to get a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan – which was paid out to five bank accounts in Poland
She told Insolvency Service investigators a man called Daniel told her how to apply for the loan – but provided no evidence he exists
Sentenced to six-month curfew and 18-month suspended sentence
A woman who pretended to run a business to secure a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan has been sentenced for fraud following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
Jagoda Rubaszko, 37, of Old Ruislip Road, Northolt, invented an administrative service business which she falsely claimed had a turnover of £210,000.
In reality, she had no business – and the £50,000 loan she received was sent to five separate bank accounts in Poland.
Rubaszko told investigators she had been contacted by a man called Daniel who told her how to apply for the loan, and to declare herself bankrupt to avoid having to repay it.
Rubaszko was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for 21 months, for fraud by misrepresentation at Isleworth Crown Court on 5 June 2025.
She will be tagged and under curfew between 7.30pm and 6am every day for six months, and must complete 175 hours of unpaid work.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Jagoda Rubaszko claimed to be a business director, but she had no business at all. She invented a turnover of £210,000 even though her bank accounts showed no business dealings.
She invented a man called Daniel, who she has blamed for her actions, claiming he had told her to apply for the loan, and she believed she’d get away with this by declaring herself bankrupt.
What is definitely real, is that she took money which was meant to help businesses during a difficult period, and sent that funding off to the bank accounts of five men in Poland.
As a result, reality has now caught up with her.
Rubaszko applied to a bank for a Covid Bounce Back Loan on 26 April 2021, which was approved on 28 April 2021 and paid into her bank account.
In the application, she claimed she had been operating a business since 1 March 2020 and had a turnover of £210,000. But investigations into Rubaszko’s finances showed her tax returns were no higher than £15,100 each year between 2019 and 2021.
In a prepared statement, Rubaszko claimed to have been contacted by a man called Daniel, who told her how to apply for the loan, and to declare herself bankrupt to avoid repaying it.
But Rubaszko admitted she had never met Daniel, even though she said she paid him a £17,500 commission for his ‘help’ after receiving the £50,000.
Her bank records showed no such payment was made – instead, 22 smaller payments up to £11,690 were made to five individual bank accounts in Poland over a two-month period.
After declaring herself bankrupt, Rubaszko was subject to a 10-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) on 12 May 2023. The BRU prevents her from managing a limited company until 2033.
Further information
Jagoda Rubaszko is of Old Ruislip Road, Northolt. Her date of birth is 18 September 1987.
Individuals subject to a disqualification order or undertaking are bound by a range of restrictions
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Security, Integrity, and Enforcement, released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s escalations of violence and abuse of power in Los Angeles, California.
“On Friday and Saturday, the Trump Administration conducted a series of increasingly militarized immigration actions, utilizing law enforcement from numerous agencies and calling out the National Guard without a request or support from the Governor. They arrested David Huerta, the President of SEIU California, who was peacefully protesting the raids, as well as rounding up over 120 immigrants at least, according to initial reports. ICE also denied entry to Members of Congress — who have the legal authority and responsibility to conduct unannounced oversight visits — at both the LA detention center, where people were being held, as well as the Adelanto Detention Center, where detained people were reportedly transferred.
“The people of Los Angeles were non-violently protesting the injustices they have seen with Trump’s mass deportation agenda, the Administration’s sweeping up people of various legal statuses, and denying access to counsel to those detained. These peaceful protestors were exercising their constitutional rights to use their voices to speak out against this injustice and were met instead with tear gas and rubber bullets from an Administration that refuses to allow free speech or dissent in this country.
“Trump is weaponizing the military against U.S. citizens and immigrants alike with no regard for the rule of law in this country — even threatening force on nonviolent protesters. This isn’t just an attack on immigrants, it is an attack on our foundational freedoms. Detained people must be provided with access to counsel, and the militarized raids by the federal government must stop immediately.
“I urge every person using their right to protest to continue to do so peacefully, even as the Trump Administration escalates violence.”
Issues: Civil Rights, Public Safety & Criminal Justice
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Charles Dana Johnson II, 36, of Cairo, pleaded guilty today to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 17, 2024, a law enforcement officer conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Johnson in Parkersburg. Johnson admitted that he possessed a loaded SCCY model DVG-1 9mm pistol and a loaded Walther model P22 .22-caliber pistol that the officer found in Johnson’s waistband during the traffic stop.
Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Johnson knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of his prior felony convictions for possession with intent to deliver heroin on October 2, 2016, and first-degree robbery on January 12, 2012, both in Wood County Circuit Court.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on October 2, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Wood County Sheriff’s Office.
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Lesley C. Shamblin is prosecuting the case.
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.
This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:25-cr-27.
ALBUQUERQUE – A Becenti man is facing federal charges after allegedly causing a fatal crash.
According to court documents, on July 3, 2024, Joey Martin, 55, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, killed John Doe by operating a vehicle without due caution.
Martin is charged with involuntary manslaughter and will remain in third party custody pending trial, which has not yet been scheduled. If convicted of the current charges, Martin faces up to eight years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Philip Russell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.
The Navajo Nation Police Department and Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany DuChaussee and Michael Pahl are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
SOUTH BEND – Four men have been sentenced by United States District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after pleading guilty to various fentanyl drug and gun related charges, announced Acting United States Attorney Tina L. Nommay.
Tyler Wood, 23 years old, of Michigan City, Indiana was sentenced to 160 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl, and illegal use of a communications facility.
Clinton Rouse, 24 years old, of Michigan City, Indiana, was sentenced to 188 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl.
Justin Hervey, 27 years old, of Michigan City, Indiana, was sentenced to 125 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Raquan Perry, 23 years old, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced to 72 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and unlawful possession of a firearm.
According to documents in the case, Wood, Rouse, Hervey, and Perry worked together to distribute fentanyl pills throughout Michigan City over a period of approximately 10 months, between October 2023 and July 2024. During the spring of 2024, Wood and Rouse lived with a supplier from Michigan who obtained tens of thousands of pills from the Detroit area that were transported to Michigan City to be sold to buyers with the assistance of sub-distributors such as Hervey and Perry. Law enforcement seized approximately 10,000 of these fentanyl pills during its investigation.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with assistance from the Michigan City Police Department, the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office, the LaPorte County Prosecutor’s Office, and the DEA North Central Laboratory. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lydia T. Lucius and Katelan McKenzie Doyle.
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.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The Paiter-Suruí people have a culture deeply rooted in their land: the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land (TISS), on the border of Rondônia and Mato Grosso in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Known as Paiterey Karah, this territory is home to rich biodiversity. However, increasing human encroachment has triggered socio-cultural and territorial challenges that now threaten the transmission of traditional wisdom.
The region’s wildlife includes several primate species—some now at risk of extinction due to deforestation and environmental degradation. Within their traditional memory, the Paiter-Suruí hold extensive knowledge about these animals, which are integral to their cultural heritage. This includes the 10 species of neotropical primates identified and named by the Paiter-Suruí, all native to their territory.
Of these 10 species, five appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, a global benchmark for conservation status of fauna and flora. Among them, three—Ateles chamek, Chiropotes albinasus, and Pithecia mittermeieri—are considered extremely rare, according to Paiter tradition.
Ethnoprimatology studies the intersections between humans and non-human primates. In this field, the Paiter-Suruí have developed a complex traditional knowledge system relating to the primate species in their territory.
Because it is inherently interdisciplinary, ethnoprimatology connects biology and anthropology, allowing a deeper analysis of how human and primate lives intertwine—both ecologically and culturally.
My research used an ethnoprimatological approach grounded in qualitative methodology, drawing on key practices from biological and cultural anthropology.
The study
This research aimed to document the breadth of Paiter-Suruí knowledge about the primates within the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land, examining both the cultural and ecological significance of these animals, as well as their uses—for food, handicrafts, traditional medicine, and timekeeping based on animal vocalizations.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, I holistically examined the biological, ecological, and socio-cultural factors shaping the human-primate relationship in this region.
For data collection, I used several techniques: free listing, collective semi-structured interviews, participant observation—immersing myself in daily community life for deeper understanding—and audiovisual recordings.
Interviews included community members aged 20 to 80, with special attention to elders, who are the main custodians of traditional primate knowledge. However, women and young hunters were also included to enrich the information gathered.
Through the free list technique, which asks participants for open-ended answers without restrictions, I identified 10 primate species recognized and named by the Paiter-Suruí.
The primates of the territory
Among the 10 primate species documented in the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land, three are traditionally used as food, while four have special symbolic importance, woven into key cultural, ecological, and mythological aspects of the Paiter cosmology.
An illustrative case is the red-necked night monkey—called Yaah in Paiter. Elders say this species is excluded from the community’s typical primate classifications and instead regarded as an omen. Hearing its call or unexpectedly seeing one signals the approach of external enemies or impending death in the community.
While exploring these cultural ties to the region’s primates, I also observed the practice of rearing infant animals, especially among girls. Species such as Alouatta puruensis (howler monkey), Saimiri ustus (squirrel monkey), and Mico nigriceps (black-headed marmoset) are commonly involved.
In Paiter-Suruí society, adolescent girls often care for offspring of monkeys hunted by the community, as well as other small animals outside their typical diet. Encouraged by parents, this tradition is a vehicle for socialization and passing down valued skills. By raising young animals, girls develop emotion, empathy, nurturing skills, and hands-on experience seen as foundational for motherhood in Paiter tradition.
Beyond developing caretaking abilities, these interactions strengthen symbolic and emotional connections with local wildlife—especially primates—reinforcing ideals of belonging, reciprocity, and respect for nature. These practices demonstrate the interplay among social learning, interspecies relations, and ecological wisdom passed down through generations.
Community members also reported declining populations of certain primate species, including two—Yaah (Aotus nigriceps) and Arimẽ-Iter (Ateles chamek)—that hold special cultural significance. The latter became a central focus of my research.
The endangered Arimẽ-Iter
The black-faced spider monkey (Ateles chamek), or Arimẽ-Iter to the Paiter, is classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Its sacred status and diverse roles led me to propose it as a ‘Cultural Key Species’ for the Paiter-Suruí.
In various Indigenous communities, certain biological species are of exceptional cultural importance and are called Cultural Key Species. Defined by their significant role, many uses and deep integration in community life, these species embody the interdependence between people and their environment.
For the Paiter-Suruí, the black-faced spider monkey (Ateles chamek) stands out for its multiple uses and appears to meet the criteria of a Cultural Key Species.
Based on field observations, I cataloged five uses the Paiter-Suruí associate with this species:
· Food: The meat of Ateles chamek (called Sobag) is an important protein source in the Paiter-Suruí diet.
· Traditional dishes: Its meat is used in cultural recipes, often with Mamé—a flatbread made from corn flour. This practice passes down culinary knowledge and highlights the species’ nutritional, medicinal, and symbolic value in the community.
· Handicrafts: Spider monkey teeth are made into body ornaments (Sogap Arimẽ Ikaáp)—such as necklaces and bracelets—which reflect status or ceremonial participation and reinforce ties between people and local fauna.
· Medicine: The animal’s lard is traditionally applied to wounds (Ikawah), part of the community’s oral ethnopharmacological knowledge passed down by elders and healers.
· Caretaking: When infants are orphaned through hunting, adolescent girls may raise young spider monkeys. This reinforces learning about caretaking and builds affectionate, reciprocal ties between people and primates (Yatĩga), reflecting broader values of coexistence with nature.
Together with ancestral stewardship of spider monkey habitats, these uses highlight the species’ role as essential for cultural preservation and identity among the Paiter-Suruí.
Territorial and environmental management plan
Facing growing socio-environmental challenges, the Paiter have created internal policies for territorial management, grassroots political organization, and culturally centered development—all to protect their culture and traditional knowledge.
This laid the foundation for the Territorial and Environmental Management Plan (PGTA) for the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Land, launched in 2000 as a comprehensive framework guiding conservation, resource management, and recognition of cultural practices.
In my research, I examine TISS land management practices, focusing on the protection of primates as essential to ecological preservation. These animals are vital both for maintaining natural balance and for the cultural continuity of the territory.
Of the 10 primate species recognized by the Paiter, five now qualify as threatened under the IUCN Red List. However, the PGTA currently lacks targeted conservation measures for these at-risk populations. My findings suggest the management plan could serve as a platform to protect local primates.
Ultimately, enacting effective conservation efforts for these ethno-species is critical to the coexistence of the region’s biodiversity and the traditional knowledge of the Paiter-Suruí.
Fabrício Gatagon Suruí não presta consultoria, trabalha, possui ações ou recebe financiamento de qualquer empresa ou organização que poderia se beneficiar com a publicação deste artigo e não revelou nenhum vínculo relevante além de seu cargo acadêmico.
Paddy Hill spent more than 16 years in prison for murders he did not commit. One of the so-called Birmingham Six who were wrongfully convicted for the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974, he was proof that exoneration and financial compensation do not fix a miscarriage of justice.
When I met him in July 2023, more than 30 years after his release from prison, his ordeal continued to haunt him. He was in his late 70s, looking frail and far from the “12 and a half stone” man he was in Parkhurst Prison. He had very little appetite and was in poor health. The little sleep he was able snatch was marred by screaming nightmares.
Neither of us knew it at the time, but this was to be his final interview. He died aged 80, on December 30 2024. I sat down to talk with Hill in his living room. Struggling to control his emotions, he told me: “Sometimes I sit in the bedroom … and I’m crying my eyes out like a child and I don’t know what the fuck happened … I’ve been so fucking screwed up.”
The ITV docudrama Mr Bates vs the Post Office thrust wrongful convictions into mainstream consciousness in January 2024 – a quarter of a century after the Post Office began prosecuting sub-postmasters and mistresses for fraud, theft, and false accounting and 15 years after Rebecca Thomson’s Computer Weekly article exposing the Horizon IT system as the potential culprit.
Now the public could finally see the human impact of miscarriages of justice on these upstanding – and, more importantly, innocent – members of their communities. Public outrage followed.
But despite the mass quashing of hundreds of convictions, and amid promises of speedy financial compensation, progress has been pitiful. While collecting a National Television Award in September 2024, former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton confirmed that out of the “555 group”, those involved in the litigation which exposed the Horizon scandal, “more than 300 haven’t been paid yet, including Sir Alan Bates”.
Sadly, this timescale is far from unusual. In July 2023, Andrew Malkinson finally had his 2003 rape conviction overturned after several unsuccessful appeals, including unsuccessful applications in 2012 and 2020 to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the independent body which investigates potential miscarriages of justice.
Crucially, the CCRC did not commission the DNA testing that finally exonerated him and did not review police files which would have shown that Greater Manchester Police had withheld crucial evidence at his trial.
Malkinson spent 17 years in prison maintaining his innocence. Perversely, he could have been released sooner had he falsely confessed. He was eventually exonerated thanks to the help of the charity Appeal, which commissioned those crucial DNA tests and unearthed the disclosure failures.
The CCRC has since acknowledged in an independent review that it “failed Mr Malkinson” with chairperson Helen Pitcher OBE (whose recent resignation was welcomed by the Ministry of Justice) eventually expressing “sincere regret and an unreserved apology on behalf of the commission”. All of this happened 12 months after Malkinson called on the CCRC to apologise to him. Malkinson said it was “shameful” that the CCRC has kept private the names of those responsible for his ordeal and delayed the publishing of the report highlighting its mishandling of his case.
The true number of miscarriages of justice is unknown. In the UK, the CCRC referral rate averages 2% including appeals of sentence. In the US, estimates of wrongful conviction and imprisonment range from 6% to 15.4%.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
Inevitably, some innocent people will have their appeals denied and will remain convicted for the rest of their lives. The trauma of remaining legally guilty of a crime you did not commit cannot be overstated.
But persistent psychological ill-effects can be seen even in those who have been formally exonerated, including long-term effects on their employment and relationships.
I’ve been examining cases like this as part of a research project into the experiences of people who suffer grave miscarriages of justice. Working with Dr Mandy Winterton at Edinburgh Napier University, I interviewed several men who have been imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.
As academics with psychology and sociology backgrounds, we were predominantly interested in how victims were affected by such injustices. Previous research has documented the litany of mental health and social effects on those who have been wrongfully convicted and exonerated, and the flaws in the criminal justice system that are to blame. But little attention has been paid to individual experiences. While there were clear commonalities in the men’s stories, they all had unique perspectives.
Of the people we spoke to, Hill and a man called Jimmy Boyle spoke to us on the record and specifically requested that they be named. I have given the other men featured here pseudonyms to protect their anonymity.
Paddy Hill
Hill’s story is particularly harrowing. On November 21 1974, shortly after 8pm, bombs exploded in two pubs in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring around 200 others. They were attributed to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), which had detonated many bombs in the West Midlands in the previous year.
Hill and his friends were arrested at Heysham Docks as they were boarding the ferry to Belfast to attend the funeral of an old friend who had been a member of the IRA. Hill said that they were initially interviewed at Morecambe police station in Lancashire, and the West Midlands Police took over their questioning the next day.
Hill and his co-accused were, says Hill, tortured by the West Midlands serious crime squad. They were subjected to anti-Irish verbal abuse, hours-long beatings over several days, mock executions, were burned with cigarettes, and deprived of sleep, food and drink. Unable to withstand this, four of the six men eventually signed false confessions, condemning them all to life imprisonment in 1975 for the murders. The six men brought a civil action against the West Midlands Police which was thrown out in 1980 by Lord Denning.
These shocking revelations eventually reached the public consciousness thanks to investigative journalist and former Labour MP Chris Mullin, who uncovered evidence of police wrongdoing and corruption. His work informed the group’s court of appeal hearing in 1987. However, the convictions were upheld by Lord Chief Justice Lane. It was only at their second appeal in 1991, after Mullin had uncovered more evidence of their innocence, that they were finally exonerated.
Despite other lines of enquiry which could have led to the real bombers – including a confession and several named suspects – the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided in 2023 that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, denying justice to the families of those killed and injured.
The impact on Hill’s family was enormous. With such public vitriol for the Birmingham Six, his wife and children had to move house regularly and change their names to avoid being recognised. He told me:
Everywhere they went, sooner or later somebody found out who they were and then they’d pick on them. And sometimes my kids were going to school and they couldn’t even remember what fucking name they were supposed to be using, they were that confused.
Hill’s marriage ended while he was in prison. “I told her to divorce me. I said: ‘Meet someone, you want to get married, don’t worry about me.’ And that was it.”
He later remarried, but his relationship with his children was irretrievably destroyed. “Along the way I lost my own kids, because I came out of jail and I didn’t feel nothing for my kids. I still don’t … I’ve spent more time here with you than I have done in the last 20 fucking years with my kids.”
Though he was referred to psychologists for support, he told me none were able to help him. Over and above the pains of imprisonment, the wrongfully convicted are betrayed by the very people that we are led to believe are there to protect us. The justice system has wrought on them the worst injustice, and many will suffer from enduring anger and mistrust of authorities.
When we met, Hill was still consumed by his anger and felt badly let down: “Over the years I realised I was never going to get any professional help from the government, even though we have it in writing that they have a duty of care towards us – but they’ve never done nothing to help us … If they did, they would acknowledge what they’ve done wrong.”
Up until his death, Hill had spent much of the past 30 years helping other survivors of miscarriages of justice. Initially intending to spend his first 12 months of freedom campaigning, he “got involved with the families, and it was then I realised how bad the families had it … That’s what kept me going, coming out and campaigning.”
He established the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (Mojo), a Glasgow-based charity dedicated to supporting the wrongfully convicted. It provides advocacy for clients in prison, aftercare and reintegration services, and dedicated psychological support offered pro-bono by a clinical psychologist.
But the demand far exceeds Mojo’s ability to help, and it may take several months for a case to be assessed. Euan McIlvride, the organisation’s legal officer, told me it typically receives “250 applications a year, and we will probably support only ten of those because the rest of them don’t meet the requirements for our support … We have finite resources.”
For Hill, keeping busy provided some relief from thinking about his ordeal.
…When you aren’t doing something, all you’re going to do is sit there and think … about things you don’t fucking want to think about. I don’t know what happens to me when I go to sleep … [My wife] hears me screaming … kicking and punching everything … I’ll be watching television and all of a sudden … BANG! It’s like a non-stop video going through your head all the time.
Chained to a radiator
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Pace), which came to effect in 1986, aimed to reduce miscarriages of justice by balancing the powers of the police and the public. Pace provides safeguards for suspects during questioning, puts a limit on how long suspects can be questioned for, and insists that interviews be recorded.
This makes it easier to detect when protocols have not been followed or there may have been mistreatment or intimidation.
It doesn’t prevent such wrongdoing, however.
I spoke with one man, who I am calling Mark, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1988. He told me there were over one hundred breaches of Pace in his case, including being handcuffed to a hot radiator, being denied food and water, and being denied a solicitor.
One of his co-accused, a vulnerable adult, had also falsely confessed to the crime. Mark lost his first appeal in 1990 but his case went to the CCRC when it was established in 1997. The CCRC brought in another police force to investigate. He said:
When I saw [their] report … I nearly fell off my chair and nearly choked on my coffee … Everything I had said all those years ago … the handcuffing to the radiators, they proved it. All the breaches of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act … that we were interviewed off the record … Making up notes and stuff like that. I couldn’t believe it. I knew we were going home.
He subsequently pursued a civil action against the police which was settled out of court, with the force insisting the settlement did not mean it was admitting liability.
Mark also suffered a marital breakdown, after he and his wife lost their baby daughter while he was on remand:
It ripped the guts out of my marriage, you know. My wife was only 17-18, same age as me … She had a husband inside and she lost a child. And you’ve got to look at the economical impact and the mental impact it had on her … She was just as much a victim as what I was.
He started taking drugs in prison: “I didn’t care if I lived or died because I had lost everything, as far as I was concerned.”
But Mark turned himself around, got off drugs and availed himself of all the education he had access to, including law and human rights, to build the strongest possible case for his appeal. With the aid of a human rights lawyer the CCRC referred his conviction in 1998, which was then quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1999. He had spent 11 years in prison as a convicted murderer.
‘The innocence test’
After his exoneration, Mark was successful in securing over £600,000 compensation for his ordeal, though he had over £37,000 deducted for “saved living expenses”. A House of Lords ruling in 2007 deemed that those receiving compensation for a miscarriage of justice can have the amount reduced to account for “savings” made while in prison – for costs such as food, housing and other bills that they would have had to pay had they not been wrongfully incarcerated.
Considering the difficulties people face accessing any financial compensation for their wrongful imprisonment, this adds further insult to injury. The rule has since been scrapped following the high-profile Malkinson case – but deductions made prior to this are not being reimbursed.
Mark was given no financial counselling or support, and he rapidly spent the money – more than he had ever had in his life – while trying to block out his pain:
By the time six months had gone, I’d spent the hundred grand [interim payment] on wine, women, drugs … ’cause I couldn’t cope with what was going on … That was my way of blotting out all the things I saw in prison.
The money also caused a rift in his family – something echoed by others I have spoken to. After the death of his mother, his family “went their own ways”.
Nowadays, only a small proportion of those exonerated will ever receive financial compensation due to the requirements of the so-called “innocence test”.
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 made it difficult for applicants to receive compensation because there had to be a newly discovered fact – not available at the time of their original trial – that they could use to make the case that they had suffered a miscarriage of justice.
The definition of what constitutes a miscarriage of justice has become more restrictive over time, meaning an applicant now must provide evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, of their innocence. In the absence of a key witness admitting to falsifying their statement or DNA evidence proving innocence, this is unlikely.
Like Hill, Mark struggled to adjust after his exoneration and release, and found support to be woefully lacking:
I had nobody to talk to, no money, no job, no house. I didn’t have any prospects. I phoned up my solicitor … I remember saying: ‘Why did you get me out?’ It was difficult to adjust … I slept with a hammer … under my pillow – I was very paranoid … All they did was give me tablets and told me to get on with my life. No counselling. Nothing. They didn’t know what to do with people like me.
Mark still suffers with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and has never been able to work a normal job. He continues to campaign for the wrongfully convicted and to increase awareness of miscarriages of justice. He credits this work with giving him a sense of purpose.
Jimmy Boyle – not innocent enough?
I also spoke to James Boyle, who was acquitted at retrial of historical sexual offences after he had spent five years in prison. Boyle, from Rutherglen, who likes to be known as Jimmy, has always maintained these offences never happened.
From the outset, Boyle found processes quite at odds from how we are told they are supposed to be. He said: “Things that you should have: for example, presumption of innocence – nonsense, it doesn’t exist. None of these rights exist in reality.” He claims that lines of evidence undermining the allegations against him were not investigated. Further, he encountered professionals in the criminal justice system who he says were incompetent and even “malicious” and “criminal”.
To add further insult, he was later told that he was not considered exonerated because he did not provide evidence proving his innocence (he failed the “innocence test”). As a result, the General Teaching Council for Scotland did not reinstate him and he was unable to return to his teaching career which he had found enormously fulfilling.
Like others I have spoken to, Boyle, now in his 60s, hasn’t been able to work since his release:
There was so much involved, and fighting with the Teaching Council – you know, it was full time. It really was full time when you’re dealing with these agencies … I do plenty [at Mojo] – I’ve spoken at a number of events … But I had to continue fighting my own fight.
Martin: total lack of victim support
Miscarriages of justice have a huge effect on a person’s mental health. But my research found the impact begins long before a conviction – with effects such as anxiety, trauma and depression resulting from the wrongful allegation.
Martin (not his real name) detailed the difficulties he experienced from his initial wrongful allegation of rape – including isolation, lack of advice, and a lack of appropriate mental health support. He said:
I kept [the rape allegations] to myself and it was horrific, because I didn’t know what was going to happen … Once I was charged … I went to my GP because I was severely depressed. I could barely function. [Counselling] was actually making things worse rather than better … I had looked online … There’s victim support and there’s witness support, but if you’ve been accused there is absolutely nothing.
It took over three years from the initial allegation to court proceedings, during which time two other allegations of rape and indecent assault were made and charges were brought. Martin kept the allegations from his employers and friends:
You don’t mention it because if you mention it, you’re opening the box and then that becomes a big thing – and God help how you’re going to feel at the end of that conversation.
Convicted of rape and indecent assault (the second and third charges), he was sentenced to four years in prison, but successfully appealed on the basis that the Moorov doctrine was misapplied.
Moorov is a principle of Scottish law which allows evidence of one crime to corroborate evidence of another. As the charges against him were considered to corroborate one another, having been acquitted of the key (first) charge he should have been acquitted of all. Instead, he spent about a year in prison – yet he considers himself fortunate.
The guy [Andrew Malkinson] that won his appeal the other day spent 17 years in prison. I only spent one. And although I shouldn’t have spent any, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. There are a lot of people that haven’t been able to clear their names, there are a lot of people that have spent a long time in prison. I spent one year and managed to clear my name, so I should be thankful for what little happiness I’ve managed to get out of it.
Martin was fortunate in that he’d had a good education and had taken detailed notes during his trial, which assisted his appeal. He also helped other prisoners who were struggling to complete required forms for themselves, and managed to get a job in the prison kitchen.
Since his release, he has pursued a law degree, eager to use his experience for positive change in the justice system. “I think it’s given me a new perspective really … You know what, life’s too short – let’s just get on with it.”
What needs to be done?
People wrongly accused of crimes are in dire need of support from the moment the initial allegation is made, to help them navigate the complex legal processes and challenging psychological effects of being wrongly accused.
Currently there is woefully inadequate mental health support at all stages, from initial allegation to post-release.
Of course, there are many guilty people in prison who protest their innocence – but support should not be denied to those who maintain their innocence.
Reforms are needed to make it easier for an innocent person to appeal their conviction. The CCRC has suffered a decline in funding, from £9.24 million in 2004 to £6 million in 2022. Over this period, the workload has more than doubled while the Ministry of Justice has reduced CCRC commissioners’ terms of employment from full-time salaried positions to one-day-a-week contracts, making the workload unsustainable.
People may also face significant barriers in accessing evidence that would exonerate them such as police files, without which they have little hope of a successful appeal. This was evident in the Malkinson case, where the charity Appeal accessed the police files the CCRC had refused to look at.
The lack of accountability and consequences for those who purposely harm innocent people causes further anger and distress to the wrongfully accused and convicted. Yet those affected rarely even receive an apology. This needs to change.
Finally, there needs to be greater public awareness of wrongful convictions and allegations, their causes and consequences, and an understanding of their devastating and long-term effects. As Hill told me the year before he died:
People think you come out and they give you a few quid … [then you] walk off into the sunset and live happily ever after. If only. I would love to go to bed at night like an ordinary fucking person … without waking up so angry and tense.
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This work was supported by the BA/Leverhulme Trust grant SRG1819190884. Many thanks to Dr Mandy Winterton, co-Investigator on this research, and to the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO) for supporting us by facilitating access to clients.
Faye Skelton is affiliated with the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation having joined the Board of Directors in April 2025.
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