Southern District of Alabama

MOBILE, AL – Two defendants were sentenced to 69 months and 40 months in prison, respectively, for conspiring to commit bank fraud involving stolen mail, aggravated identity theft, and illegal firearms possession.

According to court documents, EW Nelson, 39, of Coden, and Thomas William Peters, III, 45, of Irvington, participated in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud involving items stolen from the U.S. mail between March 2024 and May 2024. Nelson and Peters each pleaded guilty and admitted that they stole U.S. mail to obtain checks, credit cards, debit cards, money orders, and other personal identifying information of victims, which they used to generate counterfeited and forged financial instruments and commit fraudulent transactions to obtain illicit profits.

In April 2024, Peters and Nelson worked together to conduct several fraudulent transactions at banks in Tillman’s Corner and Theodore using stolen identifying information of mail-theft victims. Bank surveillance video captured Peters making the unauthorized transactions.

On May 9, 2024, a business in Mobile reported that a white Chevrolet Equinox had been captured on video stealing mail from the business. Three days later, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop of the Equinox, which Peters was driving. Peters led deputies on a high-speed chase, crashing the Equinox in a ditch in south Mobile County. Deputies arrested Peters and seized two loaded pistols, drug paraphernalia, several stolen checks, altered money orders, and deposit slips and receipts from the Equinox. Peters admitted that he illegally possessed the guns after having previously been convicted of several felonies, mostly theft and drug-related offenses. Peters also admitted to engaging in a fraud scheme with Nelson, who manufactured the counterfeited financial instruments that Peters fraudulently deposited at various banks.

On May 15, 2024, agents executed a search warrant at Nelson’s residence in Coden. There, agents located and seized stolen mail, driver’s licenses, debit cards, credit cards, and other evidence of fraud. Nelson admitted to agents that he stole mail and manufactured counterfeited checks. Evidence extracted from phones and laptops belonging to Nelson and Peters confirmed their extensive involvement in mail theft and bank fraud.

U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Nelson to serve 69 months in prison and Peters to serve 40 months in prison. In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered Nelson and Peters to pay $2,817.65 in victim restitution. Upon their release from prison, Nelson and Peters will each serve five-year terms of supervised release, during which time they will be subject to drug testing and treatment and credit restrictions. The court also ordered the defendants to pay a total of $500 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 Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mobile Police Department, and the Jackson Police Department investigated the case.

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

MOBILE, AL – Montreal Leonta Anderson was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose to 37 months in prison for Bank Robbery.

According to court documents, Montreal Leonta Anderson, 30, of Mobile, Alabama, entered a PNC Bank branch in Mobile on March 3, 2025.  Anderson handed a teller a note demanding money.  The teller activated the silent alarm, and officers with the Mobile Police Department quickly responded and took Anderson into custody.  After serving 37 months in the Bureau of Prisons, Anderson will be on a supervised release term of three years.

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

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

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

MOBILE, AL – Amanda Michelle Guy was sentenced on September 14, 2026, by Chief United States District Court Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock, to 84 months in prison for trafficking fentanyl.

Court documents established that, on October 5, 2022, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency used a confidential informant to purchase 15.06 grams of fentanyl from Guy. Eight days later, MCSO deputies seized 18.08 grams of pure methamphetamine from a vehicle Guy was driving.  On January 26, 2023, MCSO deputies executed arrest warrants for Guy at a home in Mobile County. During the arrest deputies seized small amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl from a shed on the property, along with two digital scales used to weigh drugs.

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

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other federal and local agencies  with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that ERIC STAGGERS, 43, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to escape from custody.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2015, Staggers was sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama to 37 months of imprisonment and 25 years of supervised release for failing to register as a sex offender.  Following his release from prison, Staggers moved to Connecticut and his supervision was transferred to the District of Connecticut.  In September 2024, Staggers was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 21 months of imprisonment for violating several conditions of his supervised release.

On August 13, 2025, while Staggers was completing his sentence at the Drapelick Center, a Residential Reentry Center (halfway house) in Bloomfield, Staggers left the facility and claimed that he was headed to his place of employment.  Later that morning, Drapelick Center staff learned that Staggers was not scheduled to work that day, contacted him, and directed him to return to the halfway house.  Staggers failed to return. 

Staggers was located and arrested in New Haven on November 30, 2025.  He has been detained since his arrest.

Judge Bolden scheduled sentencing for December 21, at which time Staggers faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

This matter has been investigated by U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anastasia E. King.

MOBILE, AL – On August 26, the Department of Justice announced the launch of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, the “Fraud Division.” The mission of the Fraud Division will be to prosecute fraud in the United States, no matter its size or complexity. Prosecution of fraud is critical to restoring public confidence in the federal government’s ability to responsibly steward taxpayer dollars. 

The Government Accountability Office recently estimated that the federal government loses between $233 billion to $521 billion annually to fraud. Fraud schemes exploit a variety of sectors – health care, defense, technology, tax, trade, and many others – harming vulnerable people and undermining trust in the American way of life. Given the fraud epidemic gripping the county, President Donald J. Trump announced the creation of the Fraud Division earlier this year, calling on us to activate the tools of justice more than ever before to combat fraud. 

The Fraud Division will focus resources on prosecuting frauds that threaten the health, safety, security, and prosperity of Americans – especially the most vulnerable among us, including children, the elderly, and the sick or disabled. Fraud Division Attorneys therefore will prioritize fraud involving public trust and financial integrity, health care, internal revenue, global trade and commerce, and corporate misconduct. 

The Fraud Division will set national priorities for fraud enforcement, working closely with United States Attorneys, the Civil and Criminal Divisions, federal law enforcement, executive agencies, and state and local partners to ensure the fraud-fighting apparatus is focused on protecting the American people. Prosecutions of fraudsters is critical to advancing the interests of the United States and fraudsters who dare steal from Americans and their government will be systematically targeted, prosecuted, and imprisoned. 

The Southern District of Alabama has a long history of successfully bringing actions to protect the taxpaying public from all types of fraud and misuse of government funds. The Fraud Division will bring more resources to bear on those who seek to steal from the people of the United States. 

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

MOBILE, AL – Keelon Jamar Bridges, 25, of Mobile was sentenced on August 24, 2026, to 77 months in prison for Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.  According to court documents Bridges has multiple prior felony convictions for Receiving Stolen Property 1st Degree, Burglary 3rd Degree, Attempt to Elude, Leaving the Scene of an Accident, Receiving Stolen Property 3rd Degree, Assault 2nd Degree, Receiving Stolen Property 2nd Degree, and Burglary Unoccupied Conveyance.

On November 17, 2025, a Mobile Police officer observed a white Kia Soul with an expired tag. When the officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop the Kia accelerated away from the officer. Bridges fled at speeds of 70 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. Bridges bailed out of the car carrying a blue backpack while the car was still moving. Bridges was detained, and inside the backpack officers located a Tan Glock 19X, a wallet with Bridges’ driver’s license, a Black Nike Ski mask, and a pair of black gloves.   

Following the term of incarceration, Bridges will be placed on three years of supervised release.

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

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Hutchins III 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 – A Mobile man was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for illegally possessing a machinegun. 

According to court documents, on February 17, 2026, Mobile Police Department officers were patrolling downtown Mobile as part of increased law enforcement presence during Mardi Gras parades and festivities. During the surveillance operation, officers arrested Joshua Marcel Pugh, 22, for possessing a machinegun-conversion device. A machine gun conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Glock switch,” is designed to convert a pistol into a fully automatic weapon. 

Pugh was subsequently indicted on a charge of possessing a machine gun and pleaded guilty to the offense.  United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Pugh to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

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

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

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

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime and public safety challenges. As a key component of Operation Take Back America, PSN serves a central role in the Department’s commitment to make our country safe. PSN emphasizes three core principles: rapid federal response to violent crime and criminal offenders; strong, strategic partnerships among law enforcement at all levels; and accountability and deterrence through the prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses and other strategies. These efforts complement and strengthen President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces, ensuring a comprehensive federal response to the most pressing public safety issues facing communities.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for illegally possessing a machinegun. 

According to court documents, on February 16, 2026, Mobile Police Department (MPD) officers arrested Braedan Matthew Thomas, 20, for possessing a machinegun-conversion device.  Earlier that day, a photo and video were posted on social media showing Thomas lying flat on his back with his arms outstretched and his shoes removed and placed on the ground near his feet. Thomas was surrounded by a group of individuals, some of whom appeared to be laughing. The scene was consistent with mocking an individual who had been killed the previous night, February 15, 2026, and much of the display appeared consistent with details surrounding that individual’s death. Based on the background, the video appeared to have been recorded in downtown Mobile.

On February 16, MPD officers were conducting increased patrols in and around downtown Mobile as part of heightened law enforcement presence during Mardi Gras parades and festivities. A few hours after the social media posts were made, officers approached Thomas in downtown Mobile to further investigate. Officers found Thomas in possession of a Glock handgun affixed with a machinegun-conversion device.

Thomas was indicted for possessing a machinegun and subsequently pleaded guilty to the charge. United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Thomas to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possessing the machinegun.

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

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

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

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime and public safety challenges. As a key component of Operation Take Back America, PSN serves a central role in the Department’s commitment to make our country safe. PSN emphasizes three core principles: rapid federal response to violent crime and criminal offenders; strong, strategic partnerships among law enforcement at all levels; and accountability and deterrence through the prosecution of the most serious, readily provable offenses and other strategies. These efforts complement and strengthen President Trump’s Homeland Security Task Forces, ensuring a comprehensive federal response to the most pressing public safety issues facing communities.

MOBILE, AL – An Oregon woman was sentenced to time served in prison for international parental kidnapping. 

Haley Harris, 24, was found guilty after a bench trial on May 18, 2026.  Harris, who was living in Mexico, traveled to Baldwin County on September 21, 2025, to regain physical custody of her minor child from the child’s father, who was residing in Orange Beach.  Harris represented to the child’s father that she would be staying in Baldwin County and only wanted to visit with the child for a few days.  Instead, Harris flew to California and entered Mexico with the minor child. Harris continued to mislead the child’s father by telling him she was still in Baldwin County. 

Agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Marshals Service, the Department of State, the Orange Beach Police Department, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s office worked together to locate the child in Mexico.  The child was ultimately reunited with her father in the United States.

Harris was arrested in Mexico and deported to the United States on September 29, 2025, where she was formally charged. She remained incarcerated until after her bench trial. 

Harris is subject to a one-year term of supervised release with the United States Probation Office.  As conditions of her supervised release, Harris is prohibited from having contact with the minor victim or the victim’s family and must participate in mental health treatment. 

“A parent with lawful custody should never have to endure the fear and devastation of having a child secretly taken to another country,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Steven N. Schrank. “When this child was brought into Mexico, the risks increased and the need for immediate action became clear. HSI and our partners moved with urgency to help locate the child and bring her home. Harris’ conviction and time behind bars reinforce the serious consequences of disregarding the law.”

“The investigative response was immediate and aggressive, driven by exceptional coordination among local, state, federal, and international law enforcement partners,” said Christopher R. Flowers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Mobile Division. “That unified effort was critical to locating the child swiftly and ensuring her safe return. Actions like those of Ms. Harris will always be met with a relentless pursuit of justice by our law enforcement and prosecutorial team.”

U.S. Attorney Sean Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement, stating: “This case demonstrates the importance of acting quickly when a child is unlawfully taken across international borders.  The successful recovery of this child was made possible by the determination and cooperation of our federal, state, local, and international law enforcement partners. Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who violate federal law and endanger the safety and well-being of children.”

The Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Orange Beach Police Department and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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

MOBILE, AL - Timothy Chandler, 23, a United States Postal Service contract mail carrier, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock to a time served sentence, after spending over 30 days in jail, for delay and destruction of mail. 

According to court documents, in November of 2025, Robertsdale Alabama Police Department responded to Chandler’s apartment after receiving a call reporting the discovery of a large volume of undelivered mail. Officers found undelivered mail scattered throughout the apartment, including several envelopes containing celebration cards that had been opened. The mail recovered from the apartment was enough to fill eight postal delivery bins. An additional 66 empty bins were recovered from the apartment. 

None of the mail recovered from Chandler’s apartment was addressed to him, and Chandler was not authorized to store or open mail that was not addressed to him. Community members along Chandler’s route described the impact the interruption of their mail service had on their daily lives. 

"A large part of the mission of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is to ensure public trust in the mail.  When individuals challenge that mission, postal inspectors will aggressively investigate and remain steadfast in our resolve to seek justice," said Shameka Jackson, Inspector-in-Charge of the Houston Division from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. "As a contract driver, Timothy Chandler betrayed the trust of the American public, but he is not representative of the honesty and integrity of hard-working postal employees and contractors serving our nation today. We would like to thank the Robertsdale Police Department for their assistance in this investigation."

“Postal carriers are entrusted with an important responsibility to ensure that members of the public receive their mail in a timely and secure manner,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello. “Anyone violating public trust will be held accountable for their actions.”

The United States Postal Inspection Service and the Robertsdale Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Gaillard Ladd prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States. 

MOBILE, AL – Horatio Tremaine Washington was sentenced on August 18, 2026, by United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer to 60 months in prison for trafficking fentanyl.

Court documents show that on September 9, 2022, Mobile Police Department officers executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence in Mobile. The search warrant resulted in the seizure of items to include a large quantity of Marijuana, Fentanyl pills, Oxycodone pills, THC gummies, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, two digital scales, packaging for drugs, $7,493 in US currency, a money counter, three firearms and a pill press. Following his term of incarceration, Washington will be subject to five years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Mobile Police Department. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys George F. May and Justin D. Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other federal and local agencies  with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – Ira Cornell Bodiford, Jr., 39, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Terry F. Moorer to 324 months in prison for an armed robbery of a convenience store.

According to court documents, on December 19, 2023, Baldwin County deputies responded to an armed robbery at a convenience store in Magnolia Springs.  Witnesses reported that a man wearing a disguise approached the clerk and pointed a semi-automatic handgun equipped with an extended magazine at him, demanding money. 

Law enforcement reviewed surveillance footage of the robbery and identified the vehicle used by the robber. The vehicle was traced to a location in Foley, where deputies recovered Bodiford, the vehicle, stolen cash, and the firearm used in the robbery. Deputies also retraced the vehicle’s route and discovered blue latex gloves along the roadside. Bodiford was seen wearing blue latex gloves in the store’s surveillance footage. Forensic testing matched DNA recovered from the gloves to Bodiford.

Bodiford has several prior felony convictions, including Second-Degree Robbery, Third-Degree Burglary, and Domestic Violence Strangulation. 

Following his release from prison, Bodiford will serve five years of supervised release under the supervision of the United States Probation Office.

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

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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

MOBILE, AL – Bradford Simmons, 51, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. Simmons entered his guilty plea on April 27, 2026.

According to court documents, from March 2023 through March 2024, law enforcement identified Simmons as a possible distributor of child pornography. Investigators obtained a search warrant for Simmons’ residence and seized several electronic devices, which were subsequently examined.

Forensic examinations of the devices revealed hundreds of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. The investigation also determined that, in March 2024, Simmons used a program called File Shredder to forensically wipe his computer every few days. As part of his plea agreement, Simmons admitted that he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexual activity. He also admitted that he used File Shredder with the intent to impede the administration of justice and thereby obstructed justice.

United States District Chief Judge Beaverstock sentenced Simmons to 60 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release. As conditions of supervised release, Simmons must participate in sex offender treatment, submit to substance abuse testing and treatment, and participate in mental health treatment. He must also register as a sex offender and is prohibited from having contact with minors.

“Mr. Simmons’ possession of hundreds of images of child pornography is reprehensible.  This sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s resolve to pursue child exploitation cases aggressively.  Under Project Safe Childhood, our national effort to identify, investigate, and prosecute offenders, we will continue working with our partners to ensure those who harm children face justice,”  said Christopher Flowers, Special Agent‑in‑Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Mobile Office.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Simmons to pay a $100 special assessment and $17,500 in restitution to victims.

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney 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 — Continental Aerospace Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay $11,772,680.14 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for which it was not eligible.

“This settlement demonstrates our office’s steadfast commitment to relentlessly investigating and resolving fraud against American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello for the Southern District of Alabama. “It also reflects the effectiveness of our collaborative False Claims Act investigations in holding companies and individuals accountable for fraudulent conduct and returning unlawfully obtained taxpayer funds to the United States, together with significant financial penalties.”

“PPP loans were intended to help small businesses in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department remains committed to pursuing those who violated the requirements of this taxpayer funded program.”

“PPP loans were meant to help small American businesses survive the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. Continental, however, was part of a large Chinese-owned corporation and allegedly provided false information to the SBA to obtain taxpayer funds to which it was not entitled,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. “This matter is just one of many cases in which our office continues to hold corporations, particularly those owned by a foreign government, accountable when they submit false claims to obtain American taxpayer money.”

“The SBA is committed to rooting out every dollar of PPP fraud,” said SBA General Counsel Wendell Davis. “Alongside the Department of Justice Civil Fraud Section, U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Alabama, and our other law enforcement partners, the agency will aggressively pursue bad actors to hold them accountable and recover pandemic relief funds improperly obtained from the program.”

Congress created the PPP in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the PPP, eligible businesses could receive forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Regulations provide various eligibility requirements for the PPP, including limitations on the number of individuals the borrower and its affiliated entities employed. In their loan applications, borrowers were required to certify that they were eligible for the PPP and that the information they provided was accurate.

Continental designs and manufactures aircraft engines and parts. At the time it applied for its PPP loan, it was part of a large multinational corporation partially owned by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). AVIC is wholly owned by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), an arm of the People’s Republic of China.

In applying for its PPP loan, Continental certified that it was eligible for the PPP. The United States alleges that Continental was not eligible because it was affiliated with other companies in the United States and China, and together with its affiliates across the globe, Continental employed more individuals than permitted by SBA’s size standard for its industry. The United States also contends that Continental was not eligible because it was ultimately owned by a government entity in violation of SBA rules.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The lawsuits were filed by GNGH2 Inc. in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Andrew McCarley in the Southern District of Alabama. In connection with the settlement, GNGH2 Inc. will receive $1,765,902.02.

This year the Administration launched the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division to enhance the Administration’s war on fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. When unscrupulous actors exploit these programs for their own financial gain, they defraud the government, harm the people these programs are designed to aid and protect, and undermine American businesses that play by the rules.  The Civil Division’s FCA enforcement plays a critical role in combatting such fraudulent schemes, recovering billions of dollars for the American taxpayers, and holding wrongdoers accountable. FCA matters will continue to be on the forefront of the battle against fraud, and the Civil Division’s FCA work will support and advance the mission of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama, with assistance from the SBA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of the Inspector General.

Trial Attorney Lindsey Roberts of the Civil Division, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Carter for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Herring for the Southern District of Alabama handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

Continental Aerospace Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay $11,772,680.14 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for which it was not eligible.

“PPP loans were intended to help small businesses in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department remains committed to pursuing those who violated the requirements of this taxpayer funded program.”

“PPP loans were meant to help small American businesses survive the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. Continental, however, was part of a large Chinese-owned corporation and allegedly provided false information to the SBA to obtain taxpayer funds to which it was not entitled,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. “This matter is just one of many cases in which our office continues to hold corporations, particularly those owned by a foreign government, accountable when they submit false claims to obtain American taxpayer money.”

“This settlement demonstrates our office’s steadfast commitment to relentlessly investigating and resolving fraud against American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello for the Southern District of Alabama. “It also reflects the effectiveness of our collaborative False Claims Act investigations in holding companies and individuals accountable for fraudulent conduct and returning unlawfully obtained taxpayer funds to the United States, together with significant financial penalties.”

“The SBA is committed to rooting out every dollar of PPP fraud,” said SBA General Counsel Wendell Davis. “Alongside the Department of Justice Civil Fraud Section, U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Southern District of Alabama, and our other law enforcement partners, the agency will aggressively pursue bad actors to hold them accountable and recover pandemic relief funds improperly obtained from the program.”

Congress created the PPP in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the PPP, eligible businesses could receive forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Regulations provide various eligibility requirements for the PPP, including limitations on the number of individuals the borrower and its affiliated entities employed. In their loan applications, borrowers were required to certify that they were eligible for the PPP and that the information they provided was accurate.

Continental designs and manufactures aircraft engines and parts. At the time it applied for its PPP loan, it was part of a large multinational corporation partially owned by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). AVIC is wholly owned by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), an arm of the People’s Republic of China.

In applying for its PPP loan, Continental certified that it was eligible for the PPP. The United States alleges that Continental was not eligible because it was affiliated with other companies in the United States and China, and together with its affiliates across the globe, Continental employed more individuals than permitted by SBA’s size standard for its industry. The United States also contends that Continental was not eligible because it was ultimately owned by a government entity in violation of SBA rules.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The lawsuits were filed by GNGH2 Inc. in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Andrew McCarley in the Southern District of Alabama. In connection with the settlement, GNGH2 Inc. will receive $1,765,902.02.

This year the Administration launched the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division to enhance the Administration’s war on fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. When unscrupulous actors exploit these programs for their own financial gain, they defraud the government, harm the people these programs are designed to aid and protect, and undermine American businesses that play by the rules.  The Civil Division’s FCA enforcement plays a critical role in combatting such fraudulent schemes, recovering billions of dollars for the American taxpayers, and holding wrongdoers accountable. FCA matters will continue to be on the forefront of the battle against fraud, and the Civil Division’s FCA work will support and advance the mission of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama, with assistance from the SBA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of the Inspector General.

Trial Attorney Lindsey Roberts of the Civil Division, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Carter for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Herring for the Southern District of Alabama handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

MOBILE, AL – A Prichard man was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally possessing multiple firearms as a convicted felon and assaulting law enforcement officers and members of the Homeland Security Task Force.

According to court documents, Delando Travon Perkins, 25, was arrested by members of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) at a residence on Cheha Drive in Prichard on February 13, 2026. Agents were attempting to take Perkins into custody on an outstanding arrest warrant for narcotics offenses. The agents were wearing vests and uniforms that clearly identified them as law enforcement.

As agents approached the residence, they saw Perkins standing on a four-wheeler parked in the street on Cheha Drive. Perkins was wearing an “ESPN” chain, which is frequently worn by members of a Prichard-based street gang. Agents observed Perkins walking back and forth between the residence and the four-wheeler.

When agents approached Perkins to arrest him, he attempted to flee on foot. Agents pursued Perkins and apprehended him just north of Cheha Drive after he attempted to discard the “ESPN” chain and his cell phone. Agents secured Perkins in a police vehicle and began searching the residence and surrounding area.

On the four-wheeler where Perkins had been standing, agents found a loaded .38-caliber revolver and a loaded 9mm pistol. On the front porch of the residence, agents found two additional loaded 9mm pistols. Inside the residence, agents found a .223-caliber rifle that had been modified to fire .50 BEO-caliber ammunition, small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, precursors used to manufacture crack cocaine, multiple pistol and rifle magazines, 79 rounds of ammunition in various calibers, and items bearing Perkins’s name.

While Perkins was detained in a patrol vehicle, he attempted to kick out the vehicle’s window partition and slipped his handcuffs from behind his back to the front of his body, creating a safety concern. Agents opened the rear door of the vehicle, and a Mobile County Sheriff’s Office deputy grabbed Perkins’s handcuffs. Perkins immediately lunged toward the deputy and bit him on his left hand, drawing blood and causing a painful injury. Perkins continued kicking at agents and bit a second deputy on the right hand. Agents re-secured Perkins’s handcuffs and placed him back in the vehicle, where he continued challenging agents to “fight” him.

An FBI DNA analyst compared a buccal swab taken from Perkins with swabs taken from each of the five firearms seized by agents. The analyst found very strong support for including Perkins as a contributor to the DNA profiles obtained from the firearms.

Perkins had previously been convicted of a felony drug offense in 2022, rendering his possession of firearms illegal under federal law.

In addition to the 46-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose ordered Perkins to serve three years of supervised release following his release from prison. During supervised release, Perkins will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine but ordered Perkins to pay $200 in special assessments. Perkins’s firearms and ammunition were administratively forfeited to the United States.

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

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man and woman were sentenced to life in prison for operating a multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”) that distributed bulk cocaine and fentanyl and used children as couriers.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a three-week jury trial in January 2026, Glennie Antonio McGee, 42, Echandza Dianca Maxie, 43, and several coconspirators were members of a lucrative, Mobile-based DTO that distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine and tens of thousands of fentanyl pills between 2017 and 2024. The DTO sourced cocaine from cartel-connected suppliers in Texas and, ultimately, Mexico. The DTO’s fentanyl pills—counterfeited “M30” pills pressed to look like oxycodone—came from various sources in Alabama, Florida, Washington, and other locales.

At trial, the evidence against McGee and Maxie included numerous court-authorized wiretap recordings, CCTV videos from a covert camera installed in McGee’s Cadillac Escalade, pole camera and aerial surveillance videos, text messages and other phone data, financial records, tax records, and DNA evidence, among other things. The jury heard evidence that the defendants used their illicit proceeds to travel the world, including trips to exotic locations including France, Greece, the Maldives, Mexico, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

In December 2022, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) agents arrested one of McGee’s cocaine suppliers following a dangerous high-speed chase in midtown Mobile. Agents seized 9.5 kilograms of cartel-sourced cocaine from the supplier, who was scheduled to deliver one kilogram of the cocaine to McGee that same evening. Weeks later, FBI agents executed a search warrant at McGee’s and Maxie’s house in west Mobile. Agents seized a backpack containing cocaine residue from a vehicle that Maxie was driving. They also seized bulk cash, custom jewelry and other proceeds of the defendants’ drug crimes, a money-counting machine, drug ledgers, documents linking the defendants to other members of the DTO, and a Draco AK-47-style pistol from the house. Maxie lied to FBI agents and claimed the pistol belonged to her, but an FBI DNA analyst found McGee’s DNA on the weapon and other evidence showed that one of McGee’s drug couriers had illegally bought the weapon for him because he is a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing guns. McGee’s prior felonies include state convictions for shooting into occupied buildings and vehicles, as well as a federal conviction for trafficking crack cocaine. While agents were still on-scene searching the house, Maxie left the residence and traveled to multiple bank branches in Mobile and withdrew $138,000. Agents also found a ledger in the house linking Maxie and McGee to numerous fraudulent tax returns falsely claiming millions of dollars’ worth of COVID-19 relief benefits.

In January and February 2024, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) agents obtained multiple recordings of McGee discussing his DTO’s procurement and distribution of hundreds of pounds of cocaine and thousands of fentanyl pills. In those recordings, McGee explained how he took his drug profits and laundered them through real estate properties that he and Maxie had acquired, including properties they rented out on Airbnb. On February 17, 2024, agents recorded McGee selling 1,018 fentanyl pills to a cooperating defendant.

In March 2024, HSI agents began a court-authorized wiretap of several cell phones used by McGee. Agents intercepted more than 8,000 calls during three months’ worth of monitoring. At trial, the jury reviewed more than 100 recorded calls and videos from the covert CCTV camera installed in McGee’s Escalade. On those calls and videos, agents captured McGee making dozens of drug deals for bulk cocaine and fentanyl pills. Agents also intercepted Maxie brokering a drug deal on McGee’s behalf. In one instance on March 18, 2024, McGee sold a kilogram of cocaine to a customer for $18,000 in the driveway of his mother’s house on Euclid Avenue in Mobile. A pole camera captured a 15-year-old child hand delivering the brick of cocaine to McGee.

On March 30, 2024, agents arrested one of McGee’s drug couriers, Tierra Tocorra Hill, in possession of a kilogram of cocaine, a quarter-kilogram of fake cocaine (boric acid), and a loaded pistol. McGee had unknowingly purchased several kilograms of fake cocaine and instructed Hill to mix the boric acid into real cocaine for resale on the street to recuperate his losses for the bad cocaine deal. Boric acid is a household cleaner and detergent. When McGee learned that Hill had been arrested, he traveled to a stash house on Harvey Court in Mobile. There, as recorded on the wiretap, McGee instructed several young children, including an eight-year-old boy he described as “game,” to remove a backpack that contained bulk cocaine from the house and throw it over a fence. Agents responded to the house and encountered the children, including a three-year-old boy who was wearing the backpack filled with pounds of cocaine. Inside the house, agents found additional bulk cocaine and loaded firearms that McGee was storing there. After the raid, agents intercepted calls in which McGee attempted to coach the children to lie to Alabama Department of Human Resources personnel about the incident.

In June 2024, agents intercepted several calls involving McGee and his Houston, Texas-based suppliers, Eric Anthony Aguilar and Jonathan Maurice Hackworth, arranging a shipment of five kilograms of cocaine to the DTO in Mobile. During a traffic stop in Mobile on June 13, 2024, agents seized $24,000 in bulk cash that McGee had paid Aguilar for a portion of the drugs. Later that same day, agents arrested McGee after he and one of his DTO lieutenants, Antonio Dwone Reed, attempted to flee in a brief high-speed chase. Agents boxed in the vehicle and encountered McGee with three kilograms of cocaine sitting in his lap. McGee then confessed in a videotaped interview that he had been dealing bulk cocaine since 2017 and earned $20,000 per month in profits.

Following McGee’s arrest, agents intercepted Maxie and her sister, Exavieria Deagnes Maxie (“Exavieria”) plotting to conceal evidence while operating the bugged Escalade. Specifically, Maxie gave Exavieria, a convicted felon, a shoebox full of custom jewelry and a loaded .380 caliber pistol. Exavieria took the jewelry and gun and stashed them in her apartment in west Mobile. Thereafter, on CCTV recordings, Maxie and Exavieria directed a 15-year-old child to find the gun and toss it from a balcony before agents could enter the apartment. When Maxie’s teenage son tried to instruct the 15-year-old, her nephew, how to remove the clip from the loaded weapon, Maxie stated, “No, tell him don’t do all that. Just drop it off. . . . [H]e ain’t got time to do that. We ain’t got time to coach him.” Exavieria was intercepted admitting that she told her 15-year-old son to toss the gun from the balcony. Agents found the loaded pistol near a softball field behind the apartment. Exavieria then admitted to agents that she had brought the gun to her apartment from McGee’s and Maxie’s house. Exavieria had previously been convicted of a federal methamphetamine-trafficking offense and was prohibited from possessing firearms.

“For nearly a decade, Glennie McGee and Echandza Maxie led a drug-trafficking empire that peddled hundreds of pounds of deadly cocaine and fentanyl. They despicably involved young children in that effort. Now, their crimes are over for good,” said Sean P. Costello, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. “This extraordinary multi-agency investigation demonstrates the creativeness and grit of the Homeland Security Task Force. Working alongside our agency partners, our office will stop at nothing to protect children and stem the flow of deadly drugs into our community.”

“Trafficking hundreds of pounds of cocaine and tens of thousands of counterfeit fentanyl pills is not just a crime, it is a direct assault on the safety of our communities,” said Steven N. Schrank, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama. “This investigation stands as a testament to HSI’s commitment, alongside our Homeland Security Task Force partners, to eradicate violent drug trafficking organizations from our neighborhoods. The life sentences announced today guarantee that these individuals will never again force innocent children and teenagers to act as couriers or conceal weapons, sending a clear message that those who traffic poison and exploit our youth will face the ultimate consequences.”

“Our partnership through the Homeland Security Task Force demonstrates the impact of a whole‑of‑government approach. By combining intelligence, investigative tools, and the work of agents across many jurisdictions, we delivered accountability, protected vulnerable children, and continued crushing violent crime tied to deadly fentanyl and cocaine trafficking,” said Christopher Flowers, Special Agent‑in‑Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Mobile Office.

In addition to the lifetime prison terms, U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered McGee and Maxie to pay $10 million and $1 million fines, respectively, to each reimburse the Criminal Justice Act panel nearly $250,000 in funds expended for their court-appointed attorneys.  McGee and Maxie were ordered to pay a total of $2,846,901.97 in restitution for their fraud crimes. The court also ordered forfeiture of real estate, high-end vehicles, luxury jewelry, cash, firearms, and bank accounts, and issued money judgments totaling $500,000. Judge Moorer also ordered the defendants to pay a total of $1,900 in special assessments.

For their roles in the DTO, the court previously sentenced the following codefendants: Eric Anthony Aguilar (163 months); Jonathan Maurice Hackworth (48 months); Antonio Dwone Reed (43 months); William Thomas Agee, Jr. (105 months); Tavaris Lamon Body (75 months); Exavieria Deagnes Maxie (240 months). Other codefendants, including Tierra Tocorra Hill, will be sentenced at a later date.

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

Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Office of Inspector General Small Business Administration, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mobile Police Department, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated the case. The United States Marshals Service and several local agencies in Houston, Texas substantially assisted the investigation.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – A federal grand jury in Mobile returned an indictment charging four Arizona residents with a yearslong anabolic steroids-trafficking conspiracy.

According to court documents, Laura Stratton, 43, of Phoenix, Arizona, Brenna Eppley, 48, of Buckeye, Arizona, Benjamin Stratton, 39, of Avondale, Arizona, and Karissa Stratton, 33, of Avondale, Arizona conspired with one another and with other persons to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, which are schedule III controlled substances. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to traffic anabolic steroids to the Southern District of Alabama and elsewhere between October 2023 and July 2026. Between March 23, 2026, and March 30, 2026, Laura Stratton allegedly distributed anabolic steroids—namely, trenbolone enanthate and a substance containing detectable amounts of testosterone propionate, testosterone isocaproate, testosterone decanoate, and testosterone phenylpropionate—to the Southern District of Alabama. The indictment also includes a notice seeking forfeiture of two real properties in Phoenix and Avondale, three vehicles, and several cryptocurrency wallets and financial accounts, which are alleged to be proceeds of and property used to facilitate the conspiracy.

The defendants made their initial court appearances in Arizona and Montana on August 5 and August  6, 2026. They are scheduled to make their initial court appearances in the Southern District of Alabama on August 26, 2026, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sonja F. Bivins. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mesa, Arizona Police Department, and the Avondale, Arizona Police Department are investigating the case. U.S. Attorney Costello thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona for its exceptional coordination and assistance with the investigation.

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

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

MOBILE, AL – A federal jury convicted a Mobile man and woman for a conspiracy to commit bank fraud involving more than $25 million in fraudulent checks they mailed to the U.S. District Court and a luxury car dealership, and prison contraband offenses.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a two-day trial, Kartarius Dewan Johnson, 45, and Danisha Anita Foster, 39, conspired to commit bank fraud while Johnson was a federal inmate at the Escambia County Detention Center (“ECDC”) in Brewton, Alabama, attempting to secure Johnson’s release from federal custody. In July 2023, U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer of the Southern District of Alabama sentenced Johnson to serve 231 months in federal prison for various fraud schemes, aggravated identity theft, and false statements to a federal agency.

At trial, the jury reviewed emails, Snapchat messages, recorded jail calls, and other evidence showing that after Johnson’s sentencing, Johnson and Foster coordinated with one another to draft fictitious, “sovereign citizen”-style documents, which Foster mailed to the federal courthouse in Mobile and the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington, DC. The packages included fictitious checks containing the routing number of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The fraudulent checks totaling $25 million were accompanied by documents purporting to obligate the Court to release Johnson from federal custody. Federal agents also discovered that Johnson sent a similar fictitious check for $825,000 to a luxury vehicle dealership in Houston, Texas, in an attempt to fraudulently purchase two Rolls-Royce vehicles.

In October 2023, federal agents seized a contraband cell phone from Johnson at the ECDC, and in January 2024, agents seized Foster’s cell phone pursuant to a federal search warrant. The phones contained messages, photos, videos, and other evidence regarding the defendants’ schemes to defraud several banks, the Court, and the vehicle dealership in Houston. Jurors also reviewed evidence that Foster made contraband payments to Johnson via Cash App, which Johnson converted to Bitcoin and used to illegally gamble from inside the ECDC while he was a federal inmate. In December 2023, Johnson and Foster submitted a fake driver’s license bearing Johnson’s name but another person’s photo to Bovada, an online gambling platform. Bovada closed Johnson’s account because of fraudulent activity.

U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose will sentence Johnson and Foster in November 2026. Each defendant faces a maximum prison term of 30 years, supervised release terms of up to five years, and possible fines, restitution, and special assessment fees.

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

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case.

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

MOBILE, Ala. – On August 4, 2026, United States District Judge William H. Steele sentenced Andre Jerrard Davis, Sr., to 46 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm after having previously been convicted of multiple felony offenses.

According to court documents, on May 14, 2025, officers with the Citronelle Police Department responded to a residence within the city to assist with a theft investigation. Although Davis was present at the scene, he was not involved in the theft investigation.

Officers recognized Davis from prior encounters and knew he had prior felony convictions. During their interaction with him, officers observed a firearm protruding from his pants pocket. They removed and secured the firearm, which was identified as a Glock Model 45, 9mm pistol.

Federal law prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms. At the time of the offense, Davis had previously been convicted of seven felony offenses:

• First-Degree Aggravated Robbery (Hennepin County, Minnesota, October 1, 2001);
• Check Forgery (Hennepin County, Minnesota, October 14, 2003);
• Domestic Assault by Strangulation (Ramsey County, Minnesota, April 6, 2005);
• Voter Registration Fraud (Hennepin County, Minnesota, February 12, 2007);
• Forgery (Lake County, Indiana, February 6, 2008);
• Theft—Take/Use/Transfer Movable Property (Ramsey County, Minnesota, April 28, 2016); and
• Terroristic Threats—Reckless Disregard of Risk (Ramsey County, Minnesota, April 28, 2016).

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

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the City of Citronelle Police Department. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth P. Stepan and George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm as a multi-convicted felon.

According to court documents, Artez Martre Williams, 24, was arrested on November 20, 2025, by Mobile Police Department narcotics investigators who executed a search warrant at Williams’s house in Mobile. During the search, police seized a loaded Glock 9mm pistol from Williams’s bedroom closet. The pistol was lying near paperwork with Williams’s name on it, including his probation drug-testing card and documents from Williams’s prior prison sentence at the Alabama Department of Corrections. In a carport attached to the house, police found marijuana in Williams’s shoes, baggies commonly used to package and distribute drugs, and a Taurus pistol magazine. Police also seized several rounds of 9mm ammunition from Williams’s vehicle, which was parked in front of the house.

During an interview with detectives, Williams admitted that the pistol found in his closet was his and that he kept it for protection from members of rival gangs who would try to commit violence against him. Williams confirmed that he was on federal supervised release and state probation for prior felony convictions, that he knew he was a felon, and that he knew he was not supposed to possess firearms. Williams’s prior felony convictions include discharging a gun into an occupied building, first-degree theft of property, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to a fraudulent COVID-19 relief loan that Williams obtained. 

In addition to the 30-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose ordered Williams to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time Williams will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge DuBose ordered Williams to pay $100 in special assessment and forfeited Williams’s 9mm pistol 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.

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, Ala. – On July 31, 2026, United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Ralpheal Rashod Bridges to 30 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, on July 28, 2025, an investigator with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) observed Bridges engage in what appeared to be a drug transaction from his vehicle in the parking lot of a Waffle House in Mobile. A MCSO deputy subsequently conducted a traffic stop after observing a traffic violation.

During the ensuing investigation, law enforcement discovered approximately $3,000 in U.S. currency, approximately 420 grams of marijuana, two suspected pressed fentanyl pills, 19 30-milligram oxycodone pills, 61 20-milligram oxycodone pills, 191 10-milligram oxycodone pills, two digital scales, and a loaded Glock Model 19, 9mm handgun inside the vehicle.

Federal law prohibits Bridges from possessing a firearm because of his prior felonies which include multiple Possession of Marijuana convictions and Promoting Prison Contraband.

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

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

MOBILE, Ala. – Marvell Jawawn Williams, 41, of Mobile, was sentenced on July 28, 2026, to 84 months in federal prison for Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Illegal Possession of a Machinegun.

According to court documents, Williams has multiple prior felony convictions, including Possession of Controlled Substances, Possession of Marijuana in the First Degree, and Attempting to Elude.

On October 15, 2024, after receiving information that Williams was distributing fentanyl, the Mobile County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at his residence. During the search of Williams's bedroom, deputies recovered six firearms, fentanyl pills, two Glock switches, and ammunition.

After being advised of his rights, Williams stated that he had recently come off his ankle monitor and was nearing completion of drug court. He also admitted that he was a convicted felon and knew he was prohibited from possessing firearms.

Following his term of imprisonment, Williams will serve three years of supervised release.

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

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office along with the Department of Homeland Security Investigation, and The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Hutchins III 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 – Natalia Mitchell of Fairhope, Alabama, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for tampering with evidence in a federal drug conspiracy. 

According to court documents, on the evening of October 8, 2025, a federal defendant called Mitchell on a recorded telephone line from the Baldwin County Corrections Center. During the call, the defendant instructed Mitchell to remove drugs and a firearm from the defendant's property and deliver them to another individual. Mitchell stated that she had already done so. A few hours later, law enforcement officers contacted Mitchell. Although she initially denied any knowledge of the firearm or drugs, she later admitted that she had retrieved and moved the firearm and directed investigators to its location. Law enforcement subsequently recovered the firearm.

Mitchell was indicted for Tampering with Evidence and pled guilty to the charge.  United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Mitchell to 48 months in prison followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. 

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. Attorneys Jessica S. Terrill and Alex F. Lankford prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – An Atlanta, Georgia man was sentenced to 420 months in prison for engaging in a yearslong methamphetamine-trafficking conspiracy, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a weeklong federal jury trial in October 2025, Kenyatta Lee Frazier, 45, manufactured and distributed tens of thousands of pressed methamphetamine pills throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi between September 2022 and August 2024. The jury reviewed numerous photos and videos of the pills that Frazier took with his cell phones after manufacturing them with an illegal pill press machine. Frazier marketed and sold the pills as “ecstasy” to his various customers.

In April 2023, agents arrested Frazier and a coconspirator during a traffic stop in Mobile after they had delivered 2,000 pressed methamphetamine pills to a customer in Mississippi. A court-authorized CCTV recording device installed in the truck in which Frazier was a passenger captured Frazier discussing drug deals, illicit profits, and the quality of his so-called “ecstasy” pills with coconspirators. When agents searched the truck, they found a loaded .380 caliber pistol that Frazier had concealed behind the plastic molding in the floorboard area near where he had been sitting. The pistol had previously been reported stolen out of Pinellas County, Florida.

The jury reviewed text messages in which Frazier had shared photos of the same pistol in an effort to sell it, as well as a recorded jail call in which Frazier admitted that he “stuffed” the pistol so that police would not find it. At the time Frazier illegally possessed the pistol, he previously had been convicted of at least eight felonies, including robbery, aggravated assault, firearms offenses, thefts, and drug crimes.

In addition to the 420-month prison sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Frazier to serve a ten-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time Frazier will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Frazier to pay $300 in special assessments and forfeited Frazier’s .380 caliber pistol to the United States.

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

Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – A federal jury convicted a Mobile man today for his participation in a multimillion-dollar bank fraud conspiracy involving theft of mail, identity theft, counterfeiting of stolen checks and money orders, and fraudulent financial transactions.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a four-day jury trial, Jacody Deauntae Roberts Williams, 22, participated in a nationwide fraud conspiracy that affected dozens of victims in multiple states between 2018 and 2025. The scheme involved widespread theft of mail, identity theft, counterfeiting of millions of dollars’ worth of stolen checks and money orders, and fraudulent deposits of fictitious financial instruments into numerous bank accounts.

The jury reviewed evidence that on several occasions between 2022 and 2025, Williams and other members of the conspiracy fraudulently opened accounts at banks in Mobile and elsewhere to conduct sham deposits of counterfeit checks and money orders. For example, in October 2022, one of Williams’s coconspirators, Patrick E. Williams, impersonated an identity-theft victim using a fake driver’s license to open a bank account and conduct fraudulent deposits of altered money orders. Similarly, in March 2024, another of Williams’s coconspirators, Shaquan L. Manassa, impersonated other victims, used fake driver’s licenses, and opened a business bank account in the name of a bogus Alabama corporation to conduct fraudulent deposits of counterfeited money orders and checks.

In February 2025, Williams’s coconspirator, Nicholas Jon Neil Robinson, was released from federal prison for a previous COVID-19 loan fraud conviction. The jury reviewed text messages and Instagram messages in which Williams and Robinson coordinated for Williams to fraudulently open a bank account to aid the scheme. On March 25, 2025, Williams and another coconspirator visited a bank branch in Mobile and lied to a teller on account-opening documentation. Williams then gave Robinson his debit card and bank account login information. On March 31, 2025, Robinson fraudulently deposited a $34,000 counterfeited check, altered to be made payable to Williams, into Williams’s account. The bank refused the deposit. The original check had been stolen from the mail. The victim owner of the check testified at trial that the original check had been intended to pay school tuition for a special-needs child.

In April 2025, federal agents executed a search warrant at the home of one of Williams’s coconspirators, Demetrius J. Manassa, in Atlanta, Georgia. During that search, agents seized dozens of counterfeited money orders and checks, including some bearing Williams’s name. Agents also seized piles of stolen mail, several fake driver’s licenses and credit cards, bogus Alabama corporation documents, a loaded firearm, a counterfeiting station, and other evidence of the scheme.

The jury reviewed dozens of incriminating Instagram messages that Williams exchanged with coconspirators. For example, in June 2023, a coconspirator asked Williams, “What type of scams y’all doing,” to which Williams responded, “I gotta tell u in person.” Later, in November 2023, Williams messaged a coconspirator asking to illegally purchase Percocet pills and stating that “the bank closed before we can get the money off this account.” Between January and April 2024, Williams exchanged messages with a coconspirator about defrauding several banks, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, offered to find banks for the coconspirator to defraud, and discussed purchasing a how-to guide for committing fraud referred to as a “method.” Williams also shared a video of a stolen check being fraudulently “washed,” shared images of himself and others possessing bulk cash, and discussed defrauding several banks with his coconspirators.

Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock will sentence Williams in October 2026. Williams faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a five-year supervised release term, and an obligation to pay any victim restitution to be ordered by the court. The court previously sentenced two of Williams’s coconspirators, Demetrius J. Manassa and Jarrod A. Ross, to 180 months and 84 months in prison, respectively, for their involvement in the scheme. Several other coconspirators are pending sentencing.

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

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, the United States Secret Service, the Mobile Police Department, and the Jackson Police Department are investigating the case.

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

MOBILE, AL – A Foley man was sentenced to 324 months in prison dealing bulk methamphetamine.

According to court documents, Corinthius Shatuel Woodard, 30, pleaded guilty to participating in a vast drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”) responsible for distributing bulk methamphetamine and fentanyl between August 2022 and July 2024. Woodard supplied multiple pounds of pure methamphetamine to various customers in the Baldwin County area.

On May 9, 2024, police in Robertsdale seized crack cocaine and cocaine from a vehicle being driven by one of Woodard’s conspirators, which Woodard admitted was his rental car. Agents searched a phone seized from Woodard’s conspirator and found numerous text messages between Woodard and the conspirator about setting up drug deals.

Four days later, on May 13, 2024, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a traffic stop of two of Woodard’s drug conspirators in Foley. Deputies seized more than 200 grams of pure methamphetamine and more than 50 grams of fentanyl pills from the car, which was occupied by three children. Deputies seized phones belonging to Woodard’s conspirators and again found numerous messages from Woodard about setting up drug deals.

On May 17, 2024, two of Woodard’s drug conspirators led deputies on a high-speed chase in Foley. Deputies eventually arrested the conspirators and seized nearly a kilogram of pure methamphetamine from them. Deputies also seized a cell phone belonging to one of the conspirators and again located messages from Woodard about setting up drug deals.

On June 15, 2024, Baldwin County deputies attempted to stop Woodard’s rental vehicle in Foley. Woodard took off on a high-speed chase with three young children in the back seat of the car. During the chase, dash and body-worn camera videos depicted Woodard throwing a large plastic bag into the roadway. The bag contained more than 300 grams of pure methamphetamine. Deputies caught up with Woodard and arrested him, finding small amounts of cocaine and marijuana in the car. Deputies seized Woodard’s cell phone and found dozens of messages he sent about setting up drug deals and having associates “wash dirty money” for him.

On July 9, 2024, federal agents searched the apartment of one of the DTO’s methamphetamine suppliers in Pensacola, Florida. During that search, agents seized more than three kilograms of pure methamphetamine, more than 220 grams of fentanyl, several loaded firearms, and more than $56,000 in cash.

At the time Woodard committed his drug-trafficking crimes, he had several prior felony convictions, including a serious violent felony conviction in 2018 for shooting into an occupied vehicle.

In addition to the 324-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered Woodard to serve a ten-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time Woodard will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Woodard 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, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Foley Police Department, and the Robertsdale Police Department investigated the case.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – Tobias Billingsley of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced on June 30, 2026, by United States District Judge William H. Steele to 60 months in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl.

According to court documents, on May 20, 2025, agents with the 17th Judicial Drug Task Force conducted a traffic stop on a rollback wrecker traveling north on Interstate 65 near mile marker 85 in Conecuh County after observing that the vehicle's license plate was not plainly visible.  The wrecker was transporting a GMC Yukon.  During the stop, investigators developed probable cause to search the Yukon and discovered approximately seven kilograms of fentanyl concealed inside the vehicle's battery compartment.

The investigation revealed that Billingsley had traveled to Houston, Texas, to retrieve the fentanyl at the direction of others.  After obtaining the drugs, he arranged for the Yukon to be transported by rollback wrecker to Atlanta, Georgia, where he was instructed to deliver the fentanyl to another individual.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations and the 17th Judicial Task Force. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

MOBILE, AL – Samuel Paul Poulos, age 51, was sentenced today to 7 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to one count of distributing child pornography on March 10, 2026.

According to court documents, during June 2025, law enforcement identified Poulos as an active participant in an online chat room dedicated to the sharing child pornography.  Investigators observed Poulos distributing videos depicting sexual abuse of children through the chat room.

On November 13, 2025, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Poulos’ residence and seized his cell phone.  A forensic examination of the device revealed thousands of images and videos depicting sexual abuse of children.  During an interview with investigators, Poulos admitted that he viewed child pornography and stored the files in a hidden folder on his phone. 

United States District Judge DuBose sentenced Poulos to 84-month imprisonment, followed by 15 years of supervised release.  As conditions of supervision, Poulos must participate in sex offender treatment, substance abuse testing and treatment, and mental health treatment. He also must register as a sex offender and is prohibited from having contact with minors. 

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Poulos to pay a $100 special assessment and $74,500 in restitution to victims.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney 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 – Aylesha Maria Allen of Mobile, Alabama, was sentenced on June 22, 2026, to one year and one day in federal prison for filing fraudulent tax returns.

According to court documents, Allen, 42, prepared and assisted in preparing at least 21 false tax returns that included fraudulent Sick and Family Leave Credits related to the COVID-19 pandemic, false Schedule C business losses, and false Fuel Tax Credits.  Internal Revenue Service records show that Allen’s conduct resulted in a tax loss of $371,412.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Allen to one year and one day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release.  Allen was also ordered to pay $371,412 in restitution.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division.  The Fraud Division investigates and prosecutes individuals who commit fraud against the American people.  The Department’s efforts to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government initiative chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance that seeks to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in federal benefit programs.

“Tax preparers who falsify returns and exploit government programs and benefits established during the COVID-19 pandemic to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers can expect to be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sean P. Costello, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

“As a tax preparer, Aylesha Allen had a duty to file truthful and accurate returns on behalf of her clients,” said Demetrius Hardeman, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Atlanta Field Office.  “Individuals who abuse that responsibility by making false claims or fabricating losses undermine the integrity of our tax system.  IRS Criminal Investigation and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue these fraudsters and hold them accountable.”

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

IRS Criminal Investigations investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Gaillard Ladd prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

MOBILE, Ala. – On June 22, 2026, United States Chief District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Devin Lajuan Hudson to 75 months in federal prison for cocaine trafficking and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, on August 6, 2025, a Mobile County Sheriff's Deputy conducted a traffic stop after observing Hudson commit a traffic violation. During the stop, deputies discovered that Hudson did not possess a valid driver's license.  A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered a distribution quantity of cocaine, Hydrocodone pills, Oxycodone pills, Alprazolam bars, a baby bottle containing liquid Promethazine, marijuana, two loaded handguns, and $993 in U.S. currency. 

Hudson had a juvenile child in the vehicle at the time of the stop.

Following the arrest, deputies obtained and executed a search warrant at Hudson’s residence. During the search, law enforcement recovered an additional four ounces of cocaine packaged in one-ounce quantities, along with high-grade marijuana, approximately $2,000 in U.S. currency, a loaded Radical Firearms rifle, a loaded Glock 23 handgun, and a loaded MasterPiece Arms MAC-10-style 9mm handgun equipped with a suppressor and extended magazine.

The investigation revealed that Hudson possessed multiple firearms in connection with his drug trafficking activities, leading to the federal charges and subsequent conviction.

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

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

MOBILE, AL – A South Carolina man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for failing to comply with federal sex offender registration and notification laws. 

According to court documents, Will Taite, 63, was convicted for Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor in August of 2018 out of Berkeley County, South Carolina.  Taite was sentenced to 5 years’ incarceration. Taite was required to wear a GPS location monitor after being released from state prison. In September of 2025, Taite left South Carolina and traveled by Greyhound bus to Mobile, Alabama. When he arrived in Mobile on September 27, 2025, he cut off his ankle monitoring device.   Law enforcement began looking for him in the last known location of the monitor. Ultimately, he was found to be residing in downtown Mobile and apprehended on October 15, 2025.  He never notified his South Carolina probation officer or the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office of his relocation as required by federal law.

When Taite is released from the Bureau of Prisons, he will be on supervised release for five years. Taite is also required to participate in mental health and sex offender treatment.  He is prohibited from having contact with minors. 

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

The United States Marshals Service investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tandice H. Blackwood 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 Mobile man was sentenced today to 140 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. 

According to court documents, Roderick Gerard Reed, 22, has prior felony convictions for Robbery 3rd, Possession of Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute, and Attempt to Distribute a Controlled Substance.  On February 5, 2025, officers with MPD observed a vehicle on Dauphin Island Parkway with illegal tint.  Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop and Reed fled from police exceeding 50 mph in a 25-mph zone, ultimately crashing. Fortunately, no one was injured. Reed was taken into custody, and officers located a loaded Glock firearm and one pound of marijuana inside the vehicle. A second loaded magazine was found in the center console. 

After the period of incarceration, Reed will have three years of supervised release, during which he will be subject to drug testing and other restrictions. 

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

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tandice H. Blackwood 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 – A Prichard police officer has been arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with federal crimes he is alleged to have committed in his capacity as a law enforcement officer. 

According to court documents, Emmanuel Naman Dotch, II, a police officer with the Prichard Police Department (PPD), has been charged with multiple criminal counts, including civil rights violations, conspiracy, taking bribes, tampering with evidence, and extortion. 

The criminal complaint alleges that Dotch covered up crimes and concealed evidence for violent individuals to assist them in avoiding prosecution.  The complaint affidavit further alleges that Dotch conspired with other PPD officers to conduct unlawful traffic stops and detentions of victims to deprive them of rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.  Finally, the charges allege that Dotch extorted individuals for bribes in exchange for letting them go free from arrest and agreed to accept corrupt payments to commit illegal acts, including transporting bulk marijuana, all while acting under the color of law as a police officer. As with all charges, this defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court. 

This case was the result of the outstanding collaboration and coordination of the Alabama Homeland Security Task Force, along with state and local partners.  United States Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama said, “I would like to thank the talented and dedicated law enforcement agents of the HSTF and our partner agencies who brought this investigation forward.  The success of this case demonstrates the strength of interagency cooperation and the unwavering commitment of law enforcement partners to protecting the community and holding criminals accountable – no matter who they may be.”

This Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) investigation collected information from numerous sources and spanned a substantial timeframe. Members of the public with information that may be relevant to this case should reach out to the FBI online at www.tips.fbi.gov or by phone at 251-438-3674.  Information may be submitted anonymously.

This arrest is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, ATF, the United States Marshals Service, DEA, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, Mobile Police Department, and the Mobile District Attorney’s Office with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 33 months in prison for illegally possessing stolen firearms as a ten-time convicted felon.

According to court documents, David Vincent Primm, 28, admitted to illegally possessing two firearms that had been reported stolen during vehicle burglaries. On March 1, 2025, police responded to a call of a vehicle break-in and theft in a residential neighborhood of Mobile. The victim had a Sig Sauer and a Glock pistol stolen from a vehicle parked in his backyard. Later that same day, a second victim who lived down the street from the first victim called police and reported that an intruder had burglarized her vehicle and stolen her debit card and driver’s license. Days later, the second victim notified police that someone had incurred more than $700 in fraudulent charges on her stolen debit card at a Walmart, a hair salon, and a smoke shop. Surveillance videos from those locations depicted Primm using the victim’s stolen debit card.

On March 10, 2025, police executed a search warrant to locate and arrest Primm at an apartment complex in Mobile. Officers found Primm hiding inside a bedroom closet piling clothing on top of himself. Primm briefly tried to run away from officers, who detained him and seized his cell phone to obtain a warrant to search its contents. Primm admitted to police that he had used the second victim’s stolen debit card. He further admitted that an individual had given him the first victim’s stolen Sig Sauer and Glock pistols to sell to another person. Primm said he received $250 for the stolen guns and kept $50 of the illicit proceeds as his “cut.”

Officers searched Primm’s phone, which contained pictures of the first victim’s stolen Sig Sauer and Glock pistols with the serial numbers visible. Primm admitted that he took the photos of the guns as part of his effort to sell them. At the time Primm illegally possessed the stolen guns, he admitted he knew he had ten prior felony convictions, including six convictions for breaking and entering vehicles and four convictions for credit card fraud. Under federal law, Primm’s felony convictions rendered his possession of any firearms unlawful.

In addition to the 33-month prison sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock ordered Primm to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will be subject to drug testing and will receive mental health evaluation and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Primm 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.

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

The Model Cities Initiative will demonstrate the effectiveness of the Make America Safe Again Mission by taking a whole-of-city approach to reduce crime and restore law and order.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department today announced the Model Cities Initiative (MCI), a whole-of-city approach directing nearly $300 million in federal funding to transform public safety in America’s cities. Through this initiative, two to four cities will be selected to receive awards supporting the implementation of comprehensive and innovative strategies to reduce crime, restore law and order, and enhance public safety. Proposals from qualifying cities are due September 1.

“This administration is leveraging every authority to ensure the safety of all Americans,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Model Cities Initiative will supercharge our law enforcement partners and restore the rule of law to America’s neighborhoods, towns, and cities. Our message is clear: We will help those who help us Make America Safe Again.”

Investments will be made in a variety of areas addressing public safety, behavioral health, and related staffing, equipment, and services with the goal of leveraging federal resources to build capacity, strengthen accountability, and deliver measurable reductions in crime that can serve as a model of innovation for replication nationwide. Eligible applicants include local government entities serving a population of at least 100,000.

The MCI initiative will support a range of allowable activities, including:

• Hiring and retention of sworn and non-sworn personnel directly engaged in or supporting violent crime reduction efforts.
• Purchase or lease of equipment, tools, or technology that reduce crime and restore law and order including but not limited to real-time crime centers; forensic and DNA tools; body-worn cameras; license plate readers; artificial intelligence systems; small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and counter-UAS; ballistic identification systems; and information technology upgrades. 
• Training and professional development that support intelligence-led policing, violent crime investigations, crisis response, correctional practices that strengthen reentry outcomes, and coordination with state and federal law enforcement partners.
• Facility Costs including lease, rental, or renovation expenses for space directly used in program operations, such as service delivery sites, training facilities, real-time crime centers, or intelligence analysis centers.
• Mental health and substance use services that directly support prevention, crisis response, screening and early intervention, treatment, case management, and related services addressing issues linked to public safety outcomes, including services provided in correctional facilities and in the community.
• Reentry, transitional support, and recidivism reduction programs and services designed to reduce repeat offending, support transitions from custody, and promote successful reintegration into communities, including operational costs for county jails and state prisons that support reentry preparation.
• Victim services for American victims of crime, including, emergency assistance, case management, shelter and temporary housing, medical and dental care, advocacy, transportation, childcare, legal services, and employment assistance.  
• Youth crime prevention and intervention services that address risk factors for juvenile delinquency and violence, including gang intervention and suppression programs.

Cities will apply through a whole-of-city approach. That means that city leaders, including the mayor, sheriff, county prosecutor, and others will work together to submit one application that proposes a persuasive vision of how this money can be awarded strategically throughout their city to improve law enforcement engagement, victim services, detention and reentry services, and preventive programs.

Additional information about the award is available at www.justice.gov/grants. The planned competition is a multi-phase process. DOJ anticipates making initial award decisions in late 2026. To apply for this award, please submit application materials to MCIapplications@usdoj.gov.

For any questions related to the MCI Call for Applications, you can send your inquiry to MCIquestions@usdoj.gov.  

MOBILE, AL – A Memphis man was sentenced to 180 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.  

According to court documents, on October 29, 2023, a Loxley Police Officer initiated a traffic stop on a white sedan for improper lane change. Marshall Bratcher, 40, was identified as the driver. Other passengers included an adult female and three juveniles. Bratcher admitted he possessed marijuana, leading to a search of the vehicle. During the search, a stolen Ruger, Model P89 pistol was recovered under the driver’s seat.  Police learned that Bratcher used the firearm to kidnap the female passenger, forced her to gather the juvenile passengers into the vehicle, and ultimately leave with him. Witness accounts revealed Bratcher drove erratically with the firearm in his lap until he was stopped by law enforcement. 

Bratcher is an Armed Career Criminal due to prior violent felony and serious drug offense convictions.  Bratcher’s prior felony convictions include three separate convictions for Aggravated Assault, and convictions of Aggravated Burglary and Conspiracy to Violate the Uniform Controlled Substance Act, among other felony convictions. As a convicted felon, Bratcher is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Bratcher was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty to the charge. United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Bratcher to 180 months in prison to be followed by a 5-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 Loxley Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Terrill 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 – Christopher Benedum was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for Distribution of Child Pornography. 

According to court documents, Benedum, 47, was using the social media application Discord to trade videos and images of child pornography with other users. Many of the images depicted children younger than ten years old. Some of the children were identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

Benedum was indicted by a federal grand jury in December of 2025 as a part of “Operation Relentless Justice,” a nationwide Department of Justice initiative, focused on identifying and arresting child predators. 

After his period of incarceration, Benedum will be placed on a term of supervised release for fifteen years.  He will be required to register as a sex offender and was ordered to pay restitution to the victims identified. 

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

The Federal Bureau of Invesetigation 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.

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 Memphis man was sentenced to 180 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.  

According to court documents, on October 29, 2023, a Loxley Police Officer initiated a traffic stop on a white sedan for improper lane change. Marshall BRATCHER, 40, was identified as the driver. Other passengers included an adult female and three juveniles. Following the admission of possession of marijuana by Bratcher, LPD officers conducted a search of the vehicle. During the search, a stolen Ruger, Model P89 pistol was recovered under the driver’s seat. Further investigation uncovered that Bratcher used the firearm to kidnap the female passenger, force her to gather the juvenile passengers into the vehicle, and ultimately leave with him. Witness accounts revealed Bratcher drove erratically with the firearm in his lap until he was stopped by law enforcement. 

Bratcher is an Armed Career Criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) because of his prior violent felony and serious drug offense convictions.  Bratcher’s prior felony convictions include three separate convictions for Aggravated Assault, and convictions of Aggravated Burglary and Conspiracy to Violate the Uniform Controlled Substance Act, among other felony convictions. As a convicted felon, Bratcher is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Bratcher was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty to the charge. United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Bratcher to 180 months in prison to be followed by a 5-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 Loxley Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Terrill 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.

WASHINGTON —  A California man was sentenced today in the Southern District of Alabama to 180 months in prison for money laundering conspiracy and providing false testimony in court.

“The defendant helped launder millions of dollars for a drug trafficking organization to conceal drug sale proceeds,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Dismantling criminal organizations is a critical priority for the Department. Alongside the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and our local law enforcement partners, we will continue to prosecute the financial networks that fuel illegal drug trade and profit from the sale of illicit substances.”

“For years, Adi and his coconspirators used a sophisticated web of corporations and bank accounts to launder millions of dollars’ worth of profits from illegal drug sales in the Mobile area,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello for the Southern District of Alabama. “Working alongside our dedicated federal, state, and local partners, we will continue to pursue and dismantle drug networks that abuse the U.S. financial system.”

“This individual not only used sophisticated financial webs to conceal and profit from illegal drug trafficking, but he also chose to lie under oath to protect his criminal enterprise,” said Special Agent in Charge Steven Hofer of the DEA New Orleans Field Division. “This sentence sends a clear message: the DEA and our law enforcement partners will ruthlessly target the financial infrastructure of drug organizations, and we will absolutely not tolerate attempts to obstruct justice and deceive the courts.”

According to court documents, Mohammed Zohair Adi, 58, a dual citizen of the United States and Syria, helped launder millions of dollars for a drug trafficking organization that transported over 1,000 kilograms of high-grade marijuana from California to Alabama, often on commercial flights via drug couriers. Adi operated multiple corporate entities and bank accounts to launder the proceeds of drug sales, and at times, structured financial transactions to avoid triggering currency transaction reporting requirements. Adi laundered drug money for several purposes, including promoting drug trafficking and maintaining California-based real estate properties, some of which were used as marijuana grow sites.

On Jan. 30, 2023, Adi pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering. On March 14, 2023, after his guilty plea, Adi falsely testified before a judge in the Southern District of Alabama at a detention hearing for co-defendant Navjit Bhullar. At the time, Adi and Bhullar were on pretrial release and court-ordered not to communicate with co-defendants about case-related matters. Adi testified that he met with Bhullar only once while on pretrial release, in mid-January 2023, in a one-on-one meeting at which they discussed their criminal case. In truth, Adi also met Bhullar in person in February 2023, with others present, at an office in Sacramento, California, and discussed the criminal case, including Adi’s guilty plea, in violation of the Court’s no-contact rule. Adi later lied to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) about his contacts with Bhullar. On March 2, 2026, Adi pleaded guilty to providing false testimony under oath before the Court.

In imposing today’s sentence, the Court noted that Adi was a leader of the money laundering conspiracy, that he was significantly involved in a serious federal crime, and that laundering drug funds was critical to the operations of a drug trafficking organization. As part of Adi’s sentence, the Court also imposed a $50,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release.

Co-defendant Navjit Bhullar is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29. Ten co-defendants have already been sentenced.

The DEA investigated these cases.

Trial Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Kaycee Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller for the Southern District of Alabama prosecuted the cases.

The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section's (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.

A California man was sentenced today in the Southern District of Alabama to 180 months in prison for money laundering conspiracy and providing false testimony in court. 

“The defendant helped launder millions of dollars for a drug trafficking organization to conceal drug sale proceeds,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Dismantling criminal organizations is a critical priority for the Department. Alongside the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and our local law enforcement partners, we will continue to prosecute the financial networks that fuel illegal drug trade and profit from the sale of illicit substances.”

“For years, Adi and his coconspirators used a sophisticated web of corporations and bank accounts to launder millions of dollars’ worth of profits from illegal drug sales in the Mobile area,” said U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello for the Southern District of Alabama. “Working alongside our dedicated federal, state, and local partners, we will continue to pursue and dismantle drug networks that abuse the U.S. financial system.”

“This individual not only used sophisticated financial webs to conceal and profit from illegal drug trafficking, but he also chose to lie under oath to protect his criminal enterprise,” said Special Agent in Charge Steven Hofer of the DEA New Orleans Field Division. “This sentence sends a clear message: the DEA and our law enforcement partners will ruthlessly target the financial infrastructure of drug organizations, and we will absolutely not tolerate attempts to obstruct justice and deceive the courts.”

According to court documents, Mohammed Zohair Adi, 58, a dual citizen of the United States and Syria, helped launder millions of dollars for a drug trafficking organization that transported over 1,000 kilograms of high-grade marijuana from California to Alabama, often on commercial flights via drug couriers. Adi operated multiple corporate entities and bank accounts to launder the proceeds of drug sales, and at times, structured financial transactions to avoid triggering currency transaction reporting requirements. Adi laundered drug money for several purposes, including promoting drug trafficking and maintaining California-based real estate properties, some of which were used as marijuana grow sites.

On Jan. 30, 2023, Adi pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering. On March 14, 2023, after his guilty plea, Adi falsely testified before a judge in the Southern District of Alabama at a detention hearing for co-defendant Navjit Bhullar. At the time, Adi and Bhullar were on pretrial release and court-ordered not to communicate with co-defendants about case-related matters. Adi testified that he met with Bhullar only once while on pretrial release, in mid-January 2023, in a one-on-one meeting at which they discussed their criminal case. In truth, Adi also met Bhullar in person in February 2023, with others present, at an office in Sacramento, California, and discussed the criminal case, including Adi’s guilty plea, in violation of the Court’s no-contact rule. Adi later lied to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) about his contacts with Bhullar. On March 2, 2026, Adi pleaded guilty to providing false testimony under oath before the Court.

In imposing today’s sentence, the Court noted that Adi was a leader of the money laundering conspiracy, that he was significantly involved in a serious federal crime, and that laundering drug funds was critical to the operations of a drug trafficking organization. As part of Adi’s sentence, the Court also imposed a $50,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release.

Co-defendant Navjit Bhullar is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29. Ten co-defendants have already been sentenced.

The DEA investigated these cases.

Trial Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Kaycee Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller for the Southern District of Alabama prosecuted the cases.

The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section's (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.

MOBILE, AL – Joseph Mitchell McDonald, age 60, was sentenced to life in prison after entering a guilty plea to Sex Trafficking of Children on February 6, 2026.
According to court documents, in March 2025, McDonald was found to be sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.  The child was interviewed and reported that McDonald would give her vapes in exchange for sex acts.  McDonald admitted that he provided the child with vapes in exchange for sex acts and her silence about the sex acts.  McDonald admitted that the child was 12 years old when the abuse began.

At sentencing, United States District Judge Steele imposed a life sentence of incarceration and a 15-year term of supervised release in the unlikely event that McDonald is ever released from prison. During his term of imprisonment, McDonald will be subject to sex offender treatment and mental health treatment.  McDonald will be required to register as a sex offender and is to have no contact with minors.  McDonald was ordered to pay $100 in special assessments.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney 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 – Two defendants were sentenced to 180 months and 84 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar bank fraud and identity theft scheme.

According to court documents, Demetrius J. Manassa, 38, of New York, New York, and Jarrod A. Ross, 30, of Mobile, pleaded guilty to participating in a complex, nationwide bank fraud and identity theft scheme. The scheme, which lasted for nearly a decade from September 2015 to April 2025, involved widespread theft of mail, counterfeiting of checks and money orders, and impersonation of dozens of identity theft victims. To accomplish the scheme, Manassa, Ross, and other coconspirators—including Shaquan L. Manassa (“S. Manassa”), Patrick E. Williams (“Williams”), and Khashawn D. Sidberry (“Sidberry”)—obtained and possessed stolen checks and money orders, opened bank accounts using identity theft victims’ personal identifiable information (“PII”), produced dozens of forged identification documents, counterfeited hundreds of checks and money orders, and conducted millions of dollars’ worth of fraudulent transactions at banks throughout the United States, including in the Southern District of Alabama.

In 2022, thousands of blank Postal Money Orders (“PMOs”) were stolen from three separate postal facilities in New York and North Carolina. Thereafter, Manassa and other coconspirators counterfeited dozens of the stolen PMOs and began fraudulently negotiating them in various accounts at banks across the southeastern United States. Postal Inspectors identified Williams on surveillance videos depositing many of the fraudulent PMOs at banks in the Mobile area. To successfully carry out the fraudulent transactions, Manassa, Ross, and other coconspirators fraudulently opened bank accounts using stolen PII of identity theft victims and generated fake identification documents bearing the victims’ stolen PII.

For example, on August 5, 2022, Ross visited a bank in Mobile and fraudulently opened a checking account using a fake Mississippi driver’s license bearing Ross’s picture but the stolen PII of an identity theft victim from New York. The victim confirmed that he had never been to Alabama and did not authorize Ross to possess and use his stolen PII to open an account and conduct transactions in the victim’s name. After Ross opened the account, Williams was captured on video depositing several counterfeited PMOs into the account. The conspirators did the same thing in dozens of other accounts that they fraudulently opened in the names of identity theft victims from across the country.

The fraudsters also incorporated multiple fake businesses and opened bank accounts in the names of those purported businesses so that they could attempt to negotiate higher-value checks, some of which were worth more than $1 million each. The victim owners of those stolen checks included, among others, religious organizations, small businesses, charities, and public school systems.

In April 2025, federal and local law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Manassa’s home in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Inside the house, agents found dozens of stolen and counterfeited checks and money orders, fake identification documents, assorted stolen mail, counterfeiting stations with printers and dozens of sheets of blank check stock, a loaded Glock pistol, and loose ammunition. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s forensic laboratory in Dulles, Virginia, identified several fingerprints of the defendants on various items of fraudulent paperwork seized from Manassa’s house. Agents also searched Manassa’s cell phones, which contained hundreds of messages that he exchanged with Ross and other coconspirators in furtherance of the fraud scheme.

Agents obtained search warrants for social media and email accounts belonging to Manassa, Ross, and others involved in the scheme. In those accounts, agents located photos and videos of Manassa and Ross committing fraudulent transactions and possessing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cash proceeds of their frauds. Manassa’s Gmail search history included searches for “fake moneygram money orders,” “how to erase pen off paper money order,” and “largest bank frauds in history.” Similarly, Ross’s iCloud account contained “fraud Bibles” and how-to guides for committing various fraud schemes.

In addition to the check and money order fraud scheme described above, Ross and Sidberry submitted more than $400,000 in fraudulent unemployment insurance applications to state departments of labor claiming bogus federal pandemic relief benefits. In their fraudulent applications, Ross and Sidberry made numerous misrepresentations about their entitlement unemployment benefits intended for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

“For nearly a decade, Demetrius Manassa, Jarrod Ross, and their band of fraudsters exploited and stole from hundreds of individuals, businesses, charities, schools, and other victims across the country, causing untold damage. The extraordinary investigative work of our federal and local partners put an end to it,” said Sean P. Costello, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. “The sentences in this case send a clear message: crime does not pay in the Southern District of Alabama.”

“Postal Inspectors, along with other law enforcement agents, unraveled a sophisticated counterfeit check and USPS Money Order scheme that resulted in the identity theft of hundreds of victims and millions of dollars in losses,” said Shameka Jackson, Inspector in Charge of the Houston Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Postal Inspectors will continue to work tirelessly to go after those who try to exploit the U.S. mail system for fraudulent financial gain and bring them to justice. We would like to thank the DOL-OIG for their assistance in this investigation.”

“Demetrius Manassa and Jarrod Ross stole money meant to help Americans find work. These sentences send a strong message to fraudsters; if you steal from the federal government and taxpayers, my office will relentlessly pursue you,” said Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor. “We will work together with other law enforcement partners and have zero tolerance for fraud. We will find you and hold you accountable.”

U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Manassa and Ross to serve 180 months and 84 months in prison, respectively. At sentencing, the court noted Manassa’s extensive criminal history, including a prior federal conviction for a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the District of Vermont and several state convictions for theft, fraud, and drug offenses. In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered Manassa and Ross to pay $687,259.04 in victim restitution. Upon their release from prison, Manassa and Ross each will serve five-year terms of supervised release, during which time they will be subject to credit restrictions.

S. Manassa, Williams, and Sidberry pleaded guilty to participating in the fraud scheme. The court will sentence them later in 2026.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General investigated the case. The U.S. Secret Service, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Glen Rock Police Department (New Jersey), and the South Fulton Police Department (Georgia) substantially assisted the investigation.

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

MOBILE, AL – A Mobile woman was sentenced to 240 months in prison for engaging in a firearms‑trafficking conspiracy and tampering with evidence in connection with a multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”) that distributed bulk cocaine and fentanyl and used children as couriers.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a three-week trial, Exavieria Deagnes Maxie (“Exavieria”), 37, aided a lucrative, Mobile-based DTO led by her brother-in-law, Glennie Antonio McGee (“McGee”), and her sister, Echandza Dianca Maxie (“Echandza”). The DTO distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine and tens of thousands of fentanyl pills between 2017 and 2024. Exavieria assisted the DTO by, among other things, trafficking a loaded firearm and tampering with DTO evidence.

In early 2024, agents with Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) initiated a court-authorized wiretap investigation of the McGee DTO’s criminal activities. As part of that investigation, agents intercepted thousands of incriminating phone calls and videos from a covert close-circuit television (“CCTV”) camera installed in McGee’s Cadillac Escalade. Agents also seized multiple kilograms of cocaine, more than 1,000 fentanyl pills, and several firearms connected to the DTO.

In June 2024, agents arrested McGee following a brief high-speed chase in Mobile. Agents boxed in McGee’s vehicle and encountered him with three kilograms of cocaine sitting in his lap. McGee then confessed in a videotaped interview that he had been dealing bulk cocaine since 2017 and earned $20,000 per month in profits.

Following McGee’s arrest, agents intercepted Exavieria and Echandza plotting to conceal evidence while operating the bugged Escalade. Specifically, Echandza gave Exavieria, a convicted felon, a shoebox full of custom jewelry and a loaded .380 caliber pistol. Exavieria took the jewelry and gun and stashed them in her apartment in west Mobile. Thereafter, on CCTV recordings, Echandza and Exavieria directed a 15-year-old child to find the gun and toss it from a balcony before agents could enter the apartment. When Echandza’s teenage son tried to instruct the 15-year-old, her nephew, how to remove the clip from the loaded weapon, Echandza stated, “No, tell him don’t do all that. Just drop it off. . . . [H]e ain’t got time to do that. We ain’t got time to coach him.” Exavieria was intercepted admitting that she told her 15-year-old son to toss the gun from the balcony. The child stated that Exavieria texted him, “Get that gun in the shoe box take it out and drop it off the balcony. Now!” Agents found the loaded pistol near a softball field behind the apartment. Exavieria then admitted to agents that she had brought the gun to her apartment from McGee’s and Echandza’s house.

In 2017, Exavieria was convicted of a federal methamphetamine-trafficking offense in the Southern District of Alabama and received a time-served sentence. As a result, she is prohibited from possessing firearms. In December 2025, while Exavieria was on release pending trial in her case, the court revoked her bond after determining that she had repeatedly violated her conditions of release and lied to the court about it.

U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Exavieria to serve 20 years in prison—the statutory maximum for her crimes. The court ordered Exavieria to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon her release from prison, during which time she will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Exavieria to pay a total of $200 in special assessments.

The court will sentence McGee and Echandza in August 2026. Each faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

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

Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mobile Police Department, the Prichard Police Department, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated the case. The United States Marshals Service and several local agencies in Houston, Texas substantially assisted the investigation.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.

MOBILE, AL – A Mexican national was sentenced on May 5, 2026, to time served in prison for illegally reentering the United States after previously having been deported.

According to court documents, Jesus Penaloza-Munoz, 33, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents on February 23, 2026, after a traffic stop.  Penaloza-Munoz was the driver of the vehicle and presented the Border Patrol agent with a Mexican Consular Identification Card and stated he was a citizen and national of Mexico.  When questioned about his presence in the United States, Penaloza-Munoz stated that he was not in possession of any documents allowing him to be in, remain in, or pass through the United States legally.  Penaloza-Munoz’s fingerprints were entered into the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, and records revealed he had previously been deported from the United States five times.

At sentencing, Chief Judge Beaverstock imposed the time served sentence of incarceration and a one-year term of supervised release upon his future release.  Upon his release from prison, Penaloza-Munoz is to be referred to immigration officials for deportation proceedings.  Penaloza-Munoz was ordered to pay $100 in special assessments.

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

The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the Gulf Shores Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Hutchins III prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

In One Month, Over 200 Child Victims Identified and More than 350 Child Sex Abuse Offenders Arrested in Nationwide Crackdown

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced the results of Operation Iron Pursuit, a one-month, nationwide enforcement effort to find child victims of sex abuse and arrest child sex predators. More than 200 child victims were located and over 350 child sexual abuse offenders were arrested. All 56 FBI field offices and U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country participated in the coordinated takedown effort.

The operation commenced April 1 and ended April 30. The Administration for Children and Families recognizes April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“This operation puts every child predator on notice: we are coming for you,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The sexual exploitation of minors is an abomination with no place in our society. We will hunt down these offenders, hold them fully accountable under the law, and deliver justice for victims.”

“Every single day this FBI is working 24/7 to break networks of child abusers all across this country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Last year we joined our partners delivering a record year, identifying and rescuing over 6,300 missing children, and today’s announcement of Operation Iron Pursuit is just the latest success in that work — with over 200 victims located and over 350 offenders arrested. Let this be a message to criminal actors who seek to target America’s children: you will be pursued, and you will be brought to justice.”

Victims recovered include a 10-year-old from Utah who was flown from Cuba to home and the child’s biological mother. The child was supposed to be on a camping trip with a transgender parent, partner, and another child. The group instead flew from Canada to Mexico and then to Cuba; concerns existed that the 10-year-old child was taken to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery. FBI Victim Services Division (VSD) assisted with the recovery of the children, providing crisis support and stabilization.

Those arrested are alleged to have committed various crimes, including sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, abuse, kidnapping, and possessing, distributing, or receiving child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). Some of the alleged offenders include:

• A Columbus, Ohio, man who pleaded guilty to creating AI-generated obscene material of adults and children and to cyberstalking exes;
• A District of Columbia man charged with producing child pornography;
• A New York man charged with sexually exploiting a child; and
• A Pennsylvania man and former felon charged with sexually exploiting a child and illegally possessing a gun.

This effort follows three other successful operations last year. Operation Relentless Justice, concluded in December 2025, resulted in the rescue of 205 children and arrests of 293 offenders. Operation Enduring Justice, concluded in August 2025, resulted in the rescue of 133 children and the arrests of 234 offenders. And Operation Restore Justice, concluded in May 2025, resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sex abuse offenders.

The FBI’s VSD assisted victims during Operation Iron Pursuit and provided services such as forensic interviews, referrals for medical and mental health resources, and coordination with partners. VSD's mission is to inform, support, and assist victims in navigating the aftermath of crime and the criminal justice process with dignity and resilience.

The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org.

The Department urges the public to remain vigilant and report suspected exploitation of a child through the FBI's tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), tips.fbi.gov, or by calling your local FBI field office.

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

MOBILE, AL – Zachary Quinton Howard Mercer of Grove Hill, Alabama, was sentenced to 102 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon. 

According to court documents, on September 20, 2024, deputies with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) were notified of a stolen vehicle approaching the Alabama State line from Mississippi.  The investigation showed that the driver, Mercer, stole the vehicle at a gas station in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Local officers tried to stop Mercer, but he took law enforcement on a high-speed chase, crossing into Alabama.  MCSO Deputies intercepted Mercer, who continued eastbound on I-10, reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour.  Performing successful Pursuit Intervention Techniques, deputies were able to ultimately bring Mercer to a stop.  Mercer was found in the driver’s seat of the stolen vehicle, with a loaded handgun in his lap.  Mercer has multiple prior felony convictions including Aggravated Assault, Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Theft of a Firearm, and Resisting Arrest.  As a convicted felon, Mercer is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Mercer was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty to the charge.  United States District Court Judge Kristi DuBose sentenced Mercer to 102 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.

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

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office 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.

MOBILE, AL – Jacques Devone Sullivan, 51, of Mobile was sentenced on May 1, 2026, to fifty-three (53) months in prison for Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Sullivan was also sentenced to fifty-two (52) months to be served consecutively for violating his probation in a case involving Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and Possession of a Firearm during a Drug Trafficking Felony.

According to court documents Sullivan has multiple prior felony convictions for Possession of Controlled Substances, Possession of Marijuana 1st Degree, Driving Under the Influence, Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Possession of a Firearm in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Felony, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

After his convictions, on May 10, 2024, the United States Probation Office along with deputies from the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of Sullivan’s residence after receiving information that Sullivan was distributing fentanyl. In his bedroom deputies found a firearm, which was manufactured outside Alabama, and ammunition. Sullivan admitted he was a felon and knew he was prohibited from possessing firearms.

Following the term of incarceration, Sullivan will be placed on three years of supervised release.

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

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms along with Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Hutchins III 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 – A Daphne man was sentenced on April 28, 2026, to 292 months in prison for Transportation of a Minor Across State Lines for Criminal Sexual Activity.

According to court documents, Forrest Sanford, 25, was the subject of an anonymous tip made to law enforcement in December of 2023.  The tipster reported Sanford was boasting about obtaining sexual images from a minor over the internet.  The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the tip and obtained a search warrant for Sanford’s residence.

While at the residence, Sanford was interviewed.  Sanford admitted he would pose as a minor to obtain nude images of minors online.  He additionally admitted to being in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female in 2021.  He was an adult at the time.  Sanford elaborated that he would drive to her home in Mississippi and have sexual intercourse with her.  He also admitted he would drive to Mississippi and pick her up and transport her to Alabama to engage in sexual intercourse.  The minor victim was identified and confirmed Sanford’s admissions. Several images of the minor were obtained from Sanford’s cell phone, including sexually explicit images.

Search warrants of Sanford’s social media accounts revealed him misrepresenting his identity to obtain nude images.  He would engage in conversation with other users who represented they were teenaged females and ask to trade nude images with them.  Sanford also used social media to transmit obscene images of himself to users representing they were minors.

Sanford’s term of incarceration will be followed by 15 years of supervised release.  He was also required to pay $100 in special assessments.  Upon his release from prison, Sanford will have to register as a sex offender and is to have no contact with minors.

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

The Department of Homeland Security and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kacey Chappelear and Tandice H. Blackwood 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 Mobile woman was sentenced to time served for her role in distributing multiple kilograms of bulk cocaine as a member of a major drug-trafficking organization.

According to court documents, Erina Sasha Parker, 39, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute bulk cocaine. Specifically, Parker admitted that in April and May 2024, she worked as a bulk cocaine courier for a massive drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”) in Mobile led by Glennie Antonio McGee (“McGee”). As established at a three-week jury trial in January 2026, McGee’s DTO distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine and fentanyl pills in the Southern District of Alabama and utilized children as drug couriers.

Parker’s involvement in the McGee DTO was captured on a court-authorized wiretap. During several recorded phone calls, Parker and McGee discussed and coordinated the delivery of multiple kilograms of cocaine. Parker admitted to agents that McGee paid her $500 per assignment, which included receiving bulk cocaine shipments, breaking down and repackaging bulk cocaine into distribution amounts, and delivering cocaine to McGee and other distributors in his DTO. Parker further admitted that she delivered bulk cocaine to DTO members when McGee was out of town or otherwise unavailable, and that she received a shipment of six to seven kilograms of cocaine from one of McGee’s Texas-based suppliers at a hotel in Mobile. In total, over the course of approximately one month, Parker distributed more than 20 kilograms of cocaine—a distribution amount worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At sentencing, the United States advocated for a prison sentence of 70 months, which was at the low end of Parker’s advisory sentencing guidelines range. Ultimately, Chief United States District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock imposed a sentence of time served followed by a five-year term of supervised release. During Parker’s supervised release term, she will receive mental health evaluation and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Chief Judge Beaverstock ordered Parker to pay a $100 special assessment.

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

Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mobile Police Department, the Prichard Police Department, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated the case. The United States Marshals Service and several local agencies in Houston, Texas assisted the investigation.

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

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.