Northern District of Alabama

BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a Birmingham man for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson

A one-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges RAYMOND DEJUAN SHINE 38, with being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Shine was arrested by federal agents on September 12, 2019 and made an initial appearance in the United States District Court. 

“We will not sit idly by when given the opportunity to prosecute convicted felons who continue to abuse the system,” Town said.  “Defendants like Shine will be prosecuted under federal law where there is no bail and there is no early parole.”

           

“Reducing the potential for violent crime that have negative effects to our neighborhoods was critical due to ATF partnering with our state, local and federal counterparts,” Marcus said. 

The maximum penalty for being a felon in possession of a firearm is ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John Camp is prosecuting. 

An indictment contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Justice Department announced today the second coordinated law enforcement action of the Appalachian Region Prescription Opioid (ARPO) strike force, resulting in charges against 13 individuals across five Appalachian federal districts for alleged offenses relating to the over prescription of controlled substances through “pill mill” clinics.  Of those charged, 12 were charged for their role in unlawfully distributing opioids and other controlled substances and 11 were physicians.  The alleged conduct resulted in the distribution of more than 17 million pills.  

This action follows the first such takedown in April of this year, which involved charges against 60 defendants, including 53 medical professionals, in 11 federal districts, alleging the illegal distribution of more than 23 million pills.  The charges brought in April have already resulted in 11 guilty pleas in seven federal districts, including guilty pleas by nine medical professionals, including seven physicians.

The charges announced today aggressively prosecute medical professionals whose alleged prescribing behaviors have contributed to the opioid epidemic, particularly medical professionals who are involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department.  According to the CDC, approximately 115 Americans die every day of an opioid-related overdose.  

Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in conjunction with its ARPO Strike Force, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI, DEA and the U.S. Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  In addition, the operation includes the participation of various other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Ohio Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and West Virginia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.  Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Program Integrity (CMS/CPI) announced today that all appropriate administrative actions would be taken based on these charges. 

“The Department of Justice will not relent in its aggressive pursuit of those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic in Appalachia,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “Medical professionals who violate their solemn oaths and peddle opioids for profit should know that we will find you and ensure that the justice system treats you like the drug dealer you are.” 

“We have taken a very tough stance against those that fuel the opiate crisis at every level including pill writers, pill fillers and drug dealers,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart of the Southern District of West Virginia.  “The unlawful distribution of controlled substances is a serious matter that gets my office’s full attention.  It is one of our highest priorities for prosecution as we continue with our efforts to protect the public and the people of West Virginia.  And for those that struggle or have a loved one that struggles with addiction and substance use disorder, I again urge treatment and recovery.  While we remain tough in our actions against those who feed this crisis, my sincere and prayerful hope is that everyone who needs help gets help on their path to true recovery.”

“From street corner to clinic, the Department of Justice continues to show its resolve in bringing to justice those responsible for the opioid crisis in America,” said U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama.  “A federal courtroom awaits those who have sacrificed the efficacy of care for the evils of greed.”

“We said in April that the ARPO strike force was not a one-and-done spectacle, but an enduring commitment to stamp out opioid trafficking by prescription pad. We meant it,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman of the Southern District of Ohio.  “It’s thanks to the partnership between U.S. Attorney’s offices, the Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners that the United States is able to investigate and prosecute not only medical professionals who are allegedly acting as drug dealers, but also the myriad other malefactors who have contributed—and are contributing—to the opioid epidemic.”

“Opioid misuse and abuse is an insidious epidemic, and unfortunately, causes individuals to engage in criminal behavior that contributes to the problem,” said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee.  “Just as this office will hold medical professionals accountable for over-prescribing opioids, we will also pursue federal charges against any person who exploits the medical profession for their own selfish desire to obtain highly addictive prescription drugs by dishonest methods.”

“Today marks another successful operation by the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force against the illegal distribution of opioids which endanger our neighbors and the communities we live in,” said Assistant Director Terry Wade of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.  “Through strong cooperation between the FBI and its law enforcement partners, the Strike Force’s coordinated efforts resulted in bringing those responsible for this egregious and costly epidemic to justice.  The FBI will continue to make illegal opioid distribution investigations a top priority.”

“Illegal diversion of opioids and other controlled substances may lead to drug addiction and deaths, as well as a drain on resources that could be used to provide legitimate healthcare services,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of HHS-OIG.  “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to bring criminals to justice, and enable honest healthcare providers to better serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.”

“The opioid epidemic continues to have deadly consequences for our state,” said Assistant Director Mike Cox of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Medicaid Fraud Control Division. “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to target dishonest healthcare professionals who contribute to the problem by illegitimately prescribing opioids and other medications for profit.”  

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In the Southern District of Ohio, four medical professionals were charged, including three medical doctors and one doctor of osteopathy, in connection with several alleged “pill mill” controlled substance diversion and/or health care fraud schemes.

Troy Balgo, D.O., 53, of Saint Clairsville, Ohio, the elected county coroner of Belmont County, Ohio, was charged with one count of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to commit unlawful distribution of controlled substances.  These charges are based on an alleged scheme by which Balgo caused and/or conspired with others to cause submissions for health care services that he did not perform, and to prescribe controlled substances while he was out of the state or country.   Balgo is the owner and operator of two medical clinics in St. Clairsville, Belmont County.  The DEA, FBI and HHS-OIG, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD-OIG), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigated this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Jason of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. 

George Griffin, M.D., 70, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was charged with 20 counts of distribution of controlled substances for his alleged participation in the unlawful prescription of controlled substances outside of the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.  Griffin owns and operates a solo medical practice in Cincinnati, Hamilton County.  The DEA, FBI and HHS-OIG, as well as DOD-OIG, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigated this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Jason of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Thomas Romano, M.D., 69, of Wheeling, West Virginia, was charged with 20 counts of diversion of controlled substances for his alleged participation in the unlawful prescription of controlled substances outside of the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.  Romano owns and operates a solo cash-only medical practice in Martin’s Ferry, Belmont County.  The DEA, FBI and HHS-OIG, as well as the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigated this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Jason of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Freeda Flynn, M.D., 66, of Saint Clairsville, Ohio, was charged with eight counts of distribution of controlled substances, and one count of health care fraud, for her alleged participation in the unlawful prescription of controlled substances outside of the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, and health care fraud for the submission of claims for services which were medically unnecessary and/or performed below medically-accepted standards.  Flynn owns and operates a solo practice with focuses on medical and opioid addiction treatment programs in St. Clairsville, Belmont County. The DEA, FBI, HHS, as well as DOD-OIG, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigated this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Jason of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. 

In the Southern District of West Virginia, four individuals, including three doctors, were charged as part of today’s announcements.  Additionally, three doctors have pleaded guilty as a result of the April ARPO Takedown.

Dr. Michael Shramowiat, 66, of Vienna, West Virginia was charged with allegedly unlawfully distributing controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.  This case was investigated by the DEA, HHS-OIG and Hurricane Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Kilby Macfadden and Trial Attorney Sean O’Connell of the Fraud Section.

Dr. Ricky Houdersheldt, 67, of Ona, West Virginia, was charged with allegedly unlawfully distributing controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.  This case was investigated by the DEA, HHS-OIG and Hurricane Police Department.  These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Kilby Macfadden and Trial Attorney Sean O’Connell of the Fraud Section.

Dr. Sriramloo Kesari, 77, of Charleston, West Virginia, was charged with allegedly unlawfully distributing controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.  This case was investigated by the DEA, HHS-OIG and Hurricane Police Department.  These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Kilby Macfadden and Trial Attorney Sean O’Connell of the Fraud Section.

Julie Wheeler, 43, of Oak Hill, West Virginia, owner and operator of JRW Homecare Support Services, was charged with health care fraud.  The charge stems from Wheeler’s scheme to defraud the Veterans Health Administration’s Spina Bifida Health Care Benefits Program.  The U.S. Veterans Affairs-CID investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Goes of the Southern District of West Virginia.

On Sept. 3, 2019, Marc Spelar, 37, of Huntington, West Virginia, a psychiatrist, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal drug distribution charged in an April 2019 indictment.  The charges stem from Spelar’s unlawful distribution of Schedule II narcotics, including dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate and amphetamine salt to a patient who did not have a medical need for the drugs.  Spelar did not perform examinations of any kind prior to dispensing the narcotics even though the patient had a history of abusing narcotics.  Spelar no longer has his medical license or his DEA registration.  The DEA and HHS-OIG investigated this case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chiefs Kilby Macfadden and Daniel Griffin of the Fraud Section.

On Sept. 23, 2019, Dr. Jeffery Addison, 64, of Charleston, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy distribution of controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.  The DEA and HHS-OIG investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Kilby Macfadden and Trial Attorney Sean O’Connell.

On Aug. 22, 2019, Dr. Muhammed Samer Nasher-Alneam, 47, of Charleston, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to illegal distribution of controlled substances without legitimate medical purposes.  Nasher admitted to prescribing methadone pills outside of the bounds of professional medical practice and not for legitimate medical purposes.  Pursuant to his guilty plea, Nasher agreed to permanently surrender both his medical license and DEA registration.  He further agreed to never seek reinstatement of a license to practice as a medical doctor in West Virginia or any other state.   The FBI, DEA, HHS-OIG, the DOL-Office of Inspector General, the West Virginia State Police and the West Virginia Insurance Commission investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alan McGonigal, Jennifer Herrald and Steve Loew of the Southern District of West Virginia.

In the Eastern District of Tennessee, two medical doctors were charged.  Additionally, one physician charged in April has pleaded guilty.

Frank McNeil, M.D., 78, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was charged with one count of unlawful distribution of controlled substances.  The charges stem from McNeil’s role in prescribing high doses of opioids with no medical legitimacy, while failing to perform urine drug screens and obtain any imaging.  The DEA, TBI, FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Louis Manzo of the Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne-Marie Svolto of the Eastern District of Tennessee. 

Samuel Mcgaha, M.D., 69, of Sevierville, Tennessee, was charged with one count of unlawful distribution of controlled substances.  The charges stem from Mcgaha’s role as a family practitioner in Morristown, Tennessee, who prescribed opioids and other medications without a legitimate medical purpose.  The DEA, TBI, FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Louis Manzo of the Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne-Marie Svolto of the Eastern District of Tennessee. 

In addition, on Aug. 13, 2019, Harrison Yang, M.D., 75, of Manchester, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement relating to a health care matter charged in an April 2019 indictment as part of the coordinated action in April.  The charges stem from Yang writing prescriptions for opioids that had no legitimate medical purpose and that were outside the usual course of professional practice.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Lou Manzo and Assistant Chief Drew Bradylyons of the Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Winne of the Eastern District of Tennessee.

In the Western District of Tennessee, one defendant was charged.  Additionally, three medical professionals have pleaded guilty.

Erin Pealor, 35, of Memphis, was charged with nine counts of attempting to acquire or obtain a controlled substance by misrepresentation by fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge.  The charges stem from Pealor’s role in knowingly and intentionally attempting to obtain Schedule II controlled substances, namely Ritalin, Adderall, Methylin and Methylphenidate, by fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge, by filling out prescriptions with false and fraudulent patient names and forging the signature of a physician.  This case was brought with the assistance of the DEA and the State of Tennessee-OIG.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ann Weber Langley of the Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Erskine of the Western District of Tennessee.

In addition, several indictments brought in the coordinated action in April 2019 have already resulted in guilty pleas.  On July 22, 2019, Michael Hellman, a physician, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.  These charges stem from Hellman prescribing Percocet and Promethazine with Codeine outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jillian Willis and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Allen of the Western District of Tennessee. 

On April 16, 2019, Kathryn Russell, a nurse practitioner who practiced in Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.  Russell wrote prescriptions for opioids that had no legitimate medical purpose and that were outside the usual course of professional practice.  In an eight-week period, Russell prescribed more than 7,800 oxycodone pills, more than 6,000 benzodiazepine pills, and more than 1,000 pills of carisoprodol.

On Sept. 19, 2019, Michelle Bonifield, a Bells pharmacy technician pleaded guilty to filling an opioid prescription without a legitimate medical purpose while working at Mehr Drug Store. 

In the Northern District of Alabama, one defendant charged in April 2019 has pleaded guilty.

On Aug. 6, 2019, Christopher Wray, of Arab, Alabama, a prescription forger, pleaded guilty to twelve counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery or deception.  Previously charged in an April 2019 indictment, the charges stem from a forgery scheme to use a local doctor’s name and DEA number to fraudulently obtain over a thousand opioids and other controlled substances.  The case was investigated by the DEA with assistance from the Guntersville Police Department.  The case is being handled by Trial Attorney Devon Helfmeyer of the Fraud Section.

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The charges and allegations contained in the indictments are merely accusations.  The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The Fraud Section leads the ARPO Strike Force.  Since its inception in October 2018, the ARPO Strike Force, which operates in 10 districts, has charged more than 70 defendants who are collectively responsible for distributing more than 40 million pills. 

BIRMINGHAM – Federal prosecutors today charged a Calhoun County resident with a wire fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a one-count information in U.S. District Court, charging ANGELA CHEATWOOD, 41, with a wire fraud scheme. 

According to the information, Cheatwood embezzled over $484,000 from Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and Sacred Heart School in Anniston, Alabama.  Cheatwood was the bookkeeper for the church and the school.  During her time as bookkeeper, Cheatwood wrote unauthorized checks to her personal bank account from the church bank account.  Additionally, Cheatwood took cash which had been collected from fundraisers and donations for the school and deposited those funds into her personal bank account instead of the school’s bank account. 

“Cheatwood substituted her own personal priorities ahead of the needs of parishioners, teachers, and the students, and betrayed their trust,” Town said. “Sadly, churches and schools are not immune from fraud, but hopefully prosecutions such as this will discourage others who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of their community.”

“Ms. Cheatwood’s betrayal as a bookkeeper for her own personal gain not only caused a significant loss to her church and it’s school, but to the Anniston, AL community that it serves,” Davis said.  “The U.S. Secret Service will always seek prosecution of those that would exploit their position of trust for their own enrichment.” 

The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  

United States Secret Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Peeples is prosecuting.

An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

BIRMINGHAM – A delegation of law enforcement members from the State of Alabama, recently returned from a trip to Mexico and to the State of Sinaloa, home of the Sinaloa Cartel, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris.

“The efforts and actions of this Alabama delegation underscores the commitment and lengths to which law enforcement in the state will go to ensure the safety of its citizens and fully understand the breadth and sophistication of the enemy we face,” Town said.  “That enemy is not just the cartels. It is not just the dealers.  That enemy is also addiction and abuse.  The entire delegation owes its thanks to the DEA for making arduous coordination look effortless.”

“It is the hope and prayer of this delegation of law enforcement executives that the citizens of Alabama understand that we are steadfast in our combined efforts to keep our communities safe,” Morris said.  “Collectively, we will not tolerate the destruction drug trafficking brings to our great state. We witnessed firsthand the lengths Mexican drug cartels will go to fuel the disease of addiction.  We are resolved to do everything in our power to stem the flow drugs into Alabama.”

On September 11, 2019, a delegation of twelve federal, state and local law enforcement officials traveled to Mexico to see, hear and smell the sophistication of the illegal narcotics trade there.  The delegation was briefed in Mexico City at the highest levels.  The delegation was in country for less than 72 hours, traveled nearly 5500 total miles and was constantly under the heavily armed protection of United States and Mexican law enforcement.  The crime intelligence accumulated by the delegation was immeasurable, only countered by the amount of narcotics activity with but one primary destination…the United States. 

The overall message was clear, narcotics trafficking and production in Mexico is dominating the drug trade in the United States.  Heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and even cocaine egressing from Columbia, are all being trafficked into the United States by the drug trade in Mexico.  The precursor chemicals are being sourced primarily from China, but chemists working for the cartels are unfortunately making strides sourcing the precursor materials inside of Mexico.  The profit margins for fentanyl and methamphetamine are driving the drug trade by the cartels. 

The members of the delegation were:

Jay Town – U.S. Attorney, Alabama Northern District

Louis Franklin - U.S. Attorney, Alabama Middle District                               

Richard Moore - U.S. Attorney, Alabama Southern District

Clay Morris – Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Birmingham, New Orleans Division

Sean Stephen – Group Supervisor, Birmingham, New Orleans Division

Steven Marshall, Alabama Attorney General

John Harold Taylor – Alabama Law Enforcement Secretary

Kevin Turner - Sheriff, Madison County, Alabama

Barry Matson – Executive Director, Alabama District Attorney’s Association

Nicholas Derzis – Chief of Police, Hoover Police Department

Robert Broussard – District Attorney, Madison County, Alabama

Bryan Taylor – General Counsel, Governor of Alabama

            Below is the link to the video shown at the press conference today.

 

Video file

                  

 

“Tuscaloosa PD Investigator Dornell Cousette’s end of watch has come too soon.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, fiancé, children, and fellow officers.  This is yet another heartbreaking reminder of the dangers our brave men and women of the badge face daily.”

 

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Birmingham resident and six-time convicted felon to 105 months in prison for a 2018 carjacking in Homewood, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.

U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced CORDERREL DEWAYNE POOLE, 32, on one count of carjacking.  Poole pled guilty in June. 

On November 5, 2018, Poole ran up to the victim as she was getting into her SUV in the parking lot of a Homewood business on Green Springs Highway.  As the victim backed her vehicle out of the parking space, Poole repeatedly banged on her window and screamed for her to get out.  When the victim did not meet his demands, he reached inside the SUV and grabbed her arm in an attempt to pull her out.  Poole then put his hand into a shoulder bag he was carrying and acted as if he was going to pull a gun.  Believing she was about to be shot, the victim gave up her vehicle.  Poole drove off in the SUV and was apprehended the same evening by Lincoln Police Department at the scene of a one-vehicle crash on Interstate 20 in Lincoln, Alabama.

“This career criminal has been brought to justice.  We will not sit idly by and allow criminals to intimidate our citizens with such violence,” Town said.  “We will find you, and we will prosecute you.  The revolving door for Poole is now locked tightly behind him and a warm prison bed awaits him.”

“I want to extend my personal thanks to all of our law enforcement partners whose efforts quickly brought Poole to justice,” Sharp said.  “The FBI will continue to work closely with our partners to address violent crimes in north Alabama.”

The FBI investigated the case along with the Homewood Police Department, the Lincoln Police Department, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alan Baty and Kristy Peoples prosecuted the charge.

BIRMINGHAM – A criminal information was filed on Sept. 11, 2019, against Alaa Mohd Abusaad, charging her with concealment of terrorism financing, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2339C and 2.  Abusaad pleaded guilty to the charge today.  Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, United States Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. of the Birmingham Division made the announcement today.

As set forth in the previously filed complaint, Abusaad instructed an FBI undercover employee (UCE) about how to send money to the mujahedeen—fighters engaged in jihad.  Abusaad told the UCE that money “is always needed.  You can’t have a war without weapons.  You can’t prepare a soldier without equipment.”  Abusaad also advised the UCE on how to send money in a manner that would avoid detection by law enforcement, including by using fake names and addresses when conducting electronic money transfers.  Subsequently, Abusaad introduced the UCE to a financial facilitator who could route the UCE’s money to “brothers that work with aq” (meaning al Qaeda).

The maximum penalty for concealment of terrorism financing is ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and up to a life term of supervised release. 

Investigation of the case was conducted by the FBI, including FBI offices in Birmingham, Alabama and Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Cornelius and Manu Balachandran and Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

A criminal information was filed on Sept. 11, 2019, against Alaa Mohd Abusaad, charging her with concealment of terrorism financing, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2339C and 2.  Abusaad pleaded guilty to the charge today.  Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, United States Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. of the Birmingham Division made the announcement today.

As set forth in the previously filed complaint, Abusaad instructed an FBI undercover employee (UCE) about how to send money to the mujahedeen—fighters engaged in jihad.  Abusaad told the UCE that money “is always needed.  You can’t have a war without weapons.  You can’t prepare a soldier without equipment.”  Abusaad also advised the UCE on how to send money in a manner that would avoid detection by law enforcement, including by using fake names and addresses when conducting electronic money transfers.  Subsequently, Abusaad introduced the UCE to a financial facilitator who could route the UCE’s money to “brothers that work with aq” (meaning al Qaeda).

The maximum penalty for concealment of terrorism financing is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and up to a life term of supervised release. 

Investigation of the case was conducted by the FBI, including FBI offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Cornelius and Manu Balachandran and Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

 

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Center Point man to 50 years in prison for producing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.

U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon sentenced DENNIS JAMES HUDSON JR., 28, also known as D.J. Zygi Hudson, Zygi Hudson, Tyler Johnson and Brandon McDaniels, on 5 counts of producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography.  Hudson pled guilty in January 2019, for persuading persons under the age of 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct and transmit images of that conduct over the internet, and to distributing child pornography using the internet and a file-sharing website. 

“A long prison sentence is well-deserved for this defendant,” Town said.  “We commend the FBI and ALEA for their work to diligently monitor the internet using every available resource to catch yet another child predator.  He will now spend the next 50 years gazing at prison bars instead of a computer screen.” 

“Hudson deserves every day of this sentence, as he used the internet for his own perverse behavior,” Sharp said. “Let this be a reminder to all parents to monitor your children's internet use. Know who they are communicating with and promptly report anything suspicious.”

FBI investigated the case, along with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Manu Balachandran and Leann White.   

BIRMINGHAM – Federal agents arrested two Huntsville men for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid painkiller, which resulted in a death, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris.

A two-count indictment charges Antonio Lavar Burton, a/k/a Fat Tony, 35, and Quincy Cortez McClendon, 35, with conspiring to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, that resulted in a death in November 2017 in Madison County.  The grand jury returned the indictment against Burton and McClendon in August 2019. 

“A tiny fraction of a gram of fentanyl can be lethal, and as dealers add it to more and more drugs, it is causing both fatal and non-fatal overdoses,” Town said.  “Death and destruction of this criminal behavior will not be tolerated, and will be severely punished.”

“Time and time again we have warned drug dealers that we will relentlessly and aggressively bring them to justice in order to protect our children and communities,” Morris said. “We will not sit idly by while drug dealers continue to plague our streets with any drugs, especially fentanyl.”

The penalty for distributing a controlled substance that results in death is 20 years to life in prison and a maximum $1 million fine.

DEA investigated the case, in partnership with the Huntsville Police Department and the Madison County District Attorney’s Office and the United States Marshals Service, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Becher Sr. is prosecuting. 

An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

BIRMINGHAM -- A federal jury yesterday convicted an Oneonta man of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of over 500 grams of methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E, Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris. 

The jury returned its guilty verdict against Brian Turner, 47, after two days of testimony before U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon.  Turner will be sentenced on January 9, 2020. 

"My office is dedicated to stop the influx of dangerous drugs like methamphetamine into our communities,” Town said.  “This verdict assured the citizens of the Northern District that yet another peddler of this poison faces a potential life sentence and that he will soon be joined by other drug dealers in a federal prison.”

“The verdict returned in this trial is yet another example of DEAs unwavering commitment to keeping drug dealers from selling poison in our communities.  The defendant distributed untold amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine to those suffering from addiction.  While battling the opioid epidemic, DEA and our law enforcement partners stand vigilant against the cyclical nature of drug distribution.  We cannot forget or overlook methamphetamine.  Our communities are also being flooded with this dangerous drug.  Defendant Turner will now hear the clang of his prison cell door instead of the clink of profits lining his pocket from selling drugs.”

Evidence at trial proved that Turner conspired with others in 2016 and 2017 to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine in Northern Alabama.  DEA agents identified Turner after intercepting a phone call between him and his drug supplier in June 2017.  Further investigation revealed that Turner received methamphetamine and cocaine from his supplier every few weeks for more than a year and a half, receiving several pounds of the drugs over the life of the conspiracy. 

The penalty for possessing with intent to distribute and distribution of over 500 grams of methamphetamine includes imprisonment for not less than 10 years or more than life. 

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorneys Austin Shutt and Blake Milner prosecuted the case. 

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BIRMINGHAM -- A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Prattville man and a Shelby County woman on child exploitation charges, announced Northern District of Alabama United States Attorney Jay E. Town, Middle District of Alabama United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr., and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge for Alabama Nick S. Annan. 

 

United States District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced Kenneth Earl Hooks, 36, of Prattville, to 120 years and 2 life sentences to run consecutively and Sarah Pauline Morris, 28, of Shelby County, to 197 months for producing child pornography and enticing a young child to engage in sexual activity for the purpose of creating obscene images.  Hooks pled guilty to these charges in February 2019 and also to the additional charge of transportation of a minor for sexual purposes.  Morris pled guilty in March 2019. 

 

“This sentence very clearly reflects the seriousness of these child predator’s disgusting crimes,” Town said.  “Our justice system will not tolerate these criminals who prey on innocent children.  They will now occupy bed space that has been reserved for them in a federal prison.”

 

“The sentencing of Hooks and Morris brings justice to two serial offenders who preyed on societies most vulnerable,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan.  Their self-described “Bonnie and Clyde” crime spree included depraved acts of abuse and violence and would have undoubtedly continued without fantastic case work of the agents involved in this investigation. “It is important to understand that the production of child pornography is simply the filming of child rape.”

 

The charges originated from numerous criminal events that occurred in the Northern District of Alabama and in the Middle District of Alabama.  Cases in both districts were consolidated for sentencing in the Northern District. 

 

Police in California found Hooks and Morris living in a desert area on the southern tip of the state after locating a red Mitsubishi Montero with an Alabama license plate there, according to a May 4, 2018, federal criminal complaint and arrest affidavit issued for Hooks in the Northern District of Alabama. According to the affidavit, the red Mitsubishi was registered to Morris and police were searching for it because security cameras at a Walmart in Brawley, California, caught her driving it on March 30, 2018, when security officers at the store reported Morris attempting to film two young girls in a bathroom stall.

 

According to court documents, as a result of further investigation, child pornographic images were discovered on a laptop that had been subjected to forensic examination by law enforcement officers in Imperial County, California.  On or about April 27, 2018, agents from the Department of Homeland Security in Birmingham received these images which depicted sexual exploitation of 2 prepubescent children and a teenage female under the age of 18 by Hooks in Alabama.  During the investigation, agents learned that Hooks had transported the teenage female victim from Mississippi to Alabama with the intent of sexually assaulting her and recording it on video. 

 

HSI Birmingham investigated the case, along with the assistance of HSI Calexico, CA; HSI Las Cruces, NM; HSI El Paso, TX; Brawley Police Department, CA; Imperial County California District Attorney’s Office; U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, El Centro Division, CA;  Chilton County Alabama Sheriff’s Office, Alabaster Police Department, AL, which Assistant United States Attorney R. Leann White, Northern District of Alabama and Assistant United States Attorneys Hollie Reed and Russell Duraski, Middle District of Alabama prosecuted. 

 

 

WASHINGTON – A Jefferson County man was sentenced to 30 months in prison today for filing a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town for the Northern District of Alabama.

According to court documents and information provided to the court, Larry Wayne Battle owned and operated a tax preparation business in Jefferson County, Alabama. On his 2014 federal income tax return, Battle understated the gross receipts for his tax preparation business by approximately $321,638, resulting in a tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of $163,401. Battle also admitted to preparing false tax returns for clients.

“Today’s prison sentence for Larry Wayne Battle is an example of the commitment of the Tax Division and its partners in United States Attorneys’ Offices and the IRS to prosecute fraudulent tax return preparers and to hold such unscrupulous preparers accountable,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman.

“Tax preparers are held to a higher standard because of their position with public trust,” said U.S. Attorney Town.  “We will continue to protect the public fisc from those who abuse their position to the detriment of the American taxpayer.”

In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, Battle was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $234,300.53 to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Town commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney and former Tax Division Trial Attorney Allison Garnett and Assistant United States Attorney Melissa Atwood, who prosecuted the case.

 

A Jefferson County man was sentenced to 30 months in prison today for filing a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town for the Northern District of Alabama.

According to court documents and information provided to the court, Larry Wayne Battle owned and operated a tax preparation business in Jefferson County, Alabama. On his 2014 federal income tax return, Battle understated the gross receipts for his tax preparation business by approximately $321,638, resulting in a tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of $163,401. Battle also admitted to preparing false tax returns for clients.

“Today’s prison sentence for Larry Wayne Battle is an example of the commitment of the Tax Division and its partners in United States Attorneys’ Offices and the IRS to prosecute fraudulent tax return preparers and to hold such unscrupulous preparers accountable,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman.

“Tax preparers are held to a higher standard because of their position with public trust,” said U.S. Attorney Town.  “We will continue to protect the public fisc from those who abuse their position to the detriment of the American taxpayer.”

In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, Battle was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $234,300.53 to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Town commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney and former Tax Division Trial Attorney Allison Garnett and Assistant United States Attorney Melissa Atwood, who prosecuted the case.

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Sylacauga man to 10 years in prison for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. 

U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced Jerry Wayne Hamilton, Jr., 49, on one-count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.  Hamilton pled guilty to the charge in May 2019. According to court documents, Hamilton chatted with what he believed to be a 15-year old female on several different dating and chat applications between October 13, 2018 and October 21, 2018.  In actuality, Hamilton was communicating with an undercover detective.  On October 21, 2018, Hamilton arrived at Barnes and Noble to meet who he thought was the 15-year old female, but instead was met and arrested by the Mountain Brook Police Department.   

“This defendant deserves every day of his 120-month sentence in a federal prison because of his reprehensible acts,” Town said.  “Our law enforcement will continue to vigilantly monitor the internet using every available method available to us to uncover predators like Hamilton who seek to prey on innocent children.  I commend the collaborative efforts of the FBI and the Mountain Book Police Department to bring this defendant to justice, proving once again there is no daylight between our local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.” 

“The FBI and our partners will continue to work diligently to bring individuals like Hamilton to justice and protect our most valuable asset, our children,” Sharp said.   

FBI Birmingham Division Child Exploitation Task Force along with Mountain Brook Police Department investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted. 

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Huntsville – A federal judge today, sentenced a Huntsville man for tampering with vehicle odometers and bank fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and U.S. Secret Service Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Holloway. 

A federal jury convicted Randy Eugene Greene, 62, in April of 11 counts of tampering with vehicle odometers and 3 counts of bank fraud.  U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced Greene to 30 months in prison, followed by three years supervised release and ordered him to pay more than $109,000 in restitution to the victims.  The judge also entered a forfeiture judgment in the amount of $28,000.

“Greene violated the trust and confidence placed in him by the consumers and financial institutions,” Town said.  “The theft and misuse of funds will not be tolerated by those who operate these type of schemes.  They will be charged with federal crimes and will to go federal prison.”

“It is very important that consumers and financial institutions know that the vehicle being purchased from any auto dealership represents the true odometer reading,” Holloway said.  “This type of fraud scheme can cause unwitting consumers significant financial hardship in repair bills from a vehicle they believed was in much better condition.”

Randy Eugene Greene, d/b/a RJ’s Auto Sales on South Memorial Parkway in Huntsville, was convicted by the jury of 11 counts of tampering with vehicle odometers and 3 counts of bank fraud.  In the 11 counts related to odometer tampering, the offenses occurred between approximately October 1, 2014, and November 2, 2016.  The largest discrepancy in the changed odometer reading was approximately 218,678 miles.  The average discrepancy in the mileage on the odometers for the various vehicles was 122,046 miles.  In the three counts related to Bank Fraud, Greene engaged in a scheme to defraud Redstone Federal Credit Union.  The fraud occurred when the credit union financed three of the vehicles on which the odometers had been changed.  Greene was served with a notice of forfeiture related to the bank fraud counts, which includes but is not limited to a money judgment in the amount of $28,000.

U.S. Secret Service is investigated the case, which Assistant United States Attorney Russell E. Penfield and R. Leann White prosecuted.

 

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BIRMINGHAM –A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Hartselle man for distributing a substance laced with fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced Michael Anthony Sain, 32, to 151 months in prison. Sain pled guilty in November 2018, to one-count of unlawfully distributing a substance containing detectable amounts of fentanyl that caused serious bodily injury to an individual, resulting from the use of the substance. 

“The battle to save our young people from overdosing on fentanyl and other dangerous drugs is one we must win,” Assistant United States Attorney Robert Becher said.  “The drug dealers in North Alabama need to know that we will prosecute them vigorously and that they will spend a substantial portion of their lives behind bars.”

“Time and time again we have warned drug dealers that we will relentlessly and aggressively bring them to justice in order to protect our children and communities,” Morris said.  “Today, we have another example of a drug dealer who did not heed our warnings.   “Prison awaits those who deal with destruction and we will not sit idly by."

 

DEA investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Becher, Sr. prosecuted.

 

BIRMINGHAM – Birmingham man pled guilty during trial, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, and Special Agent and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

Monterius King, 31, entered his plea on August 5th before U.S. District Judge Liles Burke at the end of the first day of trial, after several witnesses had testified.  King pled guilty to robbing the ServisFirst Bank on Richard Arrington Blvd. on January 3, 2017.  King also pled guilty to robbing the Jet Pep gas station on Center Point Parkway on April 24, 2017, and to discharging a firearm during that robbery, in which he shot a clerk in the stomach.  King has pending charges remaining in state court for attempted murder and robbery arising from the JetPep robbery, and for robbery arising from the ServisFirst bank robbery.  A sentencing date has been set for December 16th. 

“Those who threaten the lives of innocent employees and customers are exactly the violent criminals we will remove from our communities and relocate to a bed in federal prison,” Town said.  “The government was fully prepared to present evidence at trial that would prove the guilt of this defendant. He now faces federal time in a federal prison.”

“Protecting the public by the removal of the criminal element that commits acts of violence with a firearm was the result of the combined efforts by ATF and our partners,” Watson said.

King faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the robberies, plus a consecutive term of at least 10 years for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. 

The ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Geer, III, is prosecuting.

 

 

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BIRMINGHAM— A one-count information filed yesterday in U.S. District Court charges a Birmingham psychologist with defrauding the Alabama Medicaid Agency by filing false claims for counseling services that were not provided, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-OIG Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson, and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

SHARON D. WALTZ, 50, operated Capstone Medical Resources in a number of locations around Alabama, with its primary office in Birmingham.  Among other services, Waltz provided individual and group counseling sessions for at-risk youth. The information charges that many of the services billed to the Alabama Medicaid Agency were never performed.  Waltz has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud Medicaid of at least $1.5 million.  Waltz has also agreed to pay restitution to Medicaid in the amount of $1.5 million.

“The greed of this defendant deprived mental health care to many at-risk young people in Alabama, with the focus on profit rather than the efficacy of care,” Town said.  “The costs are not just monetary, but have social and health impacts on the entire Northern District.  This prosecution, and this investigation, demonstrates what is possible when federal and state law enforcement agencies work together.”

 “This defendant was entrusted to provide essential mental health care for young people who were at risk, and to provide these services through an agency with scarce resources for vulnerable Alabamians who are truly in need,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Her actions demonstrate a callous abuse of this trust and a fraud of staggering proportions against the Alabama Medicaid Agency and the taxpayers of our state. Thankfully, the vigilance of this agency served to protect public funds from further misuse and she has been held to account and punished for her crimes.”     

  “Stealing tax payer dollars meant for vital community services will not be tolerated,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  “The OIG will continue to work with our partners at the Alabama Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to ensure that fraud schemes such as these are identified and the perpetrators punished.”

An investigation was initiated by the Program Integrity Division of the Alabama Medicaid Agency after an audit showed that Waltz’s billings to the Medicaid Agency had increased from $99,000 in 2015 to more than $2.2 million in 2017. The Program Integrity Division referred its findings to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit after Waltz submitted falsified records during the Program Integrity audit.

A subsequent investigation was conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Office of Investigations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. This investigation determined that the majority of claims submitted by Capstone during 2016 through 2018 were fraudulent and that Waltz submitted and directed her employees to submit claims for counseling services that never occurred, and in some instances for individuals—including family members and friends of employees—who never received services at all.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services OIG, the Alabama Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Program Integrity Division of the Alabama Medicaid Agency, investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney J.B. Ward and Assistant Attorney General Bruce Lieberman, working as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, are prosecuting.

BIRMINGHAM –An Opelika woman who stole money from the Talladega County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments was sentenced yesterday, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced Andrea Payne, 63, to 42 months for wire fraud.  Payne pled guilty in April to one-count of wire fraud.

“Our brave first responders often do more with less, so it is especially aggravating when the public trust is violated not only for the sake of greed but at the ultimate expense of public safety,” Town said.  “Payne will repay her debt over the next 42 months which comes as little comfort to the citizens protected by the Talladega County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments and the Association itself.”

“This case should send a message to the citizens of North Alabama, if you choose to violate the public trust and steal tax payer dollars, the FBI and our partners will be right behind you,” Sharp said.  “Payne will now spend the next several years behind bars reflecting on her actions.  I want to extend my personal thanks to the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office and the Talladega County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this case.”

According to the plea agreement, Payne previously served as the Treasurer of the Talladega County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments. Between 2012 and 2018, the Association received quarterly checks from the Talladega County Commission as distributions from the two-cent sales tax revenue.  The purpose of the distributions was to provide financial assistance to fifteen volunteer fire departments throughout Talladega County.  As the Treasurer, Payne was responsible for receiving the funds from the Talladega County Commission and distributing the funds equally among the fifteen volunteer fire departments within Talladega County.  Payne was not authorized to receive any compensation for her role as the elected Treasurer and was not authorized to use the funds for personal use.  Payne embezzled funds from the Association by using the funds to pay for her personal credit card.  The defendant’s scheme resulted in Payne stealing over $640,000 from the Association. 

The FBI investigated the case, along with the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office and the Talladega District Attorney’s Office, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark prosecuted.

Yesterday, a federal jury convicted Christopher McNabb (a.k.a. “Rudy”) from Leeds, Alabama, of three firearm and ammunition related offenses announced U.S. Attorney Jay E, Town and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

The jury returned its guilty verdict against McNabb after two days of testimony before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre.  McNabb will be sentenced on December 10, 2019, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

“Our prosecutors and law enforcement partners continue to show that they will not leave their fight in the dressing room, and as a result another violent offender has been convicted,” Town said.  “This is the third trial, and third conviction, in the last three weeks of this type.  The public can rest assured that we will continue to bring justice to these defendants. These criminals can rest assured in a federal prison bed.”

“Reducing the potential for violent crime in this case was critical due to ATF partnering with our state, local and federal partners,” Watson said.

Evidence at trial proved that McNabb, a known member of the Southern Brotherhood white supremacist gang, possessed a machinegun, a .223 caliber assault rifle as well as two .380 caliber pistols and assorted ammunition.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin Sanchez and Michael Pillsbury prosecuted the case. 

BIRMINGHAM – On Tuesday, a federal judge sentenced Jarrett Denard Boykins, of Birmingham, to serve 241 months in prison for convictions related to drug trafficking and gun possession, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.         

“This sentence demonstrates that felons in possession of firearms while dealing deadly narcotics will continue to be prosecuted and continue to do time behind bars,” Town said.  “Drug dealers who arm themselves to further their illegal drug trade have bed space waiting for them in federal prison.”

“ATF’s Crime Gun Intel partnerships are working together more effectively than any combination of criminal enterprises that attempt to endanger the safety of our communities,” Watson said. 

In March, a federal jury found Boykins guilty of one count of possession with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of crystal methamphetamine, one count of possession with the intent to distribute 152 methamphetamine tablets, two counts of carrying a gun in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

           Evidence at the trial proved that on October 2, 2017, Boykins, was found in the Pleasant Grove City Park after dark with more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and a firearm.  Approximately six months later, Boykins was stopped by a Homewood police officer and found to have 152 methamphetamine tablets in a diaper bag in the back seat of his vehicle next to his infant child.  Officers also found a pistol inside the diaper bag.  On October 2, 2018, ATF agents along with officers from the Birmingham Police Department travelled to a Birmingham residence to arrest Boykins.  Upon entering the residence, agents found Boykins in possession of another firearm, a non-controlled substance that was packaged for sale to appear like methamphetamine, and a large quantity of various calibers of ammunition scattered throughout the residence.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, along with the Pleasant Grove Police Department, Homewood Police Department, and Birmingham Police Department investigated the case, which Assistant United States Attorneys Brad Felton and Alan Baty prosecuted. 

BIRMINGHAM – A Morgan County man who faked his death pled guilty today in federal court, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Rod Owens.

Jackson Matthew Hall, 28, of Lacey Springs, AL, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor to charges of Social Security fraud and aggravated identity theft.  The indictment was unsealed on May 21st. 

 “Mr. Hall thought he could get lost in Thailand and avoid federal prosecution,” Town said.  “Instead - because of the hard work and dedication of the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the United States Marshal Service, the State Department, and the Morgan Country Sheriff’s office - justice found him.”

According to Hall’s plea agreement, Hall was facing criminal charges of rape 1st degree and sodomy 1st degree (a child under 12 years of age) in Cullman County, Alabama, and an aggravated child abuse charge in Madison County, Alabama.  Hall had pending court dates in both counties in March 2016 and April 2016.  Between December 2015 and February 2016, Hall used another person’s identifiers to obtain a social security card, Alabama Driver’s license, and U.S. passport.  He then faked his death and used those documents to travel out of the country.  In September 2017 Hall was apprehended in Koh Samui, Thailand, by Thai authorities.  In October 2017, the U.S. Marshals Service, along with a Madison County task force officer assigned to the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, and took custody of Hall and transported him back to the United States of America.      

The maximum penalty for Social Security fraud is five years in prison and maximum fine of $250,000. 

The penalty for aggravated identity theft is two years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, along with U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, State Department, and the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Davis Barlow is prosecuting.

 

OXFORD, AL - Today, officials from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Alabama, and the Anniston and Oxford Police Departments convened in Oxford, AL to initiate the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) program with the Anniston and Oxford Police Departments. This Justice Department program is a three-year engagement that seeks to leverage department assets in support of a local jurisdictions' commitment to drive down violent crime.  

On June 3, 2019, Attorney General William Barr announced the selection of the Anniston and Oxford Police Departments as two of ten FY 2019 PSP sites where the Justice Department will work collaboratively to provide training and technical assistance in areas such as crime analytics, emerging technology and community engagement.   

Since 2017, the Justice Department has directed nearly $14.9 million in customized training and technical assistance to help build crime fighting capacity in PSP sites, including $6.6 million to support the FY 2019 sites through FY 2022. PSP seeks to bring law enforcement stakeholders together to work collaboratively in reducing violent crime attributed to felonious firearm use, drug trafficking and human trafficking.  

“Today our team is on-site in Oxford, AL, to collaborate with local law enforcement officials in their mission to improve public safety and drive down violent crime,” said Jon Adler, Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  "Through the Public Safety Partnership, we are committed to fulfilling the Attorney General's priority of supporting local law enforcement to combat violent gangs, felonious firearms use and drug trafficking," added Adler.

“The Public Safety Partnership will continue to make our communities more secure, our partnerships more robust, and our law enforcement agencies more impactful,” U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town said.  “We look forward to surging our federal, state and local law enforcement partners into the Anniston and Oxford areas to reduce violent crime and to return these communities back to their rightful owners…the law-abiding citizens.  State and federal prison beds have been reserved for the alpha criminals operating in Calhoun County…and we are coming.”

“Criminals respect no jurisdictional boundaries,” Anniston Police Chief Shane Denham said.  “Through cooperation and aggressive pursuit and prosecution, we can make a difference in our region. The Anniston Police Department is looking forward to working together with our local and federal partners through this initiative.  Together we can make a difference through the Public Safety Partnership initiative.”

“We are looking forward to working with our federal partners along with the East Metro Area Crime Center to drive down gun crimes and violent crime in general, this is a great partnership,” Oxford Police Chief Partridge said.

Since 2017, the Justice Department has worked with more than 30 local jurisdictions under the nationwide PSP program. Many participating cities have already seen dramatic reductions in violent crime. New Orleans ended 2018 with 146 murders, the lowest number of murders since the early 1970s. In Milwaukee, homicides declined in 2018 for a third straight year after hitting a deadly peak in 2015.   

Agencies in attendance at this meeting will include the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama; the Office of Justice Programs; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Anniston Police Department; the Oxford Police Department; the Calhoun and Cleburne Counties District Attorney’s Office; the Talladega County District Attorney’s Office; Anniston Mayor Jack Draper’s Office; Oxford Mayor Alton Craft’s Office; Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office and the 7th Judicial Major Crimes Unit.

For more information about PSP, visit https://www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org.

 

 

              

A federal jury yesterday convicted a Pinson man of two counts of possession of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine powder, and cocaine base, also known as “crack” cocaine, with the intent to distribute, and one-count of possession of a gun in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E, Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris. 

The jury returned its guilty verdict against Deveonte Brown, of Pinson, after two days of testimony before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala.  Brown will be sentenced on December 18, 2019. 

“This type conviction is the second in two weeks in the Northern District of Alabama,” Town said.  “We will not tolerate criminals who pose a clear threat to our District.  Criminals who plague our streets with drugs and guns will continue to be targets for federal prosecution where the debt to society is full price.  No discounts.  No parole.”

 “Dangerous criminals like Brown need to take notice that DEA and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate their criminal activities,” Morris said.  “Drugs and guns are a deadly combination that often end with violent acts.  Again, today’s verdict should send a resounding message to all drug dealers in Alabama.  We will target you, investigate you, and ensure that you go to prison in order to make our communities safe.”

Evidence at trial proved that on October 6, 2017, Brown left a shoe box containing methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, cocaine base, and a digital scale in his hotel room. Brown later returned to the hotel to retrieve the shoe box.  Fultondale police officers attempted to confront Brown in his vehicle when he fled from police at a high rate of speed. The chase was called off due to Brown’s erratic driving. On October 12, 2017, Brown was found in the passenger seat of a white dodge charger in Pinson.  Brown was sitting on a bag containing over $7,000 and a gun.  Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies found a bag with heroin and methamphetamine in the back seat of the car.

The penalty for possessing with intent to distribute is up to 20 years prison.  The possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries an additional sentence of 5 years that cannot be run concurrently with the drug sentence.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorneys Blake Milner and Greg Dimler prosecuted the case. 

BIRMINGHAM – A Tuscaloosa man who tried to run over a Tuscaloosa police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Marcus Watson. 

 

U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced DEVONTE JAISHUN TUCKER, 23, Tuscaloosa, to 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.­­­­­­ Tucker pled guilty in April to one-count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.   

 

“This sentence comes at a time when we have seen an increase in violence against law enforcement in Alabama,” Town said.  “Those who would threaten the life of any member of law enforcement would threaten the life of any member of the community.  While Tucker is provided a federal prison bed in which to lay, the rest of us should all stand with the men and women of the badge.”

“Reducing the potential for violent crime in this case was critical due to ATF partnering with our state, local and federal partners,” Watson said. 

 

On November 15, 2018, just after midnight, Tuscaloosa police officer Joshua Smith attempted to stop a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of Creekwood Village Apartments.  The unidentified driver obeyed Officer’s Smith’s commands to exit the vehicle when the armed passenger, Tucker, jumped in the driver’s seat.  Tucker attempted to run over Officer Smith as he fled the scene in the stolen car.  A high speed chase ensued. 

 

Tuscaloosa police officer Jacob Morris was in the area, observed Tucker speeding near Stillman College.  Officers Morris and Smith pursued Tucker in a high speed chase on 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard with Tucker reaching speeds near 100 mph.  Tucker finally abandoned the stolen vehicle and fled on foot near the Springbrook neighborhood.  Although Tucker was armed, Officers Morris and Smith relentlessly pursued Tucker and apprehended him.  Tucker was armed with a stolen Hi-Point .45 caliber pistol.

 

Tucker was sentenced to the statutory maximum of 10 years based on his criminal history.  He endangered the life of Officer Joshua Smith, other Tuscaloosa police officers involved in the chase, and innocent lives traveling on Tuscaloosa streets that morning.

 

ATF investigated the case, which the Assistant United States Attorney Blake Milner prosecuted. 

Marshall County Woman Sentenced for Sexual Exploitation of a Child

 

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Marshall County woman for sexually exploitation of a child, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Special Agent in Charge James G. Hernandez. 

U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced ANNA MARIE GOMEZ, 31, to 18 years in prison.  Gomez plead guilty in April to one-count of sexually exploitation of a child.  Gomez persuaded a six-year old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce images of that conduct and transport them across state lines. 

“A long prison sentence is well-deserved for the defendant in this case,” Town said.  “Gomez gave no sanctuary to this young victim and now has been given bed space in a federal prison with no sanctuary of parole.”

“HSI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the members of our population that are the most vulnerable,” Hernandez said.  “I hope that the sentence in this case allows the victim time to heal.”

U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the cases, which the Assistant United States Attorney Robert Becher, Sr. prosecuted.

 

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Federal Jury Convicts Birmingham Man on Drug and Gun Charges

A federal jury took only an hour and half today to convict a Birmingham man of possession of 230 grams of cocaine base, also known as “crack” cocaine, with the intent to distribute, and one-count of possession of a gun in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E, Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Clay Morris. 

The jury returned its guilty verdict against Edwin Pettaway, 46, of Birmingham, after three days of testimony before U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon.  Pettaway will be sentenced on November 13, 2019. 

Evidence at the trial proved that on November 15, 2017, Pettaway was found to be in possession of crack cocaine and a firearm in furtherance of the drug crime.  Upon entering the residence, agents found Mr. Pettaway in a bedroom with 230 grams of “crack” cocaine, digital scales, packaging materials, and a firearm among his personal belongings.

“Convicted felons with drugs and firearms pose a clear threat to every person in the Northern District,” Town said. “Our prosecutors will not leave their fight in the dressing room when bringing threats like Pettaway to justice.  Beds are reserved in federal prison for those who continue to plague our communities with illegal drugs and guns.  Our prison beds can never be too full of these dangerous criminals.”

“Dangerous criminals like Pettaway need to take notice that DEA and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate their criminal activities,” Morris said.  “Drugs and guns are a deadly combination that often end with violent acts.  Again, today’s verdict should send a resounding message to all drug dealers in Alabama.  We will target you, investigate you, and ensure that you go to prison in order to make our communities safe.”

The penalty for possessing with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base is a minimum of 5 years in prison.  The possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries an additional sentence of 5 years that cannot be run concurrently with the drug sentence.

The Drug Enforcement Administration along with the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorneys William G. Simpson and John G. Camp prosecuted the case. 

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BIRMINGHAM – A federal jury today convicted Dr. PATRICK EMEKA IFEDIBA, 60, of Shelby County and Patrick Ifediba’s sister, NGOZI JUSTINA OZULIGBO, 49, of Trussville of numerous crimes stemming from their involvement with Care Complete Medical Clinic, located in Birmingham, Alabama, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr., and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris. 

Following a four-week trial before Judge David R. Proctor, the jury convicted Ifediba of thirty-five counts involving unlawful drug distribution, health care fraud, and money laundering.  Specifically, Ifediba was convicted of: (i) one count of conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances by means of prescriptions; (ii) fourteen counts of illegal prescribing; (iii) one count of maintaining drug-involved premises; (iv) one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud; (v) ten counts of health care fraud; (vi) one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; (vii) three counts of concealment money laundering; and (viii) four counts of engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property greater than $10,000.

For her part in the offenses, Ozuligbo, a licensed practical nurse, was convicted of twelve counts involving health care fraud and money laundering.  Specifically, Ozuligbo was convicted of: (i) one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud; (ii) nine counts of health care fraud; (vi) one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; and (vii) one count of concealment money laundering.  No sentencing date has been set. 

“This jury verdict should put all health care providers on notice that sacrificing care for greed will land you in federal court,” Town said.  “And we have bed space in federal prison for all that do.”

 “In defrauding the Medicare system, Ifediba violated a sacred oath taken by physicians but above all he violated the law,” Sharp said.  “He submitted fraudulent claims to both Medicare and other health care insurers as part of the scheme.  The FBI and our partners will continue to hold medical professionals accountable for abusing positions of trust in the community and for harming the financial integrity of our health care system.  The FBI remains dedicated to combating health care fraud and to doing our part in reducing the impact that opioids have on our nation.”

“Today, a jury of community members resoundingly confirmed what DEA had known all along,” Morris said.  “Dr. Ifediba had long forgotten to care for his patients.  Instead, he chose to fill his bank accounts with cash.  Sadly, Dr. Ifediba is yet another example of putting profit over his professional responsibility to help those in need.  For over three years, DEA and our law enforcement colleagues investigated and ultimately prosecuted Dr. Ifediba for violations of many federal laws including drug distribution and money laundering.  Collectively, we are committed to protecting our communities from the scourge of opioid abuse and those who profit from it.  We will tirelessly protect the innocent and vigorously investigate those who prey on the addictions of others.”

Evidence at the trial proved that Ifediba was a doctor of internal medicine who owned Care Complete Medical Clinic (“CCMC”) and operated it with his wife, Dr. Uchenna Ifediba.  The evidence showed that the doctors operated CCMC as a pill mill.  They routinely prescribed dangerous and addictive opioids for the primary purpose of making money from repeated return office visits.  Ifediba not only overprescribed opioids, he also prescribed dangerous cocktails of drugs, including one called “the holy trinity,” that produces a heroin-like high, but creates a significant risk of an overdose.  Although Ifediba was not a pain management specialist and CCMC did not hold itself out as a pain management clinic, approximately 85% of its patients received opioid prescriptions.

In addition to operating a pill mill, the evidence showed that Ifediba and others, including Ozuligbo, cheated and stole millions of dollars from Medicare and private health insurers in connection with an allergy fraud scheme.  Although neither had any training in allergy medicine, the pair would order patients with health insurance to take allergy tests and submit to allergy treatments they didn’t need.  Ifediba even forced some patients to take unwanted allergy tests by withholding their opioid prescriptions if they refused.  Ifediba then ordered expensive allergy therapy treatments for all these patients even when the patients tested negative.

The purpose of the allergy scheme was to increase CCMC’s revenue.  CCMC billed health insurers more than $7.8M over the course of the scheme.  Representatives of Medicare and several private insurance companies testified at trial.  The evidence showed that Ifediba billed one of the private insurers nearly $3M for allergy services over a two-and-a-half year period.  Ifediba was their number one biller in the state of Alabama, accounting for sixty-one percent of all allergy-related billing.  The insurance company’s next highest biller was an allergy and asthma center employing eight doctors and nine nurse practitioners.

The evidence at trial showed that Ifediba opened numerous bank accounts and used shell corporations in order to hide the money he made from his crimes.  Ifediba moved the illicit funds between bank accounts and used the names of family members, including Ozuligbo, to make it appear as though the bank accounts and companies belonged to someone else.  A substantial portion of these illicit funds were used to buy a condominium, annuities, and other investments held in the names of others, but which were for Ifediba’s personal use and benefit.

The charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud both carry maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances both carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Maintaining drug-involved premises carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Money laundering conspiracy and laundering of monetary instruments both carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property worth more than $10,000 carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved.

The FBI and DEA investigated the case as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mohammad Khatib and Jim Weil are prosecuting.

 

A father and son who ran a complex investment fraud scheme by which they stole more than $10 million over the course of seven years were sentenced today to 60 months and 27 months in prison, respectively.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama and Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. of the FBI Birmingham Field Office made the announcement.

Donald Watkins Sr., 70, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Donald Watkins Jr., 47, of Birmingham, Alabama, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the Northern District of Alabama.  Judge Bowdre also ordered Donald Watkins Sr. to serve five years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $14,000,100.00 and ordered Donald Watkins Jr. to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution jointly with his father in the amount of $13,850,000.

The father and son co-defendants were convicted on March 8, 2019, following a jury trial that lasted over two weeks.  Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy.  Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. 

According to evidence presented at trial, between approximately 2007 and 2013, Donald Watkins Sr. sold “economic participations” and promissory notes connected with Masada Resource Group, a company that he ran as manager and CEO.  Investors paid more than $10 million dollars after Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. falsely represented that the money would be used to grow Masada, which Donald Watkins Sr. described as a “pre-revenue” company that supposedly had technology that could convert garbage into ethanol.  Instead of investing the money into Masada, however, Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. diverted funds to pay personal bills and the debts of their other business ventures, the evidence showed.  Victim money was used to pay for Donald Watkins Sr.’s alimony, hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, personal loan payments, a private jet and clothing purchased by Donald Watkins Jr. and his wife.  Emails introduced at trial also showed that Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. planned to obtain millions of dollars for these purposes from one victim on multiple occasions, when they knew that this victim and other victims trusted them to put their money to use in growing Masada. 

Donald Watkins Sr. also was convicted of defrauding Alamerica Bank, an entity in which Donald Watkins Sr. held a controlling interest through his ownership of Alamerica Bank Corp stock, the evidence showed.  In order to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation expenses associated with another one of Donald Watkins Sr.’s business ventures, Donald Watkins Sr. executed a plan to use a straw borrower to take out money from Alamerica Bank and use those funds to pay the defendant’s litigation expenses.  This straw borrower—Donald Watkins Sr.’s long-time mentor and a prominent figure in the Birmingham community—took over $900,000 in loans from Alamerica Bank and then immediately permitted Donald Watkins Sr. to use those funds for his personal benefit, the evidence showed. 

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office.  Trial Attorney Kyle C. Hankey of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd C. Peeples III, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Beau Brown (on detail from the Alabama Securities Commission) and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. of the Northern District of Alabama prosecuted the case. 

WASHINGTON – A father and son who ran a complex investment fraud scheme by which they stole more than $10 million over the course of seven years were sentenced today to 60 months and 27 months in prison, respectively.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town of the Northern District of Alabama and Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. of the FBI Birmingham Field Office made the announcement.

Donald Watkins Sr., 70, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Donald Watkins Jr., 47, of Birmingham, Alabama, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the Northern District of Alabama.  Judge Bowdre also ordered Donald Watkins Sr. to serve five years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $14,000,100.00 and ordered Donald Watkins Jr. to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution jointly with his father in the amount of $13,850,000.

The father and son co-defendants were convicted on March 8, 2019, following a jury trial that lasted over two weeks.  Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy.  Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. 

“These defendants sought to enrich themselves through wire and bank fraud,” Town said.  “The sentences give notice to the public that the Department of Justice stands ready with the resources to investigate and prosecute similar offenders.”

“Today’s sentence should send a message to those who would engage in financial fraud,” Sharp said.  “We are pleased that the Watkins are being held accountable for their crimes and that they were ordered to pay restitution to the victims.   The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who commit complex financial crimes.”

According to evidence presented at trial, between approximately 2007 and 2013, Donald Watkins Sr. sold “economic participations” and promissory notes connected with Masada Resource Group, a company that he ran as manager and CEO.  Investors paid more than $10 million dollars after Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. falsely represented that the money would be used to grow Masada, which Donald Watkins Sr. described as a “pre-revenue” company that supposedly had technology that could convert garbage into ethanol.  Instead of investing the money into Masada, however, Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. diverted funds to pay personal bills and the debts of their other business ventures, the evidence showed.  Victim money was used to pay for Donald Watkins Sr.’s alimony, hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, personal loan payments, a private jet and clothing purchased by Donald Watkins Jr. and his wife.  Emails introduced at trial also showed that Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. planned to obtain millions of dollars for these purposes from one victim on multiple occasions, when they knew that this victim and other victims trusted them to put their money to use in growing Masada. 

Donald Watkins Sr. also was convicted of defrauding Alamerica Bank, an entity in which Donald Watkins Sr. held a controlling interest through his ownership of Alamerica Bank Corp stock, the evidence showed.  In order to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation expenses associated with another one of Donald Watkins Sr.’s business ventures, Donald Watkins Sr. executed a plan to use a straw borrower to take out money from Alamerica Bank and use those funds to pay the defendant’s litigation expenses.  This straw borrower—Donald Watkins Sr.’s long-time mentor and a prominent figure in the Birmingham community—took over $900,000 in loans from Alamerica Bank and then immediately permitted Donald Watkins Sr. to use those funds for his personal benefit, the evidence showed. 

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office.  Trial Attorney Kyle C. Hankey of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd C. Peeples III, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Beau Brown (on detail from the Alabama Securities Commission) and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. of the Northern District of Alabama prosecuted the case. 

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FLORENCE– Alabama law enforcement officers from seven counties across the Northern District of Alabama attended training in Florence on Wednesday.  The training was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on prosecution of cases involving firearms and drugs in federal and state court, constitutional protections concerning search warrants, arrests and trials, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office Prosecutor-to Prosecutor Program, or P3. 

“It was gratifying to see law enforcement officers from so many different agencies and counties, from all across our district, come together to hear about all of the ways our office is ready, willing and able to prosecute, and remove criminals from our neighborhoods,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Becher.    

The U.S. Attorney’s Office provided an update for police officers, sheriffs and district attorneys on individual protections provided by the 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and an explanation of P3. 

The 4th Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. The 5th Amendment in criminal cases provides the right to a grand jury, forbids double jeopardy, and protects against self-incrimination. The 6th Amendment protects the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to counsel and the right to an impartial jury. The 6th Amendment also guarantees defendants the right to know the nature of the charges and evidence against them, and who their accusers are.

P3 is a six-step process by which state and federal prosecutors jointly determine whether a criminal case should be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  The “P3 Overlay” identifies state and federal criminal statutes with similar elements. Common elements that could trigger federal prosecution include use of a firearm, crossing of state lines, use of phones or internet to commit a crime, or victimizing an institution that is federally regulated or insured, or that receives federal grant funds. P3 is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s centerpiece program for fighting violent crime. PSN and P3 both underscore the need to target the worst offenders in the worst areas of crime in order to reduce violence.

ATF provided training on the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), a national database of digital images of spent bullets, shell casings, and cartridge cases that were found at crime scenes or test-fired from confiscated weapons. The ATF manages the system and provides the equipment to crime labs around the country.  There are NIBIN machines in many areas in Alabama, to include Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery.

 

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BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury yesterday issued a 135-count second superseding indictment charging a Fultondale doctor with 31 additional counts of dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.  The doctor was previously charged in November 2018 with conspiracy to prescribe controlled substances and participating in a healthcare fraud conspiracy with a Demopolis pharmacist and a Tuscaloosa sales representative. 

The prior indictment charged PAUL ROBERTS, M.D., 46, of Fultondale, AL, with multiple counts of conspiring and dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.  The drugs Roberts prescribed include Adderall, a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, Suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, and oxycodone, an opioid.  The indictment also charged Roberts with prescribing oxycodone to an individual in exchange for sexual favors.  The second superseding indictment charges Roberts with prescribing oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other controlled substances to another individual.  According to the indictment, Roberts directed that individual to complain of fabricated physical ailments in order to obtain controlled substances, and solicited explicit photographs from the individual.  The indictment also charges Roberts with prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose to the individual and various other individuals.

As in the prior indictment, Roberts is also charged with participating in a healthcare fraud conspiracy and scheme that involved delegating responsibility for seeing patients with opioid addictions to staff such as his X-ray technician and office manager, but billing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama as though he personally saw the patients.  The indictment also charges Roberts, along with STANLEY F. REEVES, 60, of Demopolis, AL, a pharmacist and owner of F&F Drugs, and BRETT TAFT, 45, of Tuscaloosa, AL, with defrauding third-party administrators of health insurance plans of over $10.5 million in fraudulently billed compounded drugs.  Reeves is also charged with making false statements to federal agents and with tampering with a witness, and both Reeves and Taft are charged with spending the proceeds of health care fraud.

 “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue doctors who demonstrate such blatant disregard for their patients’ well-being, and to prosecuting individuals who defraud the healthcare insurance plans that exist to help the citizens of this district pay for healthcare,” Town said.  “Dope dealers sometimes wear a white coat.”

“DEA is fully committed to the pursuit of any individual who abandons their oath as a medical professional,” Morris said.  “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, the medical community and the public to identify and stop those responsible for endangering lives in our communities and bring them to justice.”

The maximum penalty for the dispensing controlled substances charges is 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The maximum penalty for health care fraud and conspiracy charges is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the false statement charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the witness tampering charge is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the spending proceeds of healthcare fraud charge is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

DEA and FBI investigated the cases, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Austin Shutt and Chinelo Dike-Minor are prosecuting.

An indictment contains only charges. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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BIRMINGHAM – A Madison County physician pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to charges related to illegally distributing and dispensing prescription drugs, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris. 

DR. RODNEY MORRIS, 64, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Annemarie Carney Axon to sixty-four counts of illegally distributing and dispensing Schedule II controlled substances, including opioid painkillers, outside the scope of professional medical practice and not for legitimate medical purposes. Instead, the evidence shows that Dr. Morris prescribed these painkillers in exchange for sexual favors and monetary gain.  He is scheduled for sentencing on October 23, 2019.

“The public should be able to trust that a medical professional would not engage in such aberrant and disgusting conduct,” Town said.  “Those who choose to engage in such illicit practices will no longer wear white coats, but instead prison stripes.”

“Unfortunately, Dr. Morris and his criminal conduct represents a disturbing trend in the medical profession for those practitioners who abandon their hypotactic oath,” DEA ASAC Clay Morris said.  “Dr. Morris’ actions clearly contributed to continuing the opioid epidemic that is plaguing our communities and country.  He will soon be where he belongs…in prison.  The DEA, U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will not stand idly by and allow criminals to profit off of the addictions of others.”

Dr. Morris was known to give preferential treatment to female patients when it came to office visits, drug testing (or lack of thereof), and prescriptions of controlled substances.  Records show that between August 2012 and May 2017, Dr. Morris illegally prescribed one particular patient hydrocodone, alprazolam, oxycodone and tramadol in exchange of sexual favors. This patient illegally sold some of these drugs to supplement her income.  After the patient’s death in May 2017, Dr. Morris attempted to delete electronic medical records and erase evidence of her being his patient. 

According to the Alabama Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Dr. Morris ranked 67 out of 13,118 medical doctors in the State of Alabama for the number of prescriptions filled for Schedule II, III, IV and V controlled substances.  He also ranked seventh in Madison County for the quantity of controlled substances prescribed.  From January 1, 2017 through June 27, 2017, Dr. Morris wrote 6,721 prescriptions for controlled substances with the total dosage units being 499,784. 

The penalty for illegally dispensing and distributing prescription drugs is a maximum of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000,000. 

DEA investigated the case, which Assistant U.S Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell is prosecuting. 

 

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BIRMINGHAM – China M. Davidson, Chief of Administrative Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Alabama was one of 172 members of the Department of Justice recognized by Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) Director James Crowell, IV at the 35th Director’s Awards Ceremony today in Washington D.C.

The Northern District of Alabama was one of 31 districts represented at the ceremony which was held in the Great Hall at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building.

In his prepared remarks, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen addressed the recipients and guests, saying, “Today’s honorees have earned the esteem of their colleagues.  But most importantly, you have earned the gratitude of your fellow citizens — whose communities you have made safer, whose lives you have improved, and whose trust you have rewarded.” 

In his remarks, EOUSA Director James Crowell told the recipients, “The Department of Justice is in truth a deployed force.  Your work isn’t easy, but it is vital to the functioning and enduring nature of our democracy.  As federal prosecutors, we are held to a higher standard, a standard that requires us to ensure that we uphold the rule of law and the fundamental rules of fairness in every trial, every settlement, every plea, and every legal argument in which we are involved.”

China M. Davidson is recognized for her sustained exemplary service, which exceeds the highest standards of excellence in executive leadership, management, and advisory services.  During her 24 years of service, Ms. Davidson significantly contributed to her division’s community by promoting a culture of excellence and professionalism. Ms. Davidson has many talents relating to management, team building, community-outreach services, and grant writing, which she has generously used to create numerous unique opportunities for her division and the USAO community. In addition, Ms. Davidson has shown steadfast commitment to advance the Attorney General’s ‘Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative’ through early prevention in schools and training for law enforcement officers. Ms. Davidson’s tenure has been characterized by exceptional service as a Department pathfinder, mentor, instructor, and counselor who has consistently inspired leadership and professionalism.

“China Davidson has served the Department of Justice with great distinction for the better part of three decades,” Town said.  “It is rare to have one person have such a positive impact on the functionality of an office.  The Northern District of Alabama has been made safer, our lives made better, and our future made brighter because of China Davidson’s resourcefulness and leadership.   Her recognition by Director Crowell just underscores her value to the Department, my office, and the citizens of Alabama.”

EOUSA provides oversight, general executive assistance, and direction to the 94 United States Attorneys’ offices around the country. For more information on EOUSA and its mission, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao.

 

Pickens County Sheriff to Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud and Tax Charges

BIRMINGHAM – Today a federal indictment was unsealed against the longstanding sheriff of Pickens County for wire fraud and filing false tax returns, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. and IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman.  Also today, a plea agreement was filed in federal district court.  According to that agreement, the defendant has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

The nine-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Pickens County Sheriff DAVID EUGENE ABSTON, of Gordo, with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of filing a false tax return. 

“A sitting county sheriff is alleged to have defrauded a food bank and a church for his personal gain at the expense of the underprivileged that the food bank serves,” Town said.  “Our office will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute public officials who violate the public trust for their own personal gain.”

“No matter what your career or position is within our communities, all U.S. citizens are obligated to comply with the tax laws,” said Holloman. “Honest and law abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets as well as skirt their tax obligations.”

According to the indictment, as sheriff of Pickens County, Abston was responsible for the care and custody of prisoners housed in the Pickens County Jail.  That responsibility included feeding inmates housed in the jail.  In exchange, Abston was entitled to receive a specified food allowance per prisoner per day from the state of Alabama and other governmental entities.  Between 2014 and 2018, Abston received more than $400,000 in food allowance money from the state of Alabama and other governmental entities.  During that same period, Abston—like many sheriffs in Alabama—had a practice of keeping for himself any food allowance money that he did not spend to feed inmates.

During that same period Abston engaged in a scheme to defraud the West Alabama Food Bank, as well the Highland Baptist Church of Gordo, Alabama—where Abston was a member—in order to reduce his jail food expenses and increase the amount of food allowance money he could keep.

The West Alabama Food Bank (WAFB) is a non-profit based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with the stated mission of helping to alleviate hunger and food insecurity in nine West Alabama counties.  WAFB collects donations of food and distributes that food to partner agencies such as churches, soup kitchens, and food pantries.  To become a partner agency with WAFB, a church must submit an application stating, among other things, that the church will distribute food in compliance with WAFB policy.  The criteria for a church’s partnering with WAFB include a requirement that the church use the food it receives solely to serve the ill, needy, or infants.  In turn, WAFB provides food to its partner agencies for a nominal fee to help cover the costs of food maintenance and storage.

According to the indictment, in 2014 Abston convinced Highland Baptist Church in Gordo, Alabama, to permit him to open a bank account to be used for a church food pantry with WAFB.  Abston opened that bank account, in the name of the Highland Baptist Church Food Pantry.  Abston was the sole signatory on the account.

Around the same time, Abston applied, on behalf of the Highland Baptist Church Food Pantry, to become a partner agency of WAFB.  The application to WAFB claimed that the “general program” of the church food pantry would be to help “feed poor” and “children from disadvantage[d] and poor neighborhoods.”  The application claimed that the food pantry would use unemployment, sickness, and poverty as eligibility guidelines for food.  The application said nothing about the food pantry’s providing any food to inmates in the Pickens County Jail.

Between 2014 and 2018, Abston wrote more than $80,000 in checks from his own bank account to the church food pantry bank account, and wrote more than $80,000 in checks from the food pantry bank account to WAFB in exchange for food.

According to the indictment, Abston used a significant portion of that food to feed inmates in the Pickens County Jail.

The indictment also alleges that Abston filed false tax returns for the 2015 and 2016 tax years, because he failed to report all of his income for those years.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.  The maximum penalty for filing a false tax return is three years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ward is prosecuting.

An indictment contains only charges and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

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BIRMINGHAM – An effort focused on domestic violence in gun crimes resulted in federal charges against five defendants, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

In separate and unrelated indictments, the grand jury charged LYNN GADSON, NICHOLAS CAMPBELL, KERRY ALFORD, KELVIN STRICKLAND, MONTEZ SPRADLEY, ANDRAE CROOK, as convicted felons in possession of firearms.  These investigations originated from local law enforcement responding to domestic violence calls.

The maximum penalty for being a felon in possession of a firearm is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

         “These indictments represent the hard work of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners,” Town said.   “This is the new normal in that local investigators and prosecutors are cooperating with federal law enforcement more than ever before to get these trigger-pullers off of the streets.  Felons who possess firearms should expect to find themselves in federal court where, upon conviction, a federal sentence to a federal penitentiary is their reward.”

“ATF’s priority of reducing violent crime focuses on individuals responsible for domestic violence incidents involving firearms,” Watson stated.

In FY18, the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Alabama prosecutions of illegal firearms cases rose 27% to 286, which is the largest number of illegal firearms prosecutions ever recorded in the Northern District of Alabama and accounted for about half of all federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office.  The previous high was 225, which was recorded in FY17.  Nationally, the prosecution of illegal firearms defendants accounts for approximately 1 in 6 of all federal prosecutions.  Project Safe Neighborhoods, the premier violent crimes reduction program reinvigorated by the Department of Justice in 2017, has continued to focus on habitual felony offenders engaged in violent behavior and the Department continues to break its own records for federal prosecutions as a result.

 

BIRMINGHAM – A DeKalb County man was arrested for a violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and U.S. Marshal Martin Keely.  

A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court charges JASON WIENK, 45, with failure to register or update registration in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).  Wienk was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in the Circuit Court of Winnebago County, Illinois.  Such criminal conviction requires Wienk to register as a sex offender for life.  Wienk moved across state lines to Alabama and did not register as a sex offender.  Wienk will be detained and held in federal custody pending disposition of this case.

“Sexual assault of an innocent child is despicable,” Town said.  “U.S. Marshals proved in this case that sex offenders who flee to another state, and violate the law by not registering as a sex offender in that state, will be caught.  Our net will always be bigger than their map.  We appreciate the investigative work of the U.S. Marshals Service in Alabama and Illinois, and our partnership with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, in this investigation.”

Under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, if a convicted sex offender travels to another state and fails to register as required by law, he/she is subject to federal prosecution that carries penalties of a fine and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Alabama and Northern District of Illinois along with DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White is prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

BIRMINGHAM – Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested a Birmingham-area doctor for producing and possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.

A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court last week charges DR. RONALD TAI YOUNG MOON, JR., of Vestavia Hills, with one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.  Moon is a physical medicine doctor who practices at a clinic called The Industrial Athlete located in Birmingham.  Moon is charged with producing child pornography sometime between 2007 and 2010.  Moon is charged with possessing child pornography on or about January 15 of this year.

Producing child pornography carries a penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison, and a maximum $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for possessing child pornography is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ward and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd C. Peeples, III are prosecuting.

An indictment contains only charges and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

 

BIRMINGHAM– As the Department of Justice continues its efforts to fulfill President Donald J. Trump’s commitment to reducing violent crime in America, Attorney General William P. Barr today announced that the Northern District of Alabama was selected to join the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) initiative. PSP provides a framework for enhancing federal support of state, local and tribal law enforcement officials and prosecutors as they aggressively investigate and pursue violent criminals, specifically those involved in gun crime, drug trafficking and gang violence.

“The Public Safety Partnership is a successful program that directs federal law enforcement resources to the cities where they can have the greatest impact," Attorney General Barr said. "These resources help police departments to diagnose where crime is highest—and why—and to find, arrest and prosecute criminals. Several participating cities have already seen dramatic reductions in violent crime over the past two years. As we expand this program to 10 more cities across America, we are determined to replicate that success.”

“The Public Safety Partnership provides data-driven resources to assist law enforcement in removing the habitual offenders from the southeast side of the Northern District,” Town said.  “Our collective goal is simply to reduce crime, especially violent crime, in Anniston, Oxford, and surrounding areas.  My office, local and federal law enforcement, and the Department of Justice are fully committed to facilitating the strategies, training, and technical assistance to do just that.  We have prison beds already reserved for the alpha criminals in Calhoun County…and we are coming.”

The Justice Department created PSP and the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety in response to President Trump’s February 9, 2017, Executive Order charging the agency with leading a national effort to combat violent crime. In June 2017, the Department of Justice announced the formation of the National Public Safety Partnership initiative.

To be considered for selection, a site must have sustained levels of violence that far exceed the national average and demonstrate a commitment to reducing crime. Cities must also display compliance with federal immigration requirements.

The 10 sites announced today are as follows:

• Anniston, Alabama
• Oxford, Alabama
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Davenport, Iowa
• Wichita, Kansas
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Amarillo, Texas
• Harris County, Texas
  
   

More than 30 cities have participated in PSP. The primary participating Justice Department components include the Office of Justice Programs, Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service.

More information about PSP can be found at: http://www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org

A long-time Seminole, Texas drug dealer was sentenced today to 31 years and 10 months in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

Following a three-day trial in early January, a federal jury in Lubbock unanimously convicted Robert Bazan, 45, of two methamphetamine offenses and four firearm offenses, including possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

“The Defendant was a violent man who endangered both law enforcement officers and everyday citizens across the South Plains,” said U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox. “The community will be relieved to hear he will no longer be a danger to this region.” 

“Six previous felony convictions did not deter Mr. Bazan from engaging in the illegal drug and gun trade. High-speed flight to avoid apprehension and witness tampering show he is a threat to the public at large and any individual that might witness or hinder his criminal activity,” stated ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division Jeffrey C. Boshek II.  “When ATF says we investigate the worst of the worst, we are talking about Mr. Bazan.”

According to evidence presented at trial, in April 2018, Mr. Bazan – a six-time convicted felon – unlawfully sold an AR-style pistol and methamphetamine to a confidential informant. 

Less than four months later, in July 2018, Mr. Bazan led deputies with Gaines County, Texas, and Lea County, New Mexico, on a high speed pursuit following a traffic stop near the Texas/ New Mexico border. During the pursuit, which reached speeds of over 95 miles per hour, Bazan attempted to discard two handguns and approximately 413 grams of methamphetamine.

Local law enforcement officers pursued the defendant at high speeds until Bazan began shooting at them.  Later that day, officers recovered two handguns and methamphetamine from the side of the roadway.  At trial, an officer testified that during his decade-plus career, he had never recovered such a large amount of methamphetamine from a defendant. 

Mr. Bazan worked unsuccessfully to block prosecution.  Upon indictment, he attempted to intimidate a cooperating witness. At trial, the jury heard a recorded jail telephone call in which Bazan ordered the publication of the name of the witness in order to influence her testimony. 

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Lubbock Police Department and the Gaines, Lea, and Lubbock County Sheriff’s Offices. U.S. District Court Judge Sam R. Cummings presided over the trial. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Howey, Stephen Rancourt and Jeff Haag prosecuted the case.

Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced the indictment of a darknet drug dealer who has been indicted for leveraging Bitcoin’s apparent anonymity to sell fentanyl online.  The charges against him are the result of the first nationwide undercover operation targeting darknet vendors that the Justice Department announced in June 2018.    

Sean Shaughnessy, 51, of the Dallas Fort Worth, Texas area, was charged by federal grand jury with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance analogue and eight counts of money laundering. 

According to the indictment, which was unsealed on May 24 following the defendant’s initial appearance, Mr. Shaughnessy allegedly sold fentanyl and fentanyl analogues over the dark web, an unindexed portion of the internet accessible only via specialized software that allows users to conduct transactions with relative anonymity.  His buyers purchased the fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, which was shipped to their addresses, using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the indictment alleges.  One user, who allegedly purchased a fentanyl analogue from Mr. Shaughnessy, overdosed on the substance and died.  Mr. Shaughnessy allegedly transferred his Bitcoin proceeds to other cryptocurrency wallets in exchange for regular fiat currency, which was shipped to his home in Dallas.  Unbeknownst to Mr. Shaughnessy, he sent more than $120,000 bitcoin to wallet addresses controlled by federal agents. Yesterday, he was ordered to remain in federal custody.  The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The investigation into Sean Shaughnessy was part of Operation Dark Gold, a year-long, coordinated national operation that used the first nationwide undercover action to target vendors of illicit goods on the darknet.  Special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Field Office posed as a money launderer on darknet market sites, exchanging U.S. currency for virtual currency.  Through this operation, HSI New York was able to identify numerous vendors of illicit goods, leading to the opening of more than 90 active cases around the country, including the investigation into Mr. Shaughnessy in the Northern District of Texas.

The Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, coordinated with law enforcement and federal prosecutors from more than 50 U.S. Attorney’s Offices to investigate 65 targets identified by the undercover operation, which led to the arrest and impending prosecution of more than 30 darknet vendors.

One year after 70 search warrants were executed in May 2018, numerous opioid and narcotics distributors have been charged and convicted around the country. Those include:

• Brian Gutierrez-Villasenor, 27, of San Francisco, California, was sentenced recently to serve 120 months in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and transporting funds to promote unlawful activity.  Gutierrez-Villasenor was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.  According to his guilty plea, between 2014 and May of 2018, Gutierrez-Villasenor distributed cocaine and methamphetamine for a darknet vendor site called “JetSetLife.”  In addition to the prison term, Gutierrez-Villasenor was ordered to pay a $40,000 fine and to serve an additional five-year term of supervised release to begin after his prison term.  Gutierrez-Villasenor has been in custody since his arrest on May 17, 2018, and is serving his prison sentence.
   
• John Edward Monette, 50, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was sentenced to serve five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Monette was convicted of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance on Nov. 15, 2018.  On April 25, 2018, a federal search warrant was executed on Monette’s residence as part of Operation Dark Gold.  Law enforcement officers seized approximately 838 grams of MDMA, numerous ecstasy pills, approximately 69 grams of cocaine, drug packaging, scales, shipping materials, computers, cell phones and a rifle.  Also seized were 3.3882104 bitcoin (approximate value $32,464.38) from a Mycelium wallet on Monette’s cell phone.  Monette had been buying MDMA and other controlled substances from sellers in Europe and elsewhere via the dark web.  He used Bitcoin to pay his suppliers, and received the drugs via mail.  He also used the mail to deliver drugs to his customers.
   
• Ryan Farace, 34, of Reisterstown, Maryland, and Robert Swain, 34, of Freeland, Maryland, were charged by the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Farace was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for drug distribution and money laundering conspiracies.  The charges arose from a scheme to manufacture and distribute Alprazolam, or “Xanax,” through sales on the darknet in exchange for Bitcoin.  Farace and his co-conspirator, Robert Swain, laundered the drug proceeds through financial transactions designed to conceal the source and ownership of the illegal funds.  Farace was ordered to forfeit a money judgment equal to $5,665,000 and 4,000 bitcoin (currently worth approximately $3.2 million).  Farace was also ordered to forfeit assets seized by law enforcement during the execution of search warrants in 2018, at locations associated with the conspiracies, including approximately $1.5 million in cash, 1.100 bitcoin and approximately $2.5 million in computer equipment.  Robert Swain previously pleaded guilty to the money laundering conspiracy and faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison at his sentencing on June 18.
   
• Tyler Lee Ward, 35, of Moody, Alabama, and Henry Long Nguyen, 33, of Birmingham, Alabama, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Alabama to three counts including conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute Alprazolam; maintaining a drug-involved premises; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  Ward was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison and Nguyen was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison.  Both Ward and Nguyen were ordered to forfeit numerous assets, including more than $200,000 in cryptocurrency.  Joseph William Davis 26, of Madison, Alabama, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute Alprazolam and was sentenced to serve 126 months in prison.
   
• Sam Bent, 32, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont (and formerly of East Burke, Vermont), and his cousin, Djeneba Bent, 26, also of St. Johnsbury (and formerly East Burke) were both charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.  They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.  Sam Bent also pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering and agreed to a forfeiture money judgment.  As part of his plea agreement, Sam Bent admitted that he set up accounts on dark web marketplaces, established online identities, accepted Bitcoin in exchange for sales over the dark web, and mailed controlled substances from several different post offices in Northeastern Vermont and Northwestern New Hampshire in an effort to avoid detection.  Their sentencings are currently scheduled for July 2019.
   
• Kyle Lindemann, 31, of Birmingham, Michigan, was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute MDMA.  As part of his plea, Lindemann admitted that he had managed a vendor account on the darknet marketplace known as “Dream Market,” on which he sold Alprazolam (Xanax), Adderall, Ecstasy (MDMA), and GHB.  Lindemann also agreed to the forfeiture of 4.430550289998 Monero and 39.17488 MilliBitcoin that were seized during Operation Dark Gold, in May 2018.
   

The investigations are pending.

BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted two men on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr.

A 21-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges JERRY JONES, 55, of Maylene, and TERRY WILLIAMS, 54, of Mt. Vernon, with conspiring between December 2014 and January 2016 to create false invoices and submitting them for payment to the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) for work purportedly performed on the Shades Mountain Filter Plant project. 

“These defendants demonstrated a callous disregard for the citizens of Birmingham by stealing money meant to improve the Birmingham Water Works Board’s operations,” Town said.  “Their breach of the special trust given to them makes their thievery even more intolerable.  We appreciate the investigative work of the FBI, and our partnership with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, in this investigation.”

 

According to the indictment, Jerry Jones was an Arcadis Vice-President and the Principal-in-Charge for Arcadis on the Shades Mountain Filter Plant project.  Arcadis U.S., Inc., was an engineering and consulting firm with offices located throughout the United States, including Birmingham, Alabama.  Arcadis entered into contracts with the BWWB to perform work on several projects, including design and bid phase services on a project involving improvements to the Shades Mountain Filter Plant.

 

Terry Williams owned a company in Mobile, Alabama, called Global Systems International, LLC (GSI).  Arcadis entered into sub-contracts with GSI for work on certain BWWB projects for Arcadis.  Terry Williams hired an individual to perform that work. Arcadis paid GSI by direct deposit into GSI’s bank account based on invoices submitted to Arcadis.

 

Each month, Arcadis submitted a report and invoice to the BWWB by email that summarized work by Arcadis and its sub-contractors on the BWWB projects. Arcadis included on the invoices amounts owed by Arcadis to sub-contractors. Per the terms of its contract with Arcadis, the BWWB was required to pay Arcadis a 10 percent premium over and above the amount charged by Arcadis’ sub-contractors.

 

As part of the conspiracy, Jones and Williams created nine GSI invoices falsely stating that during certain periods of time GSI employees had performed work for a certain number of hours on the Shades Mountain Filter Plant project.  Jones sent emails to Arcadis employees to facilitate processing and payment of the false GSI invoices.  Jones would then submit invoices to the BWWB that included the amounts reflected on the false GSI invoices, plus the 10 percent premium payment. 

 

According to the indictment, BWWB paid Arcadis a total amount of $255,300.10, of that amount GSI received $232,091.00. 

 

As part of the conspiracy, Williams shared the proceeds of the false invoice scheme with Jones.

 

The maximum penalty for the conspiracy charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

 

FBI investigated the case, which Assistant United States Attorneys George Martin and Catherine Long are prosecuting. 

A Crane Hill couple pleaded guilty yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to failing to pay over employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town for the Northern District of Alabama.

According to court documents, Walter Michael Williams and Amy Butler Williams operated Dixie Steel Erectors (DSE), a commercial construction business in Hanceville, Alabama. Mr. Williams, president and owner of DSE, and Ms. Williams, bookkeeper and office manager of DSE, were responsible for withholding and paying over DSE’s payroll taxes. During 2012 and 2013, the couple withheld payroll taxes from the pay of DSE’s employees, but willfully failed to pay over the withheld amounts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). During the same period, the couple caused DSE to make thousands of dollars of expenditures for their personal benefit. The couple’s employment tax fraud caused a loss of approximately $503,000 to the IRS.

In addition, Mr. Williams has not filed personal income tax returns with the IRS since 2009.

Ms. Williams has not filed such returns since 2013.    

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 23, 2019. Mr. and Ms. Williams each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Town commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Tax Division Trial Attorney Allison Garnett and Assistant United States Attorney Melissa Atwood, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

 

BIRMINGHAM — U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town recognized the service and sacrifice of federal, state, local, and tribal police officers on the occasion of National Police Week, which is being observed Sunday, May 12 to Saturday, May 18, 2019.

In October 1962, Congress enacted a joint resolution, which the President signed, declaring May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor law enforcement officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. The resolution also created National Police Week as an annual tribute to law enforcement service and sacrifice. 

 “During Police Week, our nation celebrates the contributions of police officers from around the country, and especially in the Northern District of Alabama, by recognizing their hard work, dedication, loyalty and commitment in keeping our communities safe.   As the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, I want to acknowledge the work performed by our federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the decision made to protect and serve knowing that at any moment they could find themselves facing dangerous situations.  We must never forget the families of these brave men and women, you have our respect and support.  This week let us all take time to recognize the sacrifices of every member of law enforcement, especially those fallen officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.”

According to statistics reported to the FBI, 106  law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2018.  

Comprehensive data tables about these incidents and brief narratives describing the fatal attacks are included in the sections of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2018 https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2018/ released this week by the FBI.

The names of all 106 fallen officers nationwide were formally dedicated on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, during the 31st Annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13, 2019.

The Candlelight Vigil is one of many commemorative events taking place in the nation’s capital during National Police Week 2019.

For more information about other National Police Week events, please visit www.policeweek.org.

 

 

 

 

 

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BIRMINGHAM – An effort focused on reducing violent crime in North Alabama resulted in federal charges against 29 defendants, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and ATF joined with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Huntsville Police Department, City of Madison Police Department, Madison County District Attorney’s Office, Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, Marshall County District Attorney’s Office, Guntersville Police Department, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in an intense effort to charge violent offenders and take guns off the streets.

“Violent crime and violent criminals, especially our worst offenders, continue to be our highest priority for prosecution,” Town said. “It is my judgment that the law abiding public deserves the continued best efforts and partnerships of law enforcement to rid our streets of these violent criminals, these repeat offenders, and these trigger-pullers.  Once convicted, these habitual felons will be rewarded with neatly tucked bedding awaiting them in a state or federal penitentiary.  Our communities are safer due to the relentless and tireless work of the ATF and so many other of our local, state, and federal partners.”

The majority of the defendants charged are violent offenders.  Below are some of the noteworthy investigations.

 

Roger Johnson:  A pipe bomb detonated in the vicinity of a Jackson County Deputy and Johnson’s mother in relation to a civil dispute.  Luckily, no injuries were sustained.

 

Daniel Steele:  Agents recovered numerous unregistered machine guns, to include a Colt belt-fed .50 caliber machine gun, smoke grenades and templates for Glock conversion devices from Steele.   Steele had no prior criminal history and was not on anyone’s radar.

 

Barry Williams, Melvin Rolin, Marcus Kyle and Britney Black: Members of the Froggy Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).  In an interview with ATF, Rolin stated he was responsible for distributing at least 200 kilograms of methamphetamine in North Alabama within a two-year period, as the head of the DTO.  Numerous firearms were recovered from the DTO, to include a converted AK-47 machine gun that ATF seized in Tennessee.

 

Victor Ortiz-Castillo: Illegal alien in possession of a firearm after he was involved in a shooting at a residence in Huntsville.

 

Rex Tidmore: He is a prior felon who had numerous firearms, an underground marijuana grow, and an outside marijuana grow.  He was indicted for felon in possession, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

 

In FY18, the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Alabama prosecutions of illegal firearms cases rose 27% to 286, which is the largest number of illegal firearms prosecutions ever recorded in the Northern District of Alabama and accounted for about half of all federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office. The previous high was 225, which was recorded in FY17.  Nationally, the prosecution of illegal firearms defendants accounts for approximately 1 in 6 of all federal prosecutions.  Project Safe Neighborhoods, the premier violent crimes reduction program reinvigorated by the Department of Justice in 2017, has continued to focus on habitual felony offenders engaged in violent behavior and the Department continues to break its own records for federal prosecutions as a result.

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BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a physician to 87 months in prison for illegally prescribing opioid painkillers, announced United States Attorney Jay E. Town, Drug Enforcement Administration-Birmingham Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman.

United States District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced STEVEN BRUCE HEFTER, 61, of Vestavia Hills, to 87 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and was directed to forfeit more than $38,000.  Hefter must report to the Bureau of Prisons on June 30th.   

Hefter pled guilty in December 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances outside the usual scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.  The charge arose from Hefter’s involvement between 2012 and 2016 with the now defunct clinic Cindy Dunn & Dr. Buckingham, M.D., Weight Loss Clinic and Pain Management (CDPM) in Moody, Alabama.

“The opioid crisis in the United States accounts for the overdose deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year,” Town said.  “This sentence puts on notice any medical provider that justice will find you, from the street corner to the clinic.  There is no hiding behind the white coat or white shoes.  You will be caught, you will be prosecuted and you will occupy a federal prison bed.  We will even leave the light on for you.”  

“Today’s sentence should serve as a warning to any medical professional considering exploiting their patients for profit: you will be caught, you will be prosecuted, and you will pay a steep price,” said Thomas J. Holloman, Special Agent in Charge IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “IRS-CI remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to bring those seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of their patients, to justice.”

“As always, DEA stands ready to protect our citizens, families and often time our children from the devastating effects from the criminal diversion of opioid based drugs.” Morris said.  “We will not allow physicians who have abandoned their Hippocratic oath to continue to poison our communities.  The DEA and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively investigate those who choose profit over patient care.” 

In early 2018, Hefter surrendered his Alabama medical license and his federal Drug Enforcement Administration registration authorizing him to prescribe controlled substances.

Hefter was a cardiologist by training, with no specialization in pain management. Nevertheless, he worked for CDPM as a pain management physician.  CDPM was a pill mill.  The cash-only clinic received anywhere from 40 to 80 patients in a single day.  The primary method for treating pain was by writing multiple prescriptions for high doses of potent and addictive opioids, usually oxycodone, for months and years without offering any other modes of treatment.  According to Alabama’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which tracks the dispensing of controlled substances, during the span of approximately four months in late 2015, Hefter wrote 2,785 prescriptions for 279,665 opioid pills.  The vast majority of Hefter’s prescriptions were pre-signed and issued to patients while Hefter was absent from CDPM. CDPM patients were rarely, if ever, examined properly. CDPM didn’t even have a patient examination table.  Many patients were either drug addicts or were diverting their pills to the street.

“This sentence should serve as a warning to unscrupulous doctors who abuse their prescribing authority and put lives at risk for financial gain, said Assistant United States Attorney Mohammad Khatib, “You are not above the law, and when you are caught, justice awaits.”

This case was a multi-agency investigation by the DEA and IRS-Criminal Investigation as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation.  Assistant United States Attorney Mohammad Khatib prosecuted the case.

BIRMINGHAM – Ten defendants were charged in a 103-count indictment, including a nurse practitioner, and the owners, a pharmacist, managers, sales representatives, and billers, of a Haleyville, Ala.-based pharmacy, Northside Pharmacy doing business as Global Compounding Pharmacy.  The indictment charges them with fraudulently billing health care insurers and prescription drug administrators for over $200 million in prescription drugs.  In one listed instance, the defendants’ fraudulent conduct caused a prescription plan administrator to pay over $29,000 for one tube of a cream advertised as treating “general wounds.”

U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson, Defense Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, United States Postal Inspector in Charge, Houston Division Adrian Gonzalez, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas Holliman announced the charges.

 

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges the following individuals:

1. John Jeremy Adams, 38, of Panama City Beach, Florida, an owner and president of Global, charged in 38 counts;

Adams was arrested on Wednesday and arraigned on Thursday in the Northern District of Florida.

1. Ashley Adams, 36, of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, director of HR for Global, charged in 10 counts;
2. Jeffrey Black, 54, of Destin, Florida, an owner and vice president and COO of Global, charged in 18 counts;
3. James A. Mays, III, 43, of Winfield, Alabama, a pharmacist at Global, charged in 20 counts;
4. Jessica Linton, 36, of Clearwater, Florida, the manager of the billing team at Global, charged in 24 counts;
5. Lisa Holmes, 40, of Troy, Alabama, a district manager supervising sales representatives at Global, charged in 12 counts;
6. John Gladden, 49, of Tallahassee, Florida, a district manager supervising sales representatives at Global, charged in 9 counts;
7. Christi Cunningham, aka Christi Mook, 34, of Crestview, Florida, a sales representative at Global, charged in 9 counts;
8. Juan Rodriguez, 41, of Tampa, a biller at Global, charged in 6 counts; and
9. Lori Dawn Edenfield, 45, of Marianna, Florida, a nurse practitioner, charged in 32 counts.

 

“Motivated by greed, the defendants executed a brazen health care fraud conspiracy and scheme that cost health insurance plans, including those that protect the elderly, disabled, military members and veterans, millions of dollars,” Town said.  “Their scheme deprived health insurance plans of money that could have gone to assist patients with real medical needs.  To date, this investigation has resulted in 28 people being charged.  Would-be healthcare fraudsters should be on notice that our Office is dedicated to rooting out this conduct.  We applaud the investigative agencies for their hard work.”

 

“The egregious corruption uncovered in this complex and wide-ranging fraud scheme wasted millions of dollars in American taxpayer funds, and furthermore, deprived U.S. military members and their families of legitimate prescription medications and other needed medical care,” said John F. Khin, Special Agent in Charge, DCIS-Southeast Field Office.  “Through our aggressive investigative efforts with our partner agencies, DCIS helped stop this shameful abuse of one of DoD’s most critical programs.”

“Healthcare Fraud continues to impact the cost of healthcare in America and is amplified when trusted professionals abandon their ethical code in the name of greed. These unethical practices are damaging the lives of individuals and families throughout this country,” said Thomas J. Holloman, Special Agent in Charge for IRS Criminal Investigation. “IRS CI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners in an effort to prosecute those abusing our healthcare system for profit.”

“This audacious multimillion-dollar fraud scheme posed a significant threat to the integrity of government healthcare programs at the expense of taxpayers,” said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the HHS Office of Inspector General.  “Working closely with our law enforcement partners, our agency will continue to protect Medicare and Medicaid from such costly scams.”

“In addition to undermining public health and safety, health care fraud cheats Americans out of more than eighty billion dollars a year in higher premiums and increased out-of-pocket expenses,” said Adrian Gonzales, Postal Inspector in Charge, Houston Division.  “The United States Postal Inspection Service is committed to investigations with our law enforcement partners whenever health care fraudsters try to involve the U.S. Mail in their nefarious schemes, as in this case against Northside Pharmacy of Haleyville, Alabama, doing business as Global Compounding Pharmacy.”

“Pursuing those who perpetrate fraud against VA programs and operations is a priority for VA OIG,” said Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division Special Agent in Charge David Spilker. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure the integrity of VA programs designed to help our nation’s veterans and their families.”

 

According to the indictment, Global, which described itself as “one of the top three largest compounding pharmacies in the United States,” primarily shipped compounded and other drugs from its Haleyville facility, but did most of its prescription processing, billing and customer service at its “call center” in Clearwater, Fla. The company hired sales representatives who were located in various states and were responsible for generating prescriptions from physicians and other prescribers.  The company also worked with affiliated pharmacies.

The indictment describes a multi-faceted health care fraud and mail fraud conspiracy and scheme in which the defendants billed for medically unnecessary drugs.  Aspects of the scheme included paying prescribers to issue prescriptions; directing employees to get medically unnecessary drugs for themselves, family members, and friends, to be filled and billed by Global and other related pharmacies; altering prescriptions to add non-prescribed drugs including controlled substances such as Tramadol and Ketamine; automatically refilling prescriptions—often as many as 12 times—regardless of patient need; routinely waiving and discounting co-pays to induce patients to obtain and retain medically unnecessary drugs; and billing for drugs without patients’ knowledge and hiding that conduct from patients by mailing the drugs to J. Adams’ home.  According to the indictment, when prescription drug administrators attempted to police this fraudulent conduct, the defendants evaded and obstructed those efforts, including by providing false information in response to audits and diverting their billing through affiliated pharmacies.  In executing the scheme, the defendants billed health insurance plans and their prescription plan administrators over $200 million and were paid over $50 million.

The indictment states that the defendants targeted multiple health insurance plans, including Global’s, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, and plans providing health insurance to the elderly, disabled, members of the military, and veterans—Medicare, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA, among others.  In addition, the defendants targeted the health insurance plans of Medtronic, a medical device company, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., pharmaceutical company, both known by some of the defendants to have high-reimbursing health insurance.  According to the indictment, Adams and Black would hire individuals known to be on Medtronic and Novartis’s health insurance plans, and direct them to get prescriptions for medically unnecessary drugs for themselves, family members, and friends, and then pay them a commission for these prescriptions.

Some of the conduct described in the indictment includes billing for female sex creams issued to male patients, billing for drugs issued to children that Global stated were contraindicated for use by children, and billing for drugs that patients did not need and therefore simply discarded in the trash. 

 

The indictment also charges the defendants with aggravated identity theft, charges J. Adams, Black, and Edenfield with participating in a kickback conspiracy, and charges J. Adams, Black, and Mays with multiple counts of spending the proceeds of health care fraud and mail fraud.  Purchases included for private plane travel and expensive watches.

 

The charges stem from a larger investigation that has to date resulted in 18 additional individuals being charged and signing plea agreements.  Those individuals include Global Vice President of Sales Phillip Marks, Operations Manager Jeffrey South, District Manager Angie Nelson, National Field Trainer and sales representative Bridget McCune; sales representatives Bonita Amonett, Roddrick Boykin, Joshlyn Bowen, Erin Brown, Vanessa Case, Peter Eodice II, Jody Hobbs, Robin Lowry, Kelley Norris and Dawn Whitten; billers Fermin Alfonso, Stacey Cardozo, and Christopher Nunez; and a nurse practitioner, Brandy Lunsford.

 

The maximum penalty for healthcare and mail fraud conspiracy is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for health care fraud is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for mail fraud is 20 years and a $250,000 fine.  The penalty for aggravated identity theft is a mandatory two years, to run consecutive to other counts.  The maximum penalty for the kickback conspiracy charge is 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for spending proceeds of health care fraud and mail fraud is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

 

The FBI, HHS-OIG, DCIS, USPIS, IRS-CI, and a United States Attorney’s Office investigator investigated the cases, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chinelo Dike-Minor and Don Long are prosecuting.  The Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division provided assistance in the investigation.

An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

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BIRMINGHAM – Federal agents this week arrested seven people indicted in April on charges that they conspired to distribute marijuana, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

A 12-count superseding indictment charges Stephen Lamar Gadson, 38, Lynn Darnell Gadson, Jr., 32, Ryan Jamal Washington, 31, Keoni Keith Gaddy, 30, Erica Jacinda Gadson, 30, Cormisha Ketua Quinn, 24, and Janacia Latrice Thomas, 28, all from Birmingham, in a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana between January 2016 and late March 2019.  The charges arise from an operation to bring large quantities of marijuana from California to Birmingham via commercial airline flights.

“These arrests are the result of a long-term investigation by our law enforcement partners,” Town said.  “Guns and drugs are a volatile mix, as well as a problem for the Northern District of Alabama, which we will continue to do everything within our power to stop.” 

“These indictments represent the long term enforcement efforts by ATF and area law enforcement,” Watson said.  “As a result, the violent criminal acts that plaque our neighborhoods have been reduced.

The indictment includes one count charging Stephen Gadson, Lynn Gadson, Jr., Ryan Washington, Erica Gadson, and Cormesia Quinn with in a money laundering.

According to the indictment, Stephen Gadson, Lynn Gadson, Jr., and Ryan Washington also have individual federal firearm charges.  Stephen Gadson is charged with possessing and discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.  Lynn Gadson, Jr. and Ryan Washington are charged with felon in possession of a firearm. 

Stephen Gadson, who led the conspiracy, was indicted in February for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  In January 2019, ATF agents and Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies found a gun in his car while arresting him on an outstanding state trafficking marijuana warrant from 2016.  The state warrant arose from an incident where Gadson is alleged to have shot a Jefferson County Sherriff’s Deputy during a narcotics search warrant in June 2016.  Three of Gadson's individual charges in the April 2019 federal indictment deal with Gadson's conduct during the 2016 arrest, including discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, which has a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of ten years in federal prison.

The mandatory minimum for possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms of marijuana is five years in prison.  The maximum penalty for money laundering is 20 years in prison.  The minimum penalty for discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking crime is a 10 years in prison, which must be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.  The penalty for felon in possession of a firearm is a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

ATF investigated the case along with the Irondale Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Birmingham Police Department, and Oxford Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney John Geer is prosecuting. 

An indictment carries only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

BIRMINGHAM – Yesterday a federal jury convicted a Birmingham man of possessing nearly half a kilogram of the highly addictive and extremely potent opioid fentanyl with the intent to distribute, announced U.S. Attorney Jay Town and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris.

Following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor, the jury convicted BOB COTCHERY III, 28, of one count of possession with the intent to distribute over 400 grams of fentanyl.

According to the evidence at trial, on the evening of December 14, 2017, Birmingham police officers on routine patrol in the Norwood area of Birmingham attempted to stop COTCHERY for a traffic violation.  Seeing police, COTCHERY bailed out of his moving car and fled.  Officers gave chase into a dark alley where they saw COTCHERY crouch down near a car just before he was taken into custody.  Under the car near where COTCHERY bent down, officers recovered a Ziploc plastic bag, which was later determined to contain 494 grams of fentanyl.  COTCHERY, who has previous drug trafficking convictions, faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison for his crimes.

“Fentanyl is responsible for too many overdose deaths across Alabama and is something we wish we could uninvent”, Town said.  “As Cotchery found out today, criminals that peddle poisonous opioids like this, from clinic to street corner, will continue to be targets for prosecution.  We will even leave a light on for them in a federal prison cell.”

"Today’s guilty verdict should send a clear message to anyone involved in the distribution of synthetic opioids.  The DEA and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to protect our communities, families, and children,” said Morris.  “The distribution of any drug, especially fentanyl, will not be tolerated.”

The DEA investigated the case along with the Birmingham Police Department, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory R. Dimler and Mohammad Khatib prosecuted.