Southern District of Alabama

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 36 months in prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft involving checks that he stole from the mail.

According to court documents, Jonathan Taylor Randle, 32, pleaded guilty to defrauding numerous banks and credit unions between October 2022 and May 2023. Randle admitted that he carried out the scheme by stealing checks from the mail, producing counterfeited and forged checks, making false identification documents, and conducting unlawful deposits, transfers, and withdrawals.

In March 2023, federal agents began receiving complaints about someone “fishing” mail from U.S. postal collection boxes using tools covered in rat trap glue. Agents recovered several of these “fishing” devices from tubs inside postal collection boxes at post offices in Mobile, Alabama and Escatawpa, Mississippi. A fingerprint examiner found Randle’s fingerprints on the devices.

In April 2023, Randle deposited several forged checks bearing identifiers of mail-theft victims at Regions Bank ATMs in the Mobile area. Surveillance cameras captured Randle making the fraudulent deposits. Thereafter, in May 2023, agents executed a search warrant at Randle’s house in Mobile, seizing hundreds of checks and pieces of stolen mail, fraudulent identifications bearing Randle’s picture and stolen identifying information, multiple debit/credit cards in the names of other people, a laptop, a notebook containing stolen identifying information, and a rifle. Agents also seized and searched Randle’s cell phone, which contained evidence of his fraud scheme.

In addition to the three-year prison term, Senior United States District Judge William H. Steele ordered Randle to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will be subject to credit restrictions, undergo drug testing, and receive mental health treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Steele ordered Randle to pay $33,042.95 in victim restitution and $200 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, and Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
 

MOBILE, AL – Jeremy Alexander Martinez, 33, has been sentenced to 120 months in prison for one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor. Martinez entered a guilty plea to this offense on February 20, 2024. 

According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, in June of 2023, a minor child’s mother went through the minor child’s phone and discovered sexually explicit images that the minor was sending to an unknown person via email. Based on the email exchange, the mother believed the unknown person to be an adult male. FBI Mobile began their investigation, and ultimately identified Jeremy Martinez as the unknown male to whom the minor child victim was sending the images. The minor child had met Martinez on a social media application and then they began communicating via email. When the child’s mother discovered the images, she gave consent for the FBI to take over her daughter’s account. FBI agents continued conversing with Martinez. During the course of this conversation, Martinez detailed several explicit sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the child, while confirming he knew her age. Martinez was located in San Antonio, Texas. He was interviewed and admitted to the conversations.  

Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock imposed a 120-month sentence of incarceration and a lifetime term of supervised release upon his discharge from prison. Chief Judge Beaverstock further ordered that Martinez pay $100 in a special assessment. Martinez will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison and is to have no contact with minors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Kacey Chappelear and Beth Stepan prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc/publications-resources 

The Justice Department today announced the 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action, which resulted in criminal charges against 193 defendants, including 76 doctors, nurse practitioners, and other licensed medical professionals in 32 federal districts across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving approximately $2.75 billion in intended losses and $1.6 billion in actual losses.

In connection with the coordinated nationwide law enforcement action, and together with federal and state law enforcement partners, the government seized over $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold, and other assets.

“It does not matter if you are a trafficker in a drug cartel or a corporate executive or medical professional employed by a health care company, if you profit from the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, you will be held accountable,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will bring to justice criminals who defraud Americans, steal from taxpayer-funded programs, and put people in danger for the sake of profits.”

“The extraordinary Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were proud to play an integral role in this multi-agency investigation and national takedown of healthcare fraud,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Through this action, we in federal law enforcement send a clear and strong message—that we will hold accountable those health care providers and prescribers who prey on their patients for profit and disregard the first rule of medical care: do no harm.”

“Healthcare fraud victimizes patients, endangers the health of vulnerable people, and plunders healthcare programs,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “This wide-ranging collaboration demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to rooting out predatory healthcare fraud, protecting patients, and ensuring critical healthcare funds go where they are needed most.”

The charges alleged include over $900 million fraud scheme committed in connection with amniotic wound grafts; the unlawful distribution of millions of pills of Adderall and other stimulants by five defendants associated with a digital technology company; an over $90 million fraud committed by corporate executives distributing adulterated and misbranded HIV medication; over $146 million in fraudulent addiction treatment schemes; over $1.1 billion in telemedicine and laboratory fraud; and over $450 million in other health care fraud and opioid schemes.  

“Health care fraud affects every American,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “It siphons off hard-earned tax dollars meant to provide care for the vulnerable and disabled. In doing so, it also raises the cost of care for all patients. Even worse, as the prosecutions we announce today underscore, health care fraud can harm patients and fuel addiction. The Criminal Division is committed to rooting out health care fraud, wherever it may be found, no matter who commits it.  And we are using more tools than ever before to uncover misconduct and hold wrongdoers to account, whether they are executives in corner offices or doctors who violate their oaths.” 

Today’s enforcement action was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and its core partners: U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The cases were investigated by agents from the division’s core partner agencies along with other federal and state law enforcement agencies. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, 32 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and 11 State Attorney Generals’ Offices.

“This work is important to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the millions of Americans we serve. HHS vigorously pursues anyone who commits fraud against our health care programs. But it takes all of us, working together, to be successful,” said HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm. “Those who steal from these programs are stealing from the American families who rely on them and putting patients at risk. We won’t stop until all those who try to defraud the federal government are caught and held accountable.”

“We will not tolerate fraud that preys on patients who need and deserve high quality health care,” said the HHS-OIG Inspector General Christi A. Grimm. “The hard work of the HHS-OIG team and our outstanding law enforcement partners makes today’s action possible. We must protect taxpayer dollars and keep Americans safe from harms to their health, privacy, and financial well-being.”

Amniotic Wound Grafts

Charges were filed in the District of Arizona against four individuals who allegedly filed $900 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for amniotic wound grafts used on Medicare patients. As alleged, the defendants targeted elderly Medicare patients, many of whom were terminally ill. The defendants caused medically unnecessary and expensive amniotic grafts to be applied to these vulnerable patients’ wounds indiscriminately, without coordination with the patients’ treating physicians and without proper treatment for infection, to superficial wounds that did not need this treatment, and in sizes that far exceeded the size of the wound. In just 16 months, Medicare paid two defendants more than $600 million as a result of their fraud scheme, paying on average more than a million dollars per patient for these unnecessary grafts. These two defendants owned wound care companies in Arizona and received more than $330 million in illegal kickbacks in exchange for purchasing the grafts billed to Medicare. In connection with the charges, the government seized over $70 million, including four luxury vehicles, gold, jewelry, and cash.

“Every dollar saved by investigating fraud is critical to the sustainability of the Medicare program and the needs of the people who depend on it,” said Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “In addition to the actions taken by the Justice Department, CMS took 127 administrative actions in the last six months separately against providers for their alleged involvement in health care fraud schemes. We thank our partners at the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General for working closely with us to identify, investigate, and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal health care programs.”

Distribution of Adderall and Other Stimulants

Five additional defendants associated with digital technology company Done Global Inc. and its affiliated entity, Done Health P.C. (collectively, “Done”), were charged for the unlawful distribution of millions of Adderall pills. The CEO and Clinical President of Done were charged on June 13 in a scheme to distribute Adderall and other stimulants over the internet. The charges announced today include those against one of the most prolific prescribers working for Done, a Florida nurse practitioner who prescribed over 1.5 million pills of Adderall and other stimulants to patients across the United States. The indictment alleges that the nurse practitioner prescribed Adderall and other stimulants without interaction with patients, pursuant to Done’s “auto-refill” policy. This policy allowed patients to obtain continued prescriptions after an initial encounter without any further audio or visual interaction with a medical professional. This allegedly resulted in the nurse practitioner prescribing Adderall and other stimulants to individuals suffering from drug addiction and continuing to issue Adderall prescriptions for months after the overdose deaths of patients.

“DEA works tirelessly to protect the public from harm, be it cartels funneling fentanyl into our communities or medical providers caring more about profits than patients,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The CEO and clinical director of Done Global Inc. are charged with over-prescribing millions of unneeded stimulant pills, potentially putting patients in danger and exacerbating the current stimulant medicine shortage. The seriousness of these actions should not be understated. DEA will continue to hold anyone accountable who endangers the health and well-being of Americans.”

Diverted HIV Medication

Three owners and executives of a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical drugs were charged in connection with an alleged $90 million wire fraud conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded HIV drugs into the market. The HIV drugs were allegedly acquired through unlawful “buyback” schemes in which previously dispensed bottles of prescription drugs were bought from vulnerable patients. The defendants allegedly purchased these drugs from the black market and resold them to pharmacies throughout the country with falsified documentation designed to conceal the true source of the medication. Pharmacies then dispensed these diverted HIV medications to unsuspecting patients. At times, patients received bottles labeled as their prescription medication, but the bottles contained a different drug entirely, with one patient passing out and remaining unconscious for 24 hours after taking an anti-psychotic drug thinking it was his prescribed HIV medication.

Addiction Treatment Cases

The addiction treatment cases announced today include charges filed in the District of Arizona and Southern District of Florida against four defendants in connection with more than $146 million of allegedly false and fraudulent claims for services for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. As alleged in one of the indictments, one defendant paid kickbacks in exchange for the referral of patients recruited from the homeless population and Native American reservations. She then fraudulently billed Arizona Medicaid for substance abuse treatment services that were either never provided or were provided at a level that was so substandard that it failed to serve any treatment purpose. The defendant is charged with money laundering offenses for her lavish purchases with the fraud proceeds, as well as obstruction of justice for allegedly falsifying records in response to a grand jury subpoena for documents.

Telemedicine and Laboratory Fraud Cases

Thirty-six defendants were charged in connection with the submission of over $1.1 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare resulting from telemedicine schemes. For example, in separate cases involving similar schemes that were perpetrated by different criminal networks in the Southern District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, and District of New Jersey, clinical laboratory owners allegedly paid illegal kickbacks and bribes, including to telemedicine companies, in exchange for the referral of orders for unnecessary genetic testing. The results of these genetic tests—which were supposed to detect genetic mutations that could indicate an elevated risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other serious illness—were not used in the patients’ treatment. Other telemedicine schemes included the unsealing of a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia against a psychiatrist who allegedly submitted fraudulent claims based on minimal patient interactions, including for visits that lasted between 10 to 30 seconds. The continued focus on prosecuting health care fraud schemes involving telemedicine reflects the Department’s commitment to rooting out these schemes, which has saved taxpayers billions of dollars.

Cases Involving the Illegal Prescription and Distribution of Opioids and Other Health Care Fraud Schemes

The other cases announced today charge 14 defendants with crimes related to the illegal prescription and distribution of opioids that resulted in millions in false billings, including several charges against medical professionals and others who prescribed unnecessary opioids, Suboxone, and other controlled substances.

An additional 126 defendants are charged with various other health care fraud schemes involving over $450 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies for treatments that were medically unnecessary or never provided. Ten defendants across the country were charged in connection with fraudulent COVID-19 testing, including an over $65 million scheme charged in the Southern District of Florida.

The Center for Program Integrity of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CPI/CMS) separately announced today that it took adverse administrative actions in the last six months against 127 medical providers for their alleged involvement in health care fraud.

Principal Assistant Deputy Chief Jacob Foster, Assistant Chief Rebecca Yuan, and Trial Attorney Miriam L. Glaser Dauermann of the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section led and coordinated today’s enforcement action. The cases are being prosecuted by the Health Care Fraud Unit’s National Rapid Response, Florida, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles, Midwest, Northeast, and Texas Strike Forces; U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of Alabama, District of Arizona, Central District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California, District of Connecticut, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky, Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana, Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan, Southern District of Mississippi, District of Montana, District of New Jersey, Eastern District of New York, Eastern District of North Carolina, Western District of Oklahoma, District of Rhode Island, Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Eastern District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia, Southern District of West Virginia, and Eastern District of Wisconsin; and State Attorney Generals’ Offices for Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and South Dakota. The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team used cutting-edge data analytics to identify and support the investigations that led to these charges.

In addition to the FBI, HHS-OIG, DEA, and CMS/CPI, HSI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Department of Labor, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the operation. The Medicaid Fraud Control Units of the states of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia also participated in the investigation of many of the federal and state cases announced today. 

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force. Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide enforcement action and since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which operates in 27 districts, charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers more than $27 billion.

An indictment, information, or complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The following documents related to today’s announcement are available on the Health Care Fraud Unit website through these links:

• Graphics and Resources
• Case Descriptions
• Court Documents

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 77 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.  

According to court documents, Randy Fisher Crandle, 26, was arrested by Mobile police on November 22, 2022 following a traffic stop where he was found to be in possession of a firearm. Crandle has multiple prior felony convictions, including convictions for robbery, arson, and assault. As a convicted felon, Crandle is prohibited from possessing a firearm. 

Crandle was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pled guilty to the charge.  United States District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Crandle to 77 months in prison followed by a 3-year term of supervised release for illegally possessing the firearm.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Terrill and Justin D. Kopf prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
 

MOBILE, AL – On June 17, 2024, United States District Court Judge, Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Zeshan Malik Fayyaz and Lener Daneski Jairon-Solis, each to 70 months imprisonment each for Conspiracy to Possess with the Intent to Distribute Fentanyl.

Documents filed with the Court established that on October 8, 2022 a cooperating source, along with a Mobile County Sheriff's Deputy, acting in an undercover capacity, agreed to meet the two defendants in Mobile County to purchase 2 kilograms of fentanyl for $38,000 per kilogram. When the men arrived at the meet location, Jairon-Solis got out of the vehicle and went into the back seat of the vehicle and opened a suitcase and removed two kilograms of fentanyl in exchange for the cash. Law enforcement had arranged the cash to appear to contain $76,000 by putting $100 bills on the outside and mostly $1 bills on the inside, but in fact it was less than $10,000.  

During the operation law enforcement observed what appeared to be more drugs in the suitcase. The vehicle was followed from the location and later stopped by law enforcement and officers recovered an additional three kilograms of fentanyl from the vehicle as well as the undercover buy money. The defendants were planning to deliver the additional three kilograms to Pensacola, Florida.  

United States Attorney Sean P. Costello commended the investigators for their hard work and dedication in removing 5 kilograms of the deadly drug fentanyl from the community. Costello added that 2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose and thus this seizure surely saved many lives given the fentanyl overdose epidemic facing the nation.  The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.
 

MOBILE, AL – On June 17, 2024, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Christian Ikenya Amir Lewis to 87 months imprisonment for Conspiracy to Possess with the Intent to Distribute 4.464 kilograms of methamphetamine.

Documents filed with the Court established that on January 22, 2020, officers with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force stopped a vehicle being driven by Lewis on Interstate 65 in Baldwin County.  Pursuant to further investigation a drug dog alerted on the vehicle Lewis was driving. Inside the trunk of the vehicle officers found almost ten pounds of pure methamphetamine in a hidden compartment in a large speaker box.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys George F. May and John P. Hutchins III.

MOBILE, AL – Several defendants from Mobile were sentenced for their roles in an organized scheme to commit bank fraud. Two leaders of the scheme were each sentenced to serve eight years in federal prison.

According to court documents, Thomas Charles Bridges, 21, Errol Michael Gilyot, 22, and several codefendants committed widespread bank fraud between November 2021 and April 2023 involving checks stolen from the U.S. mail, which the defendants later altered and deposited at various financial institutions. The fraudulent checks bore the personal identifying information of numerous victim businesses and individuals in the Mobile area and elsewhere. Bridges, Gilyot, and their coconspirators used social media and other means to recruit individuals with accounts at various banks, who provided their account information, debit cards, and other support to further the scheme. Victims of the scheme suffered more than $187,000 in financial losses.

For example, in September and October 2022, bank surveillance video captured Bridges making dozens of fraudulent transactions involving counterfeited checks in the Mobile area. On October 12, 2022, police stopped Bridges and Gilyot in a vehicle after they attempted a fraudulent transaction at a bank branch in Mobile. During that stop, police seized more than $4,700 in cash and debit cards belonging to other people. Later, on October 18, 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at Bridges’s house in Mobile, seizing a laptop, a printer, several counterfeited checks, and more debit cards belonging to other people.

Agents executed numerous search warrants and obtained voluminous text messages and social media communications between and among Bridges, Gilyot, their codefendants, and others discussing the scheme and recruiting others to take part in it. Additionally, latent fingerprint analysts found Bridges’s and Gilyot’s fingerprints on checks that federal law enforcement obtained from victim banks during the course of the investigation.

At sentencing, United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer reviewed evidence that Bridges and Gilyot continued committing check fraud while they were subject to the court’s release conditions. In addition to their 96-month prison terms, Judge Moorer ordered Bridges and Gilyot to serve five year terms of supervised release upon their release from prison, during which time they will be subject to credit restrictions. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Bridges and Gilyot to pay $187,941.36 in victim restitution jointly and severally with their codefendants, and a total of $200 in special assessments. The court also forfeited $5,741 and several electronic devices to the United States.

For their roles in the scheme, the court sentenced Bridges’s and Gilyot’s codefendants as follows: LiJordan Alexander Lucas (60 months); Tranealius Lashun Abrams (57 months); Emerson Trevaun Striveson, Jr. (33 months); Ashir Davonte-Jovonta Hogue (24 months); and Amartinez Carson (one day). The court also ordered each of those defendants to serve supervised release terms and pay restitution and special assessments.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, Mobile Police Department, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, and Jackson Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
 

MOBILE, AL – Preston Buie was sentenced by a federal judge to a total of 240 months incarceration after a January 2024 jury conviction for Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and Illegally Possessing a Firearm. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in January 2023, a deputy with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office stopped Preston Buie on Interstate 10 around the Grand Bay exit in Mobile County. Following an alert by a drug detection dog, law enforcement searched Buie’s vehicle and located 12 kilograms of cocaine and a 9mm pistol in Buie’s possession. Buie was previously convicted of several federal offenses including bank robbery and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. 

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tandice Blackwood, Kacey Chappelear, and Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – On June 5, 2024, United States District Court Judge Callie V. S. Grande sentenced David Willis Hale to 100 months imprisonment for his role in a multi-defendant interstate methamphetamine drug trafficking conspiracy. 

Documents filed with the Court established that Hale was involved with five other persons to transport and distribute methamphetamine from Texas to Mobile County, Alabama. Hale served as a drug courier in the organization. On numerous occasions Hale transported methamphetamine from Lafayette, Louisiana, where he met another courier (co-defendant Daniel Castillo Garcia) working for the Texas supplier (co-defendant Christopher Perales). Hale would then transport the methamphetamine back to Mobile for David Eric Crumpton and Heather Jeanean Boone. 

On August 3, 2020, Hale was stopped in Hancock County, Mississippi with $8,000 in U.S. currency, given to him by Boone to purchase approximately one pound of methamphetamine from Perales.  On December 28, 2020, Hale was stopped in Harrison County, Mississippi, with approximately 300 grams of crystal methamphetamine that he was in the process of delivering to Crumpton in Mobile. Crumpton had ordered the methamphetamine from Perales and then directed Hale to meet Castillo-Garcia in Lafayette, LA to obtain the methamphetamine. Crumpton, Castillo Garcia and another member of the conspiracy, Julie Alesia Roberts, have already been sentenced by the Court. Perales and Boone will be sentenced in the future.   

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mobile Police Department, Narcotics Unit, the Harrison and Hancock County, Mississippi, Sherriff’s Offices and the Galveston County Texas Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.
 

MOBILE, AL – Kelvontae Brown, a Mobile, Alabama man, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.  The sentence was imposed by Senior United States District Judge Callie V. S. Granade.  

According to court documents, in January 2024, Kelvontate Brown plead guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In March 2023, concerned neighbors called 911 because Brown was acting erratically and was in the street with a firearm. When members of the Mobile Police Department arrived, they located Brown, took him into custody, and collected the Glock pistol he had attempted to hide nearby. Brown admitted he had possessed the firearm and that he had hidden it. Brown has prior convictions for domestic violence and theft offenses and was on state probation at the time of this firearms offense.

At sentencing, Judge Granade imposed a 30-month sentence of incarceration and a three-year term of supervised release upon Brown’s discharge from prison. Brown will also be required to undergo mental health evaluation upon release.
 
The Mobile Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.  

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

MOBILE, AL – Jeremy Kinsey, a Baldwin County, Alabama man, has been sentenced to 360 months (30 years) in federal prison for production of child pornography. Kinsey pled guilty to five counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in January 2024. The sentence was imposed by Senior United States District Judge Callie V. S. Granade.  

According to court documents, in April and May of 2023, Kinsey produced recordings of WhatsApp video chats where he was communicating with adult women who were sexually abusing minor children, including a toddler-aged child, The victims in this case were located in the Philippines. Evidence recovered from Kinsey’s cellular device showed that he was sending money to the women in exchange for the video chats where the women sexually assaulted their children at his direction while he watched and recorded.  Kinsey was also convicted of possession of child pornography. 

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Granade imposed a 360-month sentence of incarceration as to the production counts and a 240-month sentence as to the possession of child pornography count. The sentences will run concurrently and will be followed by a 15-year term of supervised release upon Kinsey’s discharge from prison. Kinsey will be required to undergo mental health evaluation, sex offender treatment, and will be required to register as a sex offender upon release. 

This case was investigated by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations. 

Assistant United States Attorneys Beth Stepan and Kacey Chappelear prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.  

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc/publications-resources.

MOBILE, AL – A Theodore, Alabama, man was sentenced to 90 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

According to court documents, Jason Duane Reynolds, 44, was involved with several others in a large-scale conspiracy in which significant amounts of methamphetamine were distributed in Mississippi and Alabama. Reynolds was stopped in a vehicle by Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies in April of 2022 and methamphetamine was found in his vehicle. Information obtained during an ensuing investigation established that Reynolds was connected with conspirators on whom local and federal investigators had already identified as methamphetamine targets. Reynolds was held accountable for approximately 224 grams of methamphetamine actual that was distributed during the conspiracy, while other conspirators were involved with multiple kilograms of the substance.  

United States District Court Judge Kristi K. Dubose imposed the 90-month sentence, and ordered that Reynolds serve 5 years of supervised release upon completion of his imprisonment. Drug abuse testing and treatment was ordered as a special condition of Reynolds’ supervision. The judge did not impose a fine, but ordered that Reynolds pay $100 in special mandatory assessments.     

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria A. Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

The investigation was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)  operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organization that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. 

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 37 months in prison for illegally possessing a machinegun.

According to court documents, Naquarius Isaiah Braxton, 23, was arrested in March 2023 after he led Mobile police on a high-speed car chase. Braxton refused to stop for police after running a stop sign and failing to signal a turn. During the chase, Braxton exceeded 80 miles per hour through a residential neighborhood, lost control of his car, and struck a brick mailbox. Braxton then bailed out of the car and fled on foot with a Glock pistol in his right hand. Officers caught Braxton in the backyard of a house and took him into custody. Officers found Braxton’s .40 caliber Glock pistol lying in the grass nearby. The pistol was illegally modified with a machinegun-conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Glock switch,” which rendered the pistol a fully automatic weapon.

After arresting Braxton, officers searched the car that he had abandoned. On the driver’s seat where Braxton had been sitting, officers found a 60-round drum magazine containing 38 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition and a full-faced ski mask. On the front floorboard, officers found two plastic baggies containing marijuana. Federal agents executed search warrants for Braxton’s Instagram accounts, which contained evidence of his possession of illegally modified weapons. Specifically, Braxton’s accounts contained numerous pictures and videos of Braxton holding Glock pistols equipped with machinegun-conversion devices and drum magazines, including the pistol that officers seized from him on March 4, 2023.

In addition to the 37-month prison sentence, Senior United States District Judge William H. Steele ordered Braxton to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Steele ordered Braxton to pay $100 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – Two Mobile, Alabama, men were sentenced last week after pleading guilty to making online threats to injure an officer of the Mobile Police Department. Jamarcus Manuel, 21, was sentenced to serve twelve months of imprisonment and Justin Gorman, 22, was sentenced to time-served after pleading guilty to Interstate Communication of Threats to Injure. Both men will be subject to three years of supervised release.  

According to court documents, in April of 2023 Mobile Police Officers executed a traffic stop on a vehicle in Mobile, Alabama. One of the passengers of the vehicle live-streamed the interaction on Instagram. Manuel and Gorman posted comments on the video threatening to injure the officer conducting the traffic stop.  

“Using social media, the internet, or any other communication channel to make threats is unacceptable,” said Sean P. Costello, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. “This is especially true when threats are made to those merely doing their jobs, like the men and women in law enforcement. We take any threat seriously, and will investigate and prosecute the criminals who violate federal laws  by doing so.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kasee S. Heisterhagen prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
 

MOBILE, AL – A Castleberry, Alabama, man was sentenced on May 2, 2024, to 70 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.  

According to court documents, Matthew John Cobb, 39, was arrested in possession of a .38 caliber revolver when he fled Conecuh County deputies working a traffic detail in Castleberry. Cobb was driving a white Dodge when he accelerated away from the deputies, eventually abandoning his vehicle and fleeing into the woods on foot. The Alabama Department of Corrections responded to the scene with tracking dogs. The dogs located Cobb in the woods lying face down on top of the gun. Ammunition matching the caliber of the gun was found in Cobb’s vehicle. Cobb had several prior felony convictions, including a previous conviction for Felon in Possession of a Firearm from August of 2020 in the District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. In fact, Cobb was on supervised release from that prior federal conviction at the time this offense occurred.   

United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer imposed the 70-month sentence and ordered a three-year term of supervised release to follow. No fine was imposed but the judge ordered that Cobb pay $100 in special mandatory assessments and forfeit the firearm to the United States. Judge Moorer also found that Cobb had violated the terms and conditions of his prior supervised release term, and imposed a 14-month sentence for that violation, which will run consecutive to the 70-month sentence on the new case.  

The Conecuh County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – Cloepha Franks, a Mobile, Alabama man, has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for transmitting interstate threats to injure. Franks was convicted of this offense at trial in November 2023. The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, following his termination from a local construction company, Franks sent a series of threatening text messages to his former boss threatening to kill him. 

The jury heard evidence that Franks sent the messages from Alabama to the victim who was in Mississippi. Records of the text messages and cell phone records confirmed Franks’ phone transmitted the messages to the victim. 

The victim testified about receiving the threats. He and other witnesses from the construction company testified about precautions taken after Franks transmitted the threats and the fear his actions caused. The FBI testified concerning the ongoing threat to life investigation and evidence obtained from Franks’ cell phone and cell phone records. 

At the sentencing hearing held earlier today, Judge DuBose imposed a 33-month sentence of incarceration and a 3-year term of supervised release upon Franks’ discharge from prison. Franks will also be required to undergo mental health evaluation and alcohol monitoring. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Mobile Division led this investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Beth Stepan and Chris Bodnar prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.  

MOBILE, AL – A Summerdale woman was sentenced to 37 months in prison for bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. 

According to court documents, Jamie Danell Putman, 40, pleaded guilty to engaging in a bank fraud conspiracy between March 2022 and July 2023, and stealing other peoples’ identities in furtherance of the scheme. In April 2022, an identity-theft victim from Robertsdale filed a report with Foley police that somebody had unlawfully obtained her driver’s license, social security number, and other identifiers and had used them to open an unauthorized checking account and deposit fraudulent checks in it. Days later, Foley police arrested Putman at a hotel in possession of the victim’s stolen mail and identification documents, as well as several other items of stolen mail, including blank business checks. Putman admitted in a recorded interview that she had stolen the mail and identification documents. Putman admitted that she and several other people would drive around Baldwin County stealing mail, use acetone to “wash” checks, change the payee information on the checks, and then attempt fraudulent in-person and mobile deposits.

In March 2023, after her release from custody, Putman opened a T-Mobile Money bank account and conducted additional fraudulent deposits of counterfeited and forged checks bearing the identifiers of mail-theft victims. In July 2023, Foley police again arrested Putman, who was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by one of her coconspirators. In Putman’s purse, police found several stolen credits, checks, identity documents, and other stolen mail.

In addition to the 37-month prison sentence, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Putman to serve a five-year term of supervised release, during which time she will undergo drug testing and treatment, will receive mental health evaluation and treatment, and will be subject to credit restrictions. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Putman to pay $300 in victim restitution and $200 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement. 

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the Foley Police Department, the Summerdale Police Department, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – Five defendants from Mobile were sentenced for their roles in a scheme to commit bank fraud relating to theft of mail and fraudulent deposits of counterfeited and forged checks. 

According to court documents, Jennifer Denise Johnson, 43, Julian Wayne Roberts, 36, Nicholas O’Neal Martin, 24, Maranda Lynn Slate, 34, and Micki Leigh Walker, 38, each pleaded guilty in federal court to engaging in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud between July 2021 and September 2022. The scheme involved Johnson and her coconspirators stealing mail from homes and businesses in the Mobile area, taking checks and other identification documents from the stolen mail, and generating counterfeits and forgeries to be deposited into bank accounts. Between August and October 2021, Johnson, Roberts, Martin, and Slate made numerous fraudulent check deposits and withdrawals at various Regions Bank branches in Theodore and Tillman’s Corner, as depicted on surveillance video. Federal agents also obtained text messages and Facebook messages that the defendants exchanged with one another in furtherance of the scheme.

In September 2022, Mobile police arrested Johnson and Walker after they attempted to cash another forged check that had been stolen from the mail and bore the identifiers of an elderly victim. Inside Johnson’s vehicle, agents found several bags full of stolen mail, identification cards belonging to mail-theft victims, and numerous stolen debit and credit cards belonging to victims. In a recorded interview with investigators, Johnson admitted that she was “addicted” to stealing mail and had been engaged in a mail-theft and fraud conspiracy with her codefendants for more than a year.

Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Johnson and Roberts each to 36 months’ imprisonment, and Walker to 12 months and one day in prison Martin and Slate received sentences of time served. Upon release from custody, each defendant will serve a five-year term of supervised release, during which time they will receive drug and/or mental health treatment, and will be subject to credit restrictions. The court did not impose fines, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered the defendants to pay a total of $600 in special assessments and victim restitution in the following amounts: $2,500 (Johnson and Roberts); $2,000 (Martin); and $500 (Slate).

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the Mobile Police Department, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Pinson, Alabama man was sentenced on April 17, 2024, to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine.

According to court documents, Darnell Watkins, 61, plead guilty to the charge in October of 2022.  Watkins was one of several conspirators charged in Mobile when an investigation conducted by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed that cocaine and heroin supplied by James Harding, Jr., in Birmingham, was being distributed in Daphne and Fairhope by other members of the organization, including Darrell Williams.  Harding and Williams were convicted by a federal jury in Mobile in October of 2022.  Harding was sentenced to 480 months imprisonment, and Williams was sentenced to 324 months imprisonment.  Court documents reflect that Watkins assisted the conspirators in south Alabama in connecting with Harding and arranging for the delivery and transportation of the drugs and the payment of the drug money.  

United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer imposed the 10-year sentence in Watkins’ case and ordered that he be placed on supervision by the United States Probation Office for 5 years following his release from custody.  No fine was imposed, but Judge Moorer ordered that Watkins pay $100 in special assessments.  

The case was investigated by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Baldwin County Drug Task Force, the Safe Streets Task Force and the FBI.  It was prosecuted in the United States Attorney’s Office by Assistant United States Attorney Gloria Bedwell.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.  

According to court documents, David Bailey, 40, was arrested by Mobile police on October 26, 2022 following the execution of a search warrant at his residence. During a search of the residence, a firearm was located on the couch in the front room, as well as powder cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, an ecstasy pill, and a bottle of promethazine syrup in various places throughout the residence. Bailey admitted to ownership of the firearm. 

Bailey was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pled guilty to the charge.  United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Bailey to 120 months in prison followed by a 3-year term of supervised release for illegally possessing the firearm.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Terrill prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – On March 14, 2024, United States District Court Judge, Terry F. Moorer sentenced Eriskey Lashon Crowell to 110 months imprisonment for his role in a multi-defendant  drug trafficking conspiracy. 

Documents filed with the Court established that on January 7, 2020, a co-defendant in the case, Justin Bonard Douglas, was observed on a camera and by officers conducting live surveillance, making a hand to hand sale of drugs to Crowell in Prichard, Alabama. After Crowell left the location a Creola Police Department officer attempted to stop Crowell for speeding. Crowell fled from the officer and was observed throwing five bags out the window of his vehicle. After a pursuit Crowell was eventually stopped and arrested. Officers recovered three of the five bags observed to be thrown by Crowell. The three bags recovered contained a total of approximately 68.41 grams of cocaine. 

Further investigation revealed that Crowell had purchased cocaine from Douglas for four or more months, obtaining cocaine normally twice a week, and obtaining two to five ounces of cocaine at a time. Crowell’s two previous felony convictions triggered the career offender provisions under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. 

The investigation and prosecution of this case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mobile Police Department and the Creola Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

On March 14, 2024, United States District Court Judge, Terry F. Moorer, sentenced Joel Vargas Mendez-Bienvivenido, a Dominican national, to 87 months imprisonment for smuggling 443 kilograms of cocaine in the Caribbean Sea. Mendez-Bienvivenido had previously plead guilty to the drug smuggling offense, which is charged under Title 46, United States Code, Section 70506 (b).

Documents filed with the Court established that on September 13, 2023, during a routine patrol in the Caribbean, a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) located a Go-Fast Vessel (GFV) on a northerly path with a speed of 18 knots and two persons on board.  The vessel was outfitted with one engine and visible suspected drug packages on the deck of the vessel.  

United States Coast Guard Cutter Valiant (USCGC VALIANT) launched it’s Over the Horizon (OTH) boat with a boarding team (BT).  The OTH and BT arrived on scene and gained positive control of the vessel approximately 161 nautical miles South of Isla Beta, Dominican Republic. This location is in international waters. The BT recovered 13 bales of cocaine weighing  approximately 443 kilograms. The government of the Dominican Republic denied any claim to nationality of the GFV, and the vessel was thus subsequently treated as one without nationality,  giving the United States jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the case under Title 46.  The vessel was deemed a danger to navigation due to no suitable tow points and its distance from land. Consequently, the vessel was sunk upon completion of law enforcement activities.

Title 46 United States Code, § 70501 states: Congress finds and declares that (1) trafficking in controlled substances aboard vessels is a serious international problem, is universally condemned, and presents a specific threat to the security and societal well-being of the United States and (2) operating or embarking in a submersible vessel or semi-submersible vessel without nationality and on an international voyage is a serious international problem, facilitates transnational crime, including drug trafficking, and terrorism, and presents a specific threat to the safety of maritime navigation and the security of the United States. Title 46 further provides that such offenses may be prosecuted in any United States federal district court. 
            
United States Attorney Sean P. Costello praised the outstanding work of the United States Coast Guard and federal investigators in interdicting and bringing these international drug smugglers to justice. Costello stated that the wholesale value of the cocaine seized in this case is conservatively valued at approximately 13.3 million dollars.  

The case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 240 months in prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine and a consecutive 60 months in prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. 

According to court documents, Edward Duran McGee, 42, was arrested by Mobile police in July 2021 during a traffic stop. As officers approached the vehicle, they saw drug paraphernalia in the door pocket and an open bag of white powder on the passenger side floorboard. During an inventory search of the vehicle, officers found a loaded Kahr CW40 pistol. Officers also found a black digital scale, four bags of green plant material, two large bags of powder cocaine, one large bag of crack cocaine, and a large bag of assorted pills. 

In addition to the 300-month prison sentence, United States District Judge William H. Steele ordered McGee to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Steele ordered McGee to pay $200 in special assessments and forfeited McGee’s pistol and four rounds of ammunition to the United States.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis F. Peral and Jessica S. Terrill prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile woman was sentenced to 24 months in prison for bank fraud and mail theft. 

According to court documents, Sanya Heathco Gutierrez, 47, admitted to using the stolen personal identifying information of an elderly Saraland resident to create a Gmail account. Federal agents executed a search warrant for the contents of the Gmail account, which Gutierrez admitted that she used for fraudulent purposes. Specifically, in January 2023, Gutierrez used the Gmail account to open a Chime checking account and obtain a Chime debit card without the elderly victim’s knowledge or authorization. Gutierrez then fraudulently used the card at various merchants, including Cash App, Cricut, Hulu, Roku, and Walmart.

In April 2023, Mobile police received several reports of mail thefts in a residential neighborhood. Police obtained surveillance video capturing Gutierrez stealing mail from her white Chevrolet Impala. On April 13, 2023, officers arrested Gutierrez at a gas station in Mobile and seized a pile of stolen mail from the passenger seat of the Impala. Gutierrez confessed to stealing mail and attempting to cash fraudulent checks that she stole from the mail. Gutierrez allowed agents to search her house, where they found additional stolen mail and a gun with an obliterated serial number. Agents seized and obtained a warrant to search Gutierrez’s cell phone, which contained numerous messages that she sent regarding her involvement in mail theft, check fraud, and identity theft.

In addition to the 24-month prison sentence, United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered Gutierrez to serve a five-year term of supervised release, during which time she will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Gutierrez to pay $200 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Secret Service, and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case. The Jackson Police Department substantially assisted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 60 months in prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl.  

According to court documents, McCants, 37, admitted that between August 2021 and February 2022, he conspired with other people to distribute hundreds of fentanyl pills.  On several occasions, narcotics agents used confidential informants to conduct controlled purchases of fentanyl pills from McCants.  In February 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at McCants’s apartment, seizing, among other things, fentanyl pills, cocaine, a firearm, and ammunition. 
 
In addition to the 60-month prison term, United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered McCants to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered McCants to pay $100 in special assessments.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin D. Kopf prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – Vincent Cole, 35, of Mobile, was sentenced to prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm while on supervision for a previous federal conviction for carjacking and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.   

According to court documents, on March 10, 2023, Cole was arrested by Mobile Police Department (MPD) following a traffic stop and high-speed chase through a residential area in Mobile.  Cole initially stopped his car and spoke to MPD officers.  While speaking to the MPD officers, Cole sped off at a high speed.  MPD officers returned to their police cruiser and pursued him.  Cole lost control of his vehicle and slid off the road just over a quarter of a mile away from the initial traffic stop.  Cole climbed out of his car and was quickly apprehended.  MPD officers found a loaded Glock Model 19 firearm inside the glovebox of Cole’s car.  Cole admitted that he possessed the firearm found in the glovebox of his car.

Cole was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pled guilty to the charge.  United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Cole to 64 months in prison followed by a 3-year term of supervised release for illegally possessing the firearm.  

Because Cole was on federal supervision when he illegally possessed a firearm, Judge Moorer found that Cole violated the conditions of his supervised release term he was serving for his prior felony convictions.  Cole was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his new criminal conduct while on supervision, to run consecutive to his 64-month sentence.    

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin D. Kopf prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Honduran national living in Pensacola, Florida has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for orchestrating a massive immigration fraud scheme involving over 425 victims nationwide. 

According to court documents, Franklin Javier Perez-Rios, age 29, orchestrated a fraud scheme from 2017 through 2023 in which he claimed to be able to provide immigration-related services to foreign nationals living in the United States.   As part of this scheme, Perez-Rios, who had no legitimate qualifications, pretended at various times to be a current United States government official, a former United States government official, an immigration attorney, a paralegal, or other immigration services professional.  Believing that Perez-Rios could help them gain lawful status in the United States, hundreds of victims in Florida, Alabama, and at least fourteen other states paid Perez-Rios thousands of dollars each for what they believed were legitimate, legal immigration services.  Foreign national victims hired Perez-Rios with the hope that he could help them achieve legal status after years of residing in the United States.  

Perez-Rios did not obtain status for any of the victims as he promised.  Rather, he routinely filed asylum paperwork with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) on the victims’ behalf, and then told them that they had to travel to California with him where they were subject to medical examinations and vaccinations.  Neither the medical examinations nor the trips to California were legitimately part of the asylum process.  For other victims, Perez-Rios filed no paperwork on their behalf despite saying he would.  To keep the victims believing he was working on their behalf, Perez-Rios provided them with forged documentation supposedly from the United States Government.  These forged documents led many victims to believe that they had obtained legal status in the United States when, in fact, they had not.  
 
Victims paid Perez-Rios several thousand dollars each, often in cash, for his sham immigration services.  Victims were falsely led to believe that much of this money consisted of “fees” that they had to pay to the United States government, including a fictitious “forgiveness fee” for illegally entering the United States.  Perez-Rios profited at least $2.8 million dollars from victims during this scheme, and he used this money for gambling and to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Approximately 50 victims attended Perez-Rios’s sentencing hearing on March 8, and many explained to U.S. District Court Judge Kristi DuBose how this scheme affected them.  Most victims were from Spanish speaking countries, and they believed that Perez-Rios was one of their own, someone they could trust in their efforts to obtain legal status.  The victims explained that Perez-Rios preyed on this trust and exploited their naivete concerning the actual immigration process.  Many victims missed important deadlines to apply for asylum because they believed Perez-Rios was doing so on their behalf.  All the victims who spoke at the sentencing hearing described how Perez-Rios abused their trust.

Perez-Rios pleaded guilty to nine counts of wire fraud associated with the scheme, and the United States recommended a sentence at the high end of the advisory guidelines range.  Judge DuBose agreed with the United States’ recommendation and sentenced Perez-Rios to 108 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.   Judge DuBose entered a forfeiture money judgment against Perez-Rios for over $2.8 million, representing the amount of illegal proceeds obtained from his scheme. Perez-Rios was also ordered to pay nearly $2.5 million dollars in restitution to victims of his scheme. 

“This defendant exploited vulnerable victims and abused their trust, twisting the United States immigration process to his own selfish ends,” said United States Attorney Sean P. Costello. “Working with our partners in law enforcement, we will bring to justice anyone who tries to take advantage of the immigration system to line their own pockets.”

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Mobile and Pensacola led this investigation in collaboration with USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS).  Several other agencies assisted HSI in this investigation including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), United States Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) Office of Field Operations, United States Border Patrol (USBP) Mobile Station, Pensacola Police Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP). 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin D. Kopf and Christopher J. Bodnar prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Gordon and Ryan Love of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida also assisted in the successful prosecution of this case.

If you believe Perez-Rios filed an application on your behalf, you can call the USCIS Customer Service hotline at 1-800-375-5283 and inquire on the status of your immigration application. The hotline is operational from 8 am to 8 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) Monday through Friday. If you know your Alien Registration number (also referred to as your A Number) and/or receipt number, you can check the status of your case online at https://www.uscis.gov/tools/checking-your-case-status-online. You should also update your contact information for any pending applications with USCIS. Information on how to update your address with USCIS can be found at https://www.uscis.gov/addresschange. 

MOBILE, AL – A Pensacola, Florida man was sentenced to 44 years in prison for conspiring to possess and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, possessing an illegally modified machinegun and other firearms in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes, and possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, Grayson Zachary Eagan, 30, led Baldwin County sheriff’s deputies on a 30-mile high-speed chase on March 8, 2021, after he refused to stop for a traffic violation in Elsanor. During the pursuit, Eagan reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, frequently crossing into the wrong lane of traffic and blowing through several stop signs and lighted intersections. Near Lillian, deputies used a spike strip to deflate the front left tire of Eagan’s car, leaving only the rim of the wheel on the vehicle. Nevertheless, Eagan continued at speeds between 80 and 100 miles per hour, crossing into Florida.

Near the end of the chase, Eagan sped into a residential neighborhood in Pensacola, spinning out and losing control of his car in the front yard of a house. Dash-camera video showed Eagan’s codefendant, Lakin Amanda Wright, throwing a black bookbag from the backseat of the car into a driveway as Eagan sped away. The bookbag contained four handguns, more than a kilogram of 100% pure methamphetamine ice, 38 grams of heroin, drug paraphernalia, and more than $74,000 in banded-up cash. Forensic DNA analysts found Eagan’s DNA on items inside the bookbag.

Shortly after Wright discarded the bookbag, Eagan again lost control of his car and got stuck in a gravel driveway. Eagan and another codefendant, Dylan Michael Miller, attempted to flee on foot before deputies took them into custody. Lying next to Eagan on the ground, deputies found a loaded AR 15-style rifle equipped with an arm brace. Eagan had more than $3,000 in cash on his person. Inside Eagan’s car, deputies located six additional firearms, including a Glock pistol equipped with a machinegun-conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Glock switch,” which illegally converted the semiautomatic pistol into a fully automatic machinegun.

Deputies’ search of Eagan’s car also uncovered numerous rounds of ammunition and gun magazines, a tactical body-armor vest, small amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and more than $1,000 in cash. At the time Eagan possessed the 11 guns that deputies seized from the car and the bookbag, he previously had been convicted of felony crimes in Florida. Those convictions rendered Eagan’s possession of firearms and ammunition illegal under federal law.

Agents also seized Eagan’s cell phones and obtained warrants to search them. The phones contained hundreds of Facebook and text messages that Eagan exchanged with Wright, Miller, and others regarding his drug-trafficking activities and illegal possession of firearms. The messages included Eagan discussing amounts and prices for heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and other drugs. Eagan also discussed trading drugs for firearms. In one such message, Eagan offered to clear an individual’s drug debt in exchange for obtaining a machinegun-conversion device for him.

In addition to the 44-year prison sentence, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Eagan to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Eagan to pay $600 in special assessments and forfeited Eagan’s firearms and ammunition to the United States.

Chief Judge Beaverstock previously sentenced Miller and Wright to serve 221 months and 186 months in prison, respectively. Miller and Wright each will serve five-year terms of supervised release upon their release from prison, during which they will receive drug testing and treatment.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. The Escambia County, Florida Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Rosa County, Florida Sheriff’s Office substantially assisted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Roller and Gaillard Ladd prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced today to 45 years in prison for drug conspiracy, possessing bulk marijuana with intent to distribute it, possessing an illegally modified machinegun in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes, illegally possessing firearms as an eight-time convicted violent felon, and illegally possessing an unregistered machinegun.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a December 2023 trial, Hassan D. Jones, 25, conspired with several individuals to distribute bulk marijuana in the Mobile area and elsewhere from at least March 2021 through February 2023. In May 2021, deputy sheriffs in Louisiana arrested Jones and two of his coconspirators following a traffic stop of a car they were using to return to Mobile from a drug pickup in Houston, Texas. In the car, police found a loaded Glock pistol equipped with an extended magazine, marijuana, promethazine syrup, and more than $5,000 in cash.

In February 2023, narcotics detectives with the Mobile Police Department executed a search warrant at Jones’s apartment in Eight Mile. During the search, detectives seized, among other things, four pounds of vacuum-sealed bulk marijuana, two loaded Glock pistols equipped with extended magazines, and two of Jones’s cell phones. One of the pistols was equipped with a machinegun-conversion device, commonly known as a “Glock switch,” which illegally converted the semiautomatic pistol into a fully automatic machinegun. A DNA expert located Jones’s DNA on the Glock pistols seized from his apartment. Jones’s phones and social media accounts contained dozens of videos, photos, and messages regarding Jones’s drug dealing and his illegal possession of firearms, including illegally-modified machineguns.

In addition to the 45-year prison sentence, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Jones to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment and will receive mental health evaluation and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Jones to pay $500 in special assessments.

“Illegal machineguns and machinegun-conversion devices continue to wreak havoc in our community and across the nation. In the hands of armed drug dealers and violent felons, such weapons present an even greater risk,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello. “Today’s sentence sends a clear message: our office, working alongside our tireless federal, state, and local partners, will not tolerate it.”

“This sentence is a direct message to career criminals that law enforcement is observant and will not allow egregious violations of our laws to go unpunished,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson. “ATF and our law enforcement partners will remain on the frontline in our continuing effort to combat violent crime, maintain public safety, and remove criminals who continuously show total disregard for the law.”

Mobile Police Department Chief Paul O. Prine said, “I am pleased with the federal conviction of Hassan D. Jones. The collaboration with our federal partners and their willingness to prosecute those violent and repeat offenders shows their resolve and commitment to working with the Mobile Police Department in making our community safe. Mr. Jones’s incarceration no doubt will have an impact on our community by not trafficking drugs or possessing weapons that can cause mass casualties.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Roller and Jessica Terrill prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – On March 6, 2024, United States District Court Judge, Callie V. S. Grande sentenced Daniel Castillo-Garcia to 87 months imprisonment for his role in a multi-defendant interstate drug trafficking conspiracy. 

Documents filed with the Court established that Castillo-Garcia was involved with five other persons to transport and distribute methamphetamine from Texas to Mobile County, Alabama. Castillo-Garcia served as a drug courier in the organization who on numerous occasions transported methamphetamine from Texas to Lafayette, Louisiana and Mobile County for the organization. 

On December 7, 2020, the Mobile Police Department Narcotics Unit conducted a traffic stop on a 2007 Black Suburban bearing a Texas license plate and being driven by Castillo-Garcia. Following the stop, investigative team members conducted a search of the vehicle and seized approximately 491 grams of crystal methamphetamine. The seizure occurred after a recorded phone call was made from a confidential informant to another member of the conspiracy ordering a pound of methamphetamine and the dealer stating he would send his courier to Mobile to deliver the methamphetamine.  

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mobile Police Department, Narcotics Unit, the Harrison and Hancock County, Mississippi, Sherriff’s Offices and the Galveston County Texas Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

MOBILE, AL – Two Foley men were sentenced to 188 months and 121 months in prison for conspiring to possess and possessing with intent to distribute more than six pounds of methamphetamine ice.

According to court documents, Thomas Lynn Lambeth, 40, and Chad Vernon Wallace, 39, worked together to obtain a shipment of bulk methamphetamine through the U.S. mail. On July 6, 2023, a codefendant, Victor Mauricio Gonzalez-Leon, mailed two packages containing methamphetamine from a post office in Cashion, Arizona. The packages, which purported to be from a car dealership in Phoenix, Arizona, were addressed to Lambeth at an address in Foley. U.S. Postal Inspectors intercepted the packages in Mobile and found a total of 3.1 kilograms of 97% pure methamphetamine ice inside them. Forensic latent print examiners identified Gonzalez-Leon’s fingerprints on the outside and inside of the packages. Federal agents arranged a controlled delivery of the packages at the post office in Foley.

On July 10, 2023, Lambeth visited the Foley post office to inquire about the status of the packages. Lambeth also called the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) to say he wanted the packages held for pickup at the Foley post office. On July 12, 2023, Lambeth directed Wallace to go to the post office to pick up the packages for him. Lambeth sent Wallace messages offering Wallace $2,000 and “a pound” to pick up the packages. Lambeth texted USPS tracking numbers and instructions to Wallace, writing, “Anything seem out of place just walk out.” When Wallace went to the Foley post office, he told USPS employees that Lambeth had asked him to pick up the packages for him. As Wallace walked out of the post office with the drug packages, federal agents arrested him. Agents searched Wallace’s cell phone, which contained dozens of messages that Lambeth, Wallace, and others exchanged regarding drug dealing.

United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Lambeth, who has a prior felony conviction for drug distribution, to serve 188 months in federal prison. In addition to the 188-month prison term, Judge Moorer ordered Lambeth to serve a 10-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. Judge Moorer sentenced Wallace to serve 121 months in prison and a five-year supervised release term upon his release. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Lambeth and Wallace each to pay $200 in special assessments. Gonzalez-Leon is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Moorer in June 2024.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. The Avondale, Arizona Police Department provided substantial assistance in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 57 months in prison for illegally possessing an unregistered machinegun.

According to court documents, Zukinski Marquis Tomon Spelton, 25, was arrested in December 2021 after he fled from the passenger seat of a car that Mobile police were attempting to pull over for a traffic violation. As Spelton fled from the car, officers saw the impression of a firearm concealed under his shirt. Officers chased Spelton, who jumped several fences and ran through the backyards of several houses, ultimately taking him into custody.

Along the path of Spelton’s flight, police found a Glock 9mm pistol equipped with a machinegun conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Glock switch.” The pistol also had a fully loaded 30-round extended magazine and a chambered round. A forensic DNA analyst found Spelton’s DNA on the pistol. Additionally, a firearms expert test fired the pistol, which operated as a fully automatic pistol. It is illegal under federal law for any person to possess such a machinegun without registering it in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Spelton had not registered the above-referenced machinegun at the time he possessed it.

In addition to the 57-month prison sentence, Senior United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ordered Spelton to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment, and will receive a mental health evaluation and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Granade ordered Spelton to pay $100 in special assessments and forfeited his pistol and ammunition to the United States.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile, Alabama man was sentenced today to 51 months of prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

According to court documents, William Corey Sanders pled guilty to three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Sanders unlawfully possessed three different firearms on three different dates. Today, United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Sanders to 51 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tandice Blackwood prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and theft of a United States Postal Service (“USPS”) key.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a November 2023 trial, Kristen Arieale Williams, 32, was employed as a mail carrier at the post office in Prichard. The jury heard evidence that in late October 2022, Williams stole and sold a USPS “arrow” key to a coconspirator. Arrow keys are government property and will open, among other things, all blue USPS collection boxes in a particular geographic area. Stealing and possessing such a key with fraudulent intent is a federal crime. Williams’s coconspirator paid Williams $2,500 in cash for the key. Law enforcement caught Williams’s coconspirator using the key to steal mail from collection boxes outside the Bel Air Mall in Mobile in November 2022. The coconspirator stole hundreds of pieces of mail using the key.

Trial evidence showed that Williams also conspired to commit bank fraud involving counterfeit checks deposited into her bank account. The counterfeit checks were derived from checks stolen from the mail and bore the true names, addresses, and bank account numbers of multiple victims who testified at trial. The jury reviewed incriminating text messages and other data extracted from Williams’s cell phone and the cell phone of a coconspirator. The jury also heard excerpts of a recorded confession that Williams gave to law enforcement in March 2023. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose applied an obstruction-of-justice enhancement, finding that Williams lied during sworn testimony that she gave at trial.

In addition to the 30-month prison sentence, Judge DuBose ordered Williams to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon her release from prison, during which time she will be subject to credit restrictions. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge DuBose ordered Williams to pay $48,334.10 in victim restitution and $500 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the USPS–Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case. The Brewton Police Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration–Office of Inspector General provided substantial assistance in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile, Alabama man was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for being unlawfully in possession of firearms. 

According to court documents, Charvez Green, 19, was convicted of being in possession of a Glock 45 and a Glock 19X. Each firearm was equipped with an illegal machinegun-conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Glock switch,” and both firearms had been stolen. At the time Green unlawfully possessed the firearms he was on bond for murder in Mobile County. 

Firearms experts examined and test fired Green’s illegally modified firearms, which operated as a fully automatic weapons and expelled multiple rounds of ammunition with a single pull of the trigger. Green admitted that he had never registered the machineguns in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, as required by federal law.

Today United States District Judge Callie V. S. Granade sentenced Green to 27 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a 3 year term of supervised release. The federal sentence was imposed consecutively to any sentence to be later imposed in the state murder case. 

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Georgia man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl.

According to court documents, Howard Labadie Grant, 54, of Snellville, Georgia, was arrested in March 2022 while trafficking bulk fentanyl and marijuana. Specifically, on March 30, 2022, sheriff’s deputies stopped a pickup truck that Grant was driving with an attached U-Haul trailer for a traffic violation on Interstate 65 in north Baldwin County. During the traffic stop, Grant gave inconsistent statements about his travel itinerary and admitted that he was on federal probation for a prior drug trafficking conviction. Grant then admitted to deputies that he was hauling drugs in the trailer, which he had obtained from sources in California.

Deputies searched the trailer and found four vacuum-sealed bundles containing more than four kilograms of fentanyl, as well as several boxes containing more than 70 pounds of vacuum sealed marijuana. Inside the cabin of the pickup truck, deputies found, among other things, documents from Grant’s two prior federal drug-trafficking convictions, paperwork that Grant had submitted to his probation officer requesting permission to travel from Georgia to California for purported business purposes, and handwritten drug ledgers. Narcotics agents interviewed Grant, who admitted that he had made multiple trips to California to obtain marijuana and fentanyl beginning in the summer of 2021. Agents also searched Grant’s cell phones, which contained numerous text messages and other data detailing Grant’s numerous drug-trafficking trips.

In addition to the 25-year prison sentence, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Grant to serve a 10-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Grant to pay $100 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A United States District Judge sentenced a woman to five years of probation for lying in a Bankruptcy Court proceeding.

According to court documents, in April 2023, Lucinda “Lou” Miller, 48, of Mobile, was convicted of making false statements under oath in a bankruptcy proceeding. United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced her to be supervised by a United States Probation officer for five years, the first year of which she will be on home confinement with electronic montoring.

According to court records filed in connection with her guilty plea, Miller was in Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2020, when she obtained the court’s permission to buy a car. In a written order, the bankruptcy judge authorized Miller to spend no more than $18,000 on this purchase. In a ploy to unlawfully squat in a home, Miller offered to purchase a home for $450,000. When the seller’s realtor pressed Miller’s realtor to provide proof of funds for the purchase, Miller delivered to her realtor a falsified order purporting to authorize her to purchase a home for up to $500,000, altered from the legitimate order permitting her to buy a car. Miller’s realtor then provided the false court order to the seller’s realtor. The seller’s realtor contacted the Bankruptcy Court Clerk’s office to verify the order's validity. The clerk’s office notified the court of the fake order, and ultimately, Miller lied under oath in a bankruptcy proceeding when she said she knew nothing about it. Miller, who has filed for bankruptcy in Mobile eleven times since 1995, has been barred by the bankruptcy court judge whose order she faked from filing for bankruptcy anywhere in the United States for 30 months due to her abuse of the bankruptcy court proceedings.

“The bankruptcy court is a mechanism for people in financial trouble to seek a fresh start by liquidating their assets or getting the court’s protection to extend the time to pay back their creditors,” said Sean P. Costello, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. “This defendant abused the bankruptcy court and exploited its authority for her own benefit when she ginned up a bogus court order and then lied about it under oath. With our law enforcement partners, we stand ready to protect bankruptcy proceedings by prosecuting those who lie and jeopardize the court system's integrity.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex F. Lankford prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Bankruptcy Fraud or lying under oath in bankruptcy proceedings can be reported to FBI Mobile at 438-3674.

MOBILE, AL – A Baldwin County man was sentenced on January 29, 2024, to 17 months in prison for making threatening communications to a federal law enforcement officer.

According to court documents, David Clarence Shaw placed multiple calls to the Operations Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation threatening to kill a federal task force officer and referring to himself as the “Angel of Death.”  After serving his 17-month sentence, Shaw will serve a three-year term of supervised release. 

“Law enforcement officers put themselves in harm’s way daily to protect the public,” said United States Attorney Sean P. Costello.  “Threats to their safety – or to any member of our community – will not be tolerated.”  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kasee S. Heisterhagen prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile, Alabama man was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

According to court documents, Raheem Morrissette was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Morrissette has four prior felony convictions and is therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm. In March 2023, members of the Mobile Police Department encountered Morrissette in the Third Precinct during a traffic stop and he had a firearm in his possession. Today United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Morrissette to 57 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. 

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mississippi man was sentenced today to 51 month years in prison for traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, in October 2023, Dennis Scott, Jr. pled guilty to traveling from Mississippi to Alabama to engage in commercial sex with a minor and to possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense. In October 2022, the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Task Force, the Demopolis Police Department, and the Department of Homeland Security were conducting an operation. Scott responded to an online advertisement and began communicating with an undercover agent that Scott believed to be a 14 year old female. When Scott arrived at the meeting location, he was met by local and federal law enforcement. Scott, who was previously convicted of a felony and is therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm, possessed a firearm at the time of his arrest. Today United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Scott to 51 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a 10-year term of supervised release. 

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Department of Homeland Security, the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Task Force, and the Demopolis Police Department investigated the case. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kacey Chappelear and Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile, Alabama man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, following a trial held in October 2023, the jury convicted James Pettway of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Pettway has at least two prior felony convictions and is therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm. In November 2022, members of the Mobile Police Department encountered Pettway during a robbery investigation. When law enforcement approached Pettway, he had a firearm in his waistband. Today United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Pettway to 15 years in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, which is the statutory maximum sentence. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tandice Blackwood and Beth Stepan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced last week to 180 months in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes.

According to court documents, Clayton Eugene Brown, Jr., 43, was arrested on multiple occasions in November and December 2021 in possession of large amounts of methamphetamine and firearms. On November 3, 2021, sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at Brown’s apartment in Mobile, recovering 14 individually packaged baggies of pure methamphetamine weighing more than 382 grams. Near the drugs, deputies found two loaded pistols, one of which had previously been reported stolen in Moss Point, Mississippi. Brown admitted to deputies that the methamphetamine belonged to him. Two weeks later, on November 16, 2021, deputies executed another search warrant at Brown’s apartment. Brown fled as deputies entered to execute the warrant. Inside Brown’s apartment, deputies found two baggies of methamphetamine containing more than 272 grams of pure methamphetamine.

On December 7, 2021, deputies encountered Brown at a hotel in Mobile. When Brown noticed deputies in the parking lot of the hotel, he fled the area. Inside Brown’s hotel room, deputies found two baggies containing more than 582 grams of methamphetamine that had been cut with a cutting agent. Nearby the drugs, deputies found two loaded pistols and drug paraphernalia. Finally, on December 18, 2021, deputies saw Brown at a gas station in Mobile and arrested him as he attempted to flee. Inside Brown’s SUV, deputies found a loaded pistol and two baggies containing more than 37 grams of pure methamphetamine. Deputies seized and searched Brown’s cell phone, which contained numerous incriminating text messages, pictures, videos, drug ledgers, and other evidence of Brown’s drug-trafficking conspiracy.

In addition to the 180-month prison sentence, United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose ordered Brown to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge DuBose ordered Brown to pay $200 in special assessments and forfeited Brown’s firearms to the United States.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – On December 18, 2023, United States Chief District Court Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Shunn Lashun Sylvester, aka, “ATL” to 148 months imprisonment for methamphetamine trafficking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of his methamphetamine trafficking.   

Documents filed with the Court in connection with his guilty plea established that on in January 2022 law enforcement arrested Sylvester after an undercover operation in which Sylvester was caught attempting to deliver 115 grams of methamphetamine in a vehicle. Sylvester also had a loaded Rossi .357 magnum handgun in the vehicle with him. 

Court documents established that since January 2019 Sylvester had conspired with at least eight other named individuals to distribute methamphetamine. All of these co-conspirators were previously prosecuted on federal drug charges. Sylvester primarily served as a seller and a broker to various persons in Mobile County where Sylvester would sell directly to the buyers or broker transactions between the buyer and three different methamphetamine dealers located in the Moss Point, Mississippi area.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Mobile County Sherriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

MOBILE, AL – A Monroe County man was sentenced on December 1, 2023 to 235 months in prison for two counts of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

According to court records, Charles Brian Stabler, 47, of Monroeville, was convicted in a jury trial in July of 2023 with possessing methamphetamine for distribution on two separate occasions, one in 2019 and the other in 2021. On January 29, 2019, Stabler was stopped by police driving in Monroeville and four individual packages of methamphetamine were discovered in the vehicle. Stabler was also convicted of possessing nearly 9 ounces of methamphetamine discovered during a search warrant executed in Frisco City on August 4, 2021. Evidence showed that Stabler was distributing methamphetamine in the days leading up to the search. At the time of the August 4, 2021 arrest, Stabler was on supervised release for a prior federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Stabler has an extensive criminal history, dating back to the 1990’s. 

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case, assisted by members of the Alabama Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and ATF. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tandice Blackwood and George May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Tuscaloosa man was sentenced to 84 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, Jamaris Jontuan Hogan, 36, was arrested by Moundville Police Department officers on March 1, 2022, for an outstanding domestic-violence warrant. When officers encountered Hogan at an apartment complex in Moundville, he had just stepped out of his still running car, locked it, and walked away from it as police approached. Officers smelled the odor of marijuana emanating from the car and searched it, finding a loaded and stolen .380 caliber pistol, 198 grams of marijuana, clear plastic baggies, a digital scale, and a glass jar containing marijuana residue. Hogan admitted that he had a gun in the car. At the time he possessed the gun, Hogan was on parole for eight prior felony convictions in Oakland County, Michigan, including offenses involving illegal possession of firearms, drug distribution, and theft. Hogan’s prior felony convictions rendered his possession of firearms illegal under federal law.

In addition to the 84-month prison sentence, United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered Hogan to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Hogan to pay $100 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Moundville Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – On November 29, 2023, United States District Court Judge, Callie V. S. Grande sentenced David Erik Crumpton to 292 months imprisonment for his role in a multi-defendant interstate drug trafficking conspiracy. 

Documents filed with the Court established that Christopher Perales, from the state of Texas, would regularly supply Crumpton in Mobile, Alabama, with pound quantities of methamphetamine starting in approximately 2019. During the conspiracy Perales and Crumpton opened a joint checking account at Woodforest National Bank in Texas in order for Crumpton to be able to pay Perales for the methamphetamine. From July 27, 2020, through December 7, 2020, Crumpton made deposits of $125,000 into the joint account for the methamphetamine he purchased from Perales. 

Perales hired the co-defendant, Daniel Castillo-Garcia, to serve as a drug courier/driver who would transport the methamphetamine from Texas to Lafayette, Louisiana for Perales. Once in Lafayette, Castillo-Garcia would meet the co-defendant David Willis Hale, who had been hired by Crumpton   and HJB, to transport the methamphetamine back to Mobile for them. On some occasions, Castillo-Garcia drove the methamphetamine from Texas all the way to Mobile, Alabama for Perales. Also, on some occasions Crumpton and another co-conspirator drove themselves to Texas to obtain the methamphetamine directly from Perales.

On August 3, 2020, Crumpton and another co-conspirator had directed Hale to drive to Lafayette, Louisiana to pick-up approximately 672 grams of methamphetamine from Castillo-Garcia, that had been sent by Perales. On this occasion another co-conspirator had provided HALE $8,000 in US currency to purchase the methamphetamine. During the trip, on the way to purchase the methamphetamine, Hale was stopped and arrested in Hancock County, Mississippi. Hale had approximately 50 grams of methamphetamine, also provided to him by the same co-conspirator who provided him the US currency, ten ecstasy pills, 1 gram of heroin and the $8,000 in U.S Currency.
 
On October 12, 2020, the Mobile Police Department (MPD) Narcotics Unit conducted a search warrant on the home of co-defendant Julie Alesia Roberts in Theodore, Alabama and recovered approximately 615 grams of methamphetamine from Roberts. Crumpton and Roberts had agreed and conspired for Roberts to store the methamphetamine at her home. Both Crumpton and Roberts  had a separate customer base they distributed methamphetamine to. 

On December 7, 2020, the MPD Narcotics Unit conducted a traffic stop on a 2007 Black Suburban bearing a Texas license plate and being driven by Castillo-Garcia. Following the stop, investigative team members conducted a search of the vehicle and seized approximately 491 grams of crystal methamphetamine. The seizure occurred after a recorded phone call was made from a confidential informant to Perales ordering a pound of methamphetamine and Perales stating he would send his courier to Mobile to deliver the methamphetamine.  

On December 28, 2020, a Harrison County, Mississippi highway interdiction unit stopped Hale on Interstate 10 Eastbound. As a result of the stop law enforcement seized approximately 300 grams of crystal methamphetamine from Hale. Hale was in the process of delivering the crystal methamphetamine to Crumpton in Mobile Alabama. 

Roberts was previously sentenced by the Court and Perales, Castillo-Garcia and Hale have all plead guilty and are pending sentencing.
  
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mobile Police Department, Narcotics Unit, the Harrison and Hancock County, Mississippi, Sherriff’s Offices and the Galveston County Texas Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

MOBILE, AL – On December 13, 2023, United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Eugene Darnell Cornner to 240 months imprisonment for methamphetamine trafficking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of his methamphetamine trafficking.   

Documents filed with the court in connection with his guilty plea established that on November 8, 2021, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at a motel room where Cornner was staying and discovered Cornner lying in a bed. Items found during the search included approximately $10,960.00 in cash on the bed where Cornner was laying; a .380 caliber semi­automatic pistol, a brown Louis Vuitton bag with approximately 45 grams of fentanyl, 183 grams of methamphetamine and two nasal spray applicators containing 4mg of Narcan.

On January 20, 2023, Cornner was stopped by the Mobile Police Department on Tillman’s Corner Parkway for a window tint violation. The stop lead to the vehicle being impounded and found in the vehicle was approximately 176 grams of methamphetamine and $2,091 in cash. 

In early February 2023 the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office made a controlled buy of drugs from Cornner and then executed a search at a trailer where Cornner was living in Theodore. Officers recovered approximately 500 grams of methamphetamine from Cornner’s bedroom, and a small amount of marijuana and fentanyl. 

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Mobile Police Department and the Mobile County Sherriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

MOBILE, AL – A federal jury convicted a Mobile man last week for drug conspiracy, possessing bulk marijuana with intent to distribute it, possessing an illegally modified machinegun in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes, illegally possessing firearms as an eight-time convicted felon, and illegally possessing an unregistered machinegun.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a three-day trial, Hassan D. Jones, 25, conspired with several individuals to distribute bulk marijuana in the Mobile area and elsewhere from at least March 2021 through February 2023. In May 2021, deputy sheriffs in Louisiana arrested Jones and two of his coconspirators following a traffic stop of a car they were using to return to Mobile from a drug pickup in Houston, Texas. In the car, police found a loaded Glock pistol equipped with an extended magazine, marijuana, promethazine syrup, and more than $5,000 in cash.
 
In February 2023, narcotics detectives with the Mobile Police Department executed a search warrant at Jones’s apartment in Eight Mile. During the search, detectives seized, among other things, four pounds of vacuum-sealed bulk marijuana, two loaded Glock pistols equipped with extended magazines, and two of Jones’s cell phones. One of the pistols was equipped with a machinegun-conversion device, commonly known as a “Glock switch,” which illegally converted the semiautomatic pistol into a fully automatic machinegun. The jury also heard from a DNA expert who located Jones’s DNA on the Glock pistols seized from his apartment. Jones’s phones and social media accounts contained dozens of videos, photos, and messages regarding Jones’s drug dealing and his illegal possession of firearms, including illegally-modified machineguns.

Jones will be sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock in March 2024. Jones is subject to a mandatory 30-year prison sentence for possessing a machinegun in furtherance of his drug-trafficking crimes. That 30-year sentence must run consecutively to any other sentence he receives. Jones faces up to 15 years in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms, up to 10 years in prison for illegally possessing an unregistered machinegun, and up to five years in prison for each of his drug convictions.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Roller and Jessica Terrill are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
 

MOBILE, AL – A Gulf Shores man was sentenced to four months in prison for illegally smuggling paper soaked in “spice,” a synthetic cannabinoid, to a federal inmate at the Monroe County Detention Center.

According to court documents, Michael Leonides Santos, 36, was arrested on February 18, 2022, after corrections officers seized papers from a federal inmate that were soaked with spice. The inmate had just met with Santos, a practicing attorney, in a visiting room at the jail. As reflected on surveillance video, Santos handed the soaked papers to the inmate, who then leaned down and placed them in his socks. Following the incident, federal agents arrived at the jail and searched Santos’s vehicle, finding prepackaged baggies containing tobacco, phones, charging cables, and other items consistent with contraband smuggling.

Agents also seized a contraband cell phone from the inmate. On the phone, agents recovered numerous text messages linking Santos to contraband smuggling.
Between November 2021 and February 2022, the inmate also exchanged several monitored “Chirp” text messages with Santos and others. In those messages, the inmate discussed smuggling spice into the jail, how to package the contraband and give it to Santos, and how much profit the inmate could make by distributing spice inside the jail. In a December 2021 message, the inmate asked Santos to visit the jail and offered assurances that “they don’t look into that.”

In addition to the four-month prison sentence, United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose ordered Santos to serve a one-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will receive substance abuse testing and treatment. The court imposed a $200 fine and ordered Santos to pay $25 in special assessments.

As part of his plea agreement in this case, Santos is barred from any further representation of criminal defendants in any United States jurisdiction, including but not limited to any federal, state, local, or municipal courts.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, AL – A Bay Minette man was sentenced to 87 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm that he used to shoot his domestic partner.

According to court documents, Quadarius Demetrous Russell, 25, was previously convicted of a felony offense in Florida in 2022 and a misdemeanor domestic-violence offense in Alabama in 2021. Those convictions each rendered Russell’s possession of firearms illegal under federal law. On the morning of May 17, 2023, however, Russell illegally possessed and used a .45 caliber pistol to shoot his domestic partner in the chest during a violent confrontation at an apartment complex in Bay Minette. Following the shooting, Russell transported the victim to a hospital, where the victim received life saving treatment.

Russell initially lied to police about the nature of the victim’s gunshot wound, claiming that the victim had been shot during a drive-by shooting in Atmore. Later, on May 19, 2023, Russell admitted that he had accidentally shot the victim during the confrontation. Russell further admitted that he knew he was “not supposed to be around guns” due to his prior convictions. He allowed officers to retrieve the pistol from his apartment. A forensic expert at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia located blood on the pistol, as well as Russell’s DNA on its grip, trigger, remaining textured areas, and the base of the pistol’s magazine.

In addition to the 87-month prison sentence, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Russell to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will receive mental health evaluation and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Russell to pay $100 in special assessments and $4,140.52 in victim restitution.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bay Minette Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.