District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – A Springfield, Mass. man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield to possessing a firearm and cocaine possession and distribution.

Joshua Garcia, 26, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm if furtherance of drug distribution. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for June 15, 2026. Garcia was charged in March 2025.

Garcia possessed with the intent to distribute drugs and a firearm on Oct. 3, 2024.

The charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. The charge of possessing a firearm if furtherance of drug distribution provides for a sentence of up to life in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announced today. The case is being prosecuted by Todd E. Newhouse of the Springfield Branch Office.

BOSTON – A Pittsfield man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield, Mass. to receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Benjamin Shacar, 39, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of receipt of child pornography and one count possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for June 22, 2026. Shacar was charged by criminal complaint in March 2021.

According to charging documents, between August 2020 and March 2021, Shacar received and possessed CSAM. During a search of Shacar’s residence a thumb drive and laptop containing multiple files depicting CSAM were located. During an on-scene interview, Shacar admitted that he viewed and downloaded CSAM from the internet.

The charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a sentence of no less than five years and up to 20 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Each charge also provides for at least five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi; Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Pittsfield Police Chief Marc Maddalena made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Neil Desroches and Thomas Barnico of the Springfield Branch Office are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

BOSTON – Nine individuals have been charged in a coordinated federal crackdown on benefit fraud schemes that exploited stolen identities to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded programs – including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), MassHealth and Social Security benefits. Nearly $9 million in benefit fraud has been uncovered since December 2025.

The following defendants have been charged over the past nine weeks as part of the United States Attorney’s ongoing enforcement priority to investigate and prosecute benefit fraud involving federal and state assistance programs:

1. Juan Felipe Chalas, 58, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Salem, N.H., was charged with making a false statement in a passport application, aggravated identity theft and unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits;
2. Efrain Rivera, 54, a United States citizen from Puerto Rico, living in New Bedford, Mass., was charged with unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits, misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft;
3. Danis Piron Lara, 51, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Dorchester, Mass. was charged with aggravated identity theft, unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits and making false statements relating to a health care program;
4. Erpawi Roque Collado, 53, a Lawful Permanent Resident living in Boston, Mass. who was born in the Dominican Republic, was charged with unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits;
5. John Doe aka Wilkin Emilio Pimental Pereyra, 44, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Boston, Mass., was charged with aggravated identity theft, theft of government benefits and unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits;
6. John Doe, an individual whose true identity is unknown, who was living in Hyde Park, Mass., was charged with unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits, misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft;
7. Mercedes Soto Capellan, 53, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Lawrence, Mass., was charged with unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits;
8. Oscar Gonzalez Melo, 59, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Boston, Mass., was charged with unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits, making false statements related to health care benefits, making false statements related to Social Security benefits and aggravated identity theft; and
9. Cruz Augusta Pena Arias, 58, a Dominican national unlawfully residing in Salem, Mass., was charged with making a false statement in an application for a United States passport, aggravated identity theft and unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits.

As alleged, the defendants used stolen identities – often belonging to U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico – to obtain government-issued identification, including Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) credentials and, in some instances, U.S. passports, which were then used to apply for and receive public benefits.

In some cases, the defendants are alleged to have used stolen identities over extended periods of time – including one individual who allegedly lived under a stolen identity for more than 20 years. Certain defendants are further alleged to have obtained benefits across multiple programs, including SNAP, MassHealth and Social Security.

In multiple instances, the defendants allegedly provided stolen identities to law enforcement during prior arrests, and at least one defendant has a prior conviction under the same identity.

According to the charging documents, the alleged schemes resulted in approximately $943,197 in total losses to public assistance programs – including approximately $149,775 in SNAP benefits, approximately $776,715 in MassHealth benefits and approximately $16,707 in Social Security benefits.

The charge of unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year sentence to run consecutively to any other sentence imposed, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of misusing a Social Security number provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of theft of government property provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of making a false statement in an application for a United States passport provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of making false statements relating to a health care program provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Amy Connelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division; Charmeka Parker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region; Nathan Hebert, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office; and Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General made the announcement today.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Grady, Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus, David G. Tobin, Jennifer Zacks, Allegra Flamm, Eric Hawkins, Julissa Walsh and Aidan Lang of the Major Crimes Unit are prosecuting the cases.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.  

BOSTON – A married couple from New Bedford pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to a scheme to defraud individuals seeking insurance coverage through the couple’s business, BL Insurance Brokerage, LLC.

Brendan Lawler, 58, and Lisa Lawler, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun scheduled sentencing for July 22, 2026. The Lawlers were charged by criminal complaint in August 2025.

From March 2023 through March 2024, the Lawlers solicited and collected insurance payments from BL Insurance’s clients, which should have been paid to the clients’ insurance providers. Instead of paying the insurance companies, the Lawlers pocketed their clients’ payments and used the money for their own purposes. To conceal this theft of client funds and to keep their BL Insurance afloat to perpetuate the scheme, the Lawlers used incoming client funds to pay outstanding balances due to other clients’ insurers. The Lawlers also created and distributed certain insurance documents to clients that falsely suggested that the clients were insured. In total, through this scheme, the Lawlers defrauded at least 50 individuals or insurance providers and stole more than $750,000 from insurance providers, premium finance companies and hard money lenders.

Members of the public who believe they may be a victim of this case or have any relevant information related to this case are requested to please fill out the attached form to be contacted by a member of law enforcement: https://forms.fbi.gov/victims/BLInsuranceVictims/view.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gain to the defendant or loss to the victim. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and Insurance Fraud Bureau. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan Cleary of the Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – A Lynn man was charged today in federal court in Boston with receiving stolen Social Security benefits and making false statements.

James C. Burdulis, 56, was charged with one count of receiving stolen government money or property and one count of false statements. Burdulis will make an appearance in federal court in Boston at a later date.

As alleged in the charging document, Burdulis received approximately $63,959 in stolen Social Security benefits from June 2019 through June 2025. Additionally, Burdulis allegedly submitted a fraudulent representative payee report to the Social Security Administration in June 2024.  The charging document further alleges that Burdulis stated on the fraudulent report that he spent money received from the Social Security Administration on behalf of a beneficiary in 2023 and 2024, but that the beneficiary died several years earlier in 2019.

The charge of receiving stolen government money or property provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. The charge of false statements provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Amy Connelly, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division made the announcement. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Nagelberg of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BOSTON – United States Attorney Leah B. Foley announced today that the District of Massachusetts entered settlements with defendants for more than $900 million and collected more than $70 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2025. Of this amount, $30.5 million was collected in criminal actions and $39.6 million was collected in civil actions. The Office also recovered more than $48 million in forfeited assets. 

Additionally, the District of Massachusetts worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Department of Justice components to collect more than $557 million in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $556.9 million was collected in civil actions and $75,165 was collected in criminal actions. The remaining amounts will be recovered over time.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office had another a record year. Significant defense contracting and health care fraud settlements will return more than $900 million to the American taxpayers. We also collected more than $70 million in other civil and criminal actions and forfeited over $48 million in criminally derived property. This Office has continued to set the standard for securing and recovering assets for victims, holding wrongdoers accountable and protecting taxpayer dollars. We will continue to aggressively pursue enforcement and collection actions to advance those goals,” said U.S. Attorney Foley.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the Office’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit (ACE) entered into settlements with defendants totaling over $900 million. These included the agreement with Raytheon Company to resolve criminal and civil allegations of fraud against the government in numerous defense contracts. Raytheon agreed to pay $147 million to resolve the criminal allegations and $428 million to resolve the civil allegations – making it the second largest government procurement fraud recovery under the False Claims Act (FCA).

The ACE Unit also entered into a $425 million resolution with Teva Pharmaceuticals to resolve allegations that Teva paid kickbacks via two co-pay assistance foundations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and FCA. This resolution stands as the largest co-pay assistance settlement to date.  

In Fiscal Year 2025, the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) was responsible for the collection of over $30.6 million in restitution for victims, criminal fines and special assessments, as well as forfeiture of $48.2 million in criminal proceeds or other property involved in crimes. This forfeited amount includes approximately $22.5 million in forfeited cryptocurrency. ARU recovered an additional $7.35 million in an appearance bond enforcement action against a Greenwich Conn., mansion owned by a fugitive.  

ARU completed the collection of the entire $48,344,036 in criminal restitution awarded to victims of a health care racketeering conspiracy committed by the founder and six former executives of Insys Therapeutics. Additionally, ARU filed several civil forfeiture cases to recover funds for fraud victims, including victims of cryptocurrency and elder fraud scams, and obtained forfeiture of over $5 million traceable to a business email compromise scheme targeting a Massachusetts workers union. It also filed a civil forfeiture case against seized cryptocurrency alleged to be the property of Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

The District of Massachusetts’ Civil Division is led by Assistant United States Attorney Abraham R. George, Chief of Civil. Assistant United States Attorney Brian LaMacchia, Chief of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit, leads the District’s efforts in affirmative civil enforcement and Assistant United States Attorney Carol Head, Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit, leads the District’s forfeiture and restitution efforts. 

BOSTON – A Londonderry, N.H. man was arrested today for allegedly cyberstalking a Massachusetts victim through social media, text messages; and various online platforms. Among numerous other things, the defendant allegedly posted sexually provocative statements, including a post that indicated the victim wanted to be sexually assaulted. The defendant also allegedly directed others on social media to produce, post and repost sexually explicit material of the victim.

Brad Cerullo, 46, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of cyberstalking. Cerullo was arrested this morning and, following an initial appearance today, was ordered detained pending a hearing scheduled for March 27, 2026 at 2 p.m. in federal court in Boston.

According to the charging documents, between March 2021 and May 2025, the victim received approximately 72 text messages to her cell phone from at least 26 unknown senders, many from VoIP numbers. Several of the text messages referenced her photos or personal information on impersonation Twitter accounts. It is alleged that two of the unknown VoIP numbers were traced to Cerullo.

Over 340 of the victim’s images, including sexually explicit images and videos stolen from a secure device in the victim’s possession, and at least 10 accounts, including four accounts containing the victim’s name, were allegedly used to impersonate and/or further a campaign to shame, defame, harass, or otherwise cause the victim substantial emotional distress.

The charge of stalking by electronic means provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Wayne Tracy, Acting Chief of the Haverhill Police Department made the announcement today. The Andover and Londonderry (N.H.) Police Departments provided valuable assistance in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and member of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.
    
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.    

BOSTON – A Fitchburg, Mass. man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to his role in a fraud scheme that used the stolen identities of more than 100 individuals to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendant and his alleged co-conspirators also fraudulently obtained over $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio Washington and Nevada.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 37, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit SNAP Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, SNAP benefit Fraud, Aiding and Abetting and Money Laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for July 9, 2026.

The defendant was charged on Feb. 3, 2026. Three alleged co-conspirators – Joel Vicioso Fernandez, 42, of Fitchburg, Mass.; Roman Vequiz Fernandez, 32, a Venezuelan national living in Leominster, Mass.; and Coralba Albarracin Siniva, 24, a Venezuelan national living in Leominster, Mass., were charged by criminal complaint.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso and his alleged co-conspirators purchased and used the stolen personal information of over 100 real people from multiple states to fraudulently obtain SNAP benefits. The stolen identities were used to create 24 “households” in SNAP applications. All of these applications, submitted in the names of over 100 people, were listed as living in two single-family apartments in Providence, R.I.

A number of the stolen identities from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico were used to fraudulently obtain SNAP benefits in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso used his own personal information to create fraudulent SNAP benefit accounts that were found commingled among the victim identities in the applications. In support of the fraudulently submitted SNAP applications, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly provided images of counterfeit passports and passport cards, with metadata that indicated the images were taken inside or within the immediate vicinity of El Primo Restaurant – a restaurant operated by Raul Fernandez Vicioso in Leominster, Mass.

The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly used the fraudulent SNAP benefits cards to purchase large quantities of expensive bulk food items (such as multiple-pound packages of chicken, beef and pork) at various local wholesalers and food markets to stock El Primo Restaurant at no expense. With their supplies obtained for free through fraudulent SNAP benefits, they sold menu items at El Primo Restaurant at a complete profit, later wiring the fraud proceeds to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, among other places.

According to the charging documents, between April 2020 and December 2021, the defendants and their co-conspirators further enriched themselves by over $700,000 by submitting fraudulent applications and supporting documents for PUA in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada. The fraudulent PUA benefits were issued in the names of Raul Fernandez Vicioso and allegedly Joel Vicioso Fernandez and in the names of suspected identity theft victims, including identities common to the related the SNAP benefit fraud. At least 29 different identities were allegedly used in PUA applications in six different states – all of which listed the address for El Primo Restaurant as the residential address. Bank records obtained during the investigation detail approximately $276,021 in fraudulent PUA benefits deposited into bank accounts held in the names of the El Primo Restaurant, Raul Fernandez Vicioso and allegedly Joel Vicioso Fernandez and other co-conspirators. Other fraudulent PUA benefits were allegedly issued to prepaid cards in the identities of the various individuals which were applied for using known addresses and telephone numbers of the subjects.

During searches of Raul Fernandez Vicioso’s residence and the El Primo Restaurant, fraudulently obtained Massachusetts and Rhode Island EBT cards, fraudulent documents bearing a Providence address involved in the alleged scheme, printed ledgers and handwritten lists of more than 100 identities and SNAP-related mailings were recovered.

Fraud, waste or abuse can be reported to the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency: https://www.oversight.gov/where-report-fraud-waste-abuse-or-retaliation.

The charge of Conspiracy to Commit SNAP Fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 The charge of illegal acquisition or use of SNAP benefits provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Charmeka Parker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region; Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General, Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service; Rhode Island Office of Internal Audit - Fraud Detection & Prevention Unit; Massachusetts State Police; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island; and the Fitchburg and Leominster Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danial Bennett of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.   

BOSTON – A former Security Specialist with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to trying to bribe another DOE employee in order to secure government contracts for a private company.

Edward Doherty, 35, of Washington, D.C. and Weymouth, Mass., pleaded guilty to honest services fraud, payment of illegal gratuities and bribery of a public official. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 8, 2026. In July 2025, Doherty was indicted by a federal grand jury.

Doherty worked for the DOE as Security Specialist until he agreed to participate in the deferred resignation program in February 2025. Just before he started working with the DOE, in November 2024, Doherty started a company in Massachusetts called MAE Systems, LLC (MAE). In February 2025, Doherty offered a DOE employee money in exchange for the DOE employee ensuring that MAE received DOE contracts. The DOE employee reported the incident to law enforcement. Between February and June 2025, Doherty was recorded offering to pay the DOE employee at least $10,000 in exchange for the DOE employee awarding a DOE contract to MAE. In June 2025, Doherty made two downpayments on the bribe, totaling $2,500, to the DOE employee.

The charge of honest services wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of payment of illegal gratuities provides for a sentence of up to two years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of bribery of a public official provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and said Department of Energy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Lewe Sessions made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston in connection with his operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, despite his reason to believe that the funds he received were derived from criminal offenses and were intended to be used to promote and support unlawful activity.  

Shadrach Anapalum, 36, of Newark, pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, who scheduled sentencing for June 10, 2026.  

Between May and December 2022, Anapalum received approximately $375,000 from at least four victims of online scams. Anapalum generally kept approximately 10 percent of the funds for himself, before transmitting the money elsewhere, including to bank accounts in China and Turkey. In a consensually recorded call with a cooperating witness, Anapalum said he lied to a bank about the nature of the checks he was depositing and agreed that what he was doing was not legitimate.  

The charge of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business provides a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks Special Agent in Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – A Louisiana woman has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to her alleged involvement in a multi-state scheme to obtain millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for herself and others by submitting fraudulent applications to PPP lenders.

Lisa Lemoine, 38, of Bossier City, La., was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court.  

According to the charging document, Lemoine allegedly conspired with Sniders Jean-Jacques, Lorne Johnson, Tanya Pierre, Ashley Spike and others to submit fraudulent PPP applications on behalf of borrowers and to collect up to 30 percent of the loan proceeds as a fee for securing the loans. Beginning in March 2021, Lemoine and others allegedly recruited borrowers who were ineligible for PPP loans, claimed the borrowers operated businesses that qualified them for loans and created fake tax forms to backstop the borrowers’ fraudulent applications. As a result, Lemoine and others allegedly obtained PPP funds to which she and the borrowers were not entitled. The indictment also alleged that the borrowers who received PPP funds based on these fraudulent applications paid kickbacks to Lemoine and others, commonly in an amount equal to 30 percent of the loan proceeds.

Jean-Jacques, Johnson, Pierre and Spike were charged in a separate indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to this scheme.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the scheme, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, Special Agent in Charge of the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General, Eastern Region; and Randy Maloney, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.  

BOSTON – A member of the violent Boston-based gang, H-Block, was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for drug conspiracy charges.

Eric Celestino, 31, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In December 2025, Celestino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

Celestino is one of 10 H-Block gang members and associates charged in August 2024 following a multi-year investigation in response to an uptick in gang-related drug trafficking, shootings and violence. According to court documents, over 500 grams of cocaine, cocaine base (crack cocaine) and fentanyl, as well as over 20,000 doses of drug-laced paper were seized during the investigation.

Since the investigation began in 2021, law enforcement attributed 12 incidents of gunfire involving H Block gang associates. Six H Block members and associates were arrested and charged with drug dealing in Boston and surrounding communities. Four additional H Block members and associates were already in state custody at the time of the arrests. Additional drugs and four firearms were seized during the subsequent arrests.

From 2022 through 2023, Celestino, a long-time H Block gang member, participated in a conspiracy to distribute various controlled substances, in particular, powdered cocaine and cocaine base (crack). According to court filings, Celestino was a supplier of cocaine to his co-conspirators, who engaged in various drug deals with an undercover officer.

According to the charging documents, the H Block Street Gang is one of the most feared and influential city-wide gangs in Boston. Originally formed in the 1980s as the Humboldt Raiders in the Roxbury section of Boston, the gang re-emerged in the 2000s as H Block. Current members of H Block have a history of violent confrontation with law enforcement, including an incident in 2015 when a member shot a Boston Police officer at point blank range without warning or provocation.

Celestino is the 6th defendant to be sentenced in the case.
    
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Randy Maloney of the U.S. Secret Service Boston Field Office; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Anthony D’Esposito, Inspector General of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement. The investigation was supported by the Massachusetts State Police; Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office; Massachusetts Department of Corrections; and the Braintree, Quincy, Randolph and Watertown Police Departments. Assistant United States Attorney John T. Dawley of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit and Jeremy Franker of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime & Racketeering Section are prosecuting the cases.

This case 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 Boston is comprised of agents and officers from HSI, FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, IRS-CI, USPIS, DOL-OIG and DSS, as well as several state and local law enforcement agencies, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BOSTON – A self-admitted member of the Bailey Street gang in Boston pleaded guilty today to illegal possession of five firearms and ammunition.  

Kenneth Bigby-Williams, 29, of Hyde Park, pleaded guilty to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for June 16, 2026. Bigby-Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2025.

On Aug. 7, 2025, a series of search warrants were executed on Bigby-Williams and his residence. As a result of those search warrants, five firearms, approximately 73 rounds of various caliber ammunition, along with numerous high-capacity magazines and other firearms accessories were seized. Due to a prior conviction in 2019 for possession of a firearm without a permit in Suffolk Superior Court, Bigby-Williams is prohibited from possessing firearms.

The charging statute for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Dawley of the Organized Crime and Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.

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

BOSTON – A Byfield man was sentenced on Friday in federal court in Boston for his role in a conspiracy to distribute crystal methamphetamine.

James Adams, a/k/a “Jimmy,” 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV to 151 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In December 2025, Adams pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine.

Adams was one of four individuals charged in connection with a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking ring operating in Eastern Massachusetts by members and associates of the Unknown Bikers Motorcycle Club.  

In approximately October 2023, law enforcement received information about drug trafficking activities of a large-scale methamphetamine supplier in the Eastern Massachusetts area. Over the next several months, Adams was identified as a drug trafficker who distributed methamphetamine to customers throughout Eastern Massachusetts. Controlled purchases of methamphetamine we conducted with Adams, as well as from his co-conspirators James Snow of Tewksbury, Danielle Steenbruggen of Peabody and Daniel Loughman of Wakefield. Approximately 10 pounds of methamphetamine and four firearms were seized throughout the investigation from controlled purchases, motor vehicle stops and search warrants.

Adams is the second defendant to be sentenced in the case. Steenbruggen pleaded guilty in August 2025 and, in November 2025, was sentenced to 93 months in prison. Snow pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2025 and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23, 2026. Loughman pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2025 and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 1, 2026.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; Jason Buckley, Acting Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service; Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Chief Steven A. Skory of the Wakefield Police Department made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Newbury, Newburyport, Haverhill and Peabody Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Dawley of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – A Florida-based doctor has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to making false statements in connection with a multi-million-dollar health care fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary genetic testing and durable medical equipment (DME).

Simon Grinshteyn, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements relating to health care matters. U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2026. Grinshteyn was charged in January 2026.

Between February 2020 and June 2020, Grinshteyn worked with a purported telemedicine company to sign medical documentation, including doctors’ orders, for medically unnecessary genetic testing and DME. The medical records and doctors’ orders Grinshteyn received and signed were pre-populated and made it appear that Grinshteyn was providing legitimate consultations to the Medicare beneficiaries and had conducted examinations of the beneficiaries and/or would provide further medical care to them. Grinshteyn generally did not contact the beneficiaries himself and had no provider-patient relationship with the beneficiaries. DME suppliers and laboratories ultimately submitted claims to Medicare for these signed orders. As a result of Grinshteyn’s participation in this scheme, Medicare paid more than $3.1 million in claims for DME and genetic testing that were based on false documentation.  

The charge of making false statements relating to health care matters provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Robert Coviello, Special Agent in Charge, Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division; Jason Buckley, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division; Kelly Lawson, Acting Regional Director, Boston Regional Office, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor; and Christopher Silvestro, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexandra Brazier and Lindsey Ross of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit prosecuted the case.

BOSTON – A Dorchester man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to trafficking firearms.

Joshua Morency, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of dealing in firearms without a license and one count of possessing a machinegun. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for June 25, 2026. Morency was arrested and charged in November 2025.

In August 2025, an investigation of Morency began for unlawfully distributing firearms in the Boston area. Over the course of the investigation, Morency sold 17 firearms in undercover controlled purchases. The majority of the firearms purchased from Morency were 3D-printed, privately made firearms (commonly known as “ghost guns”).

The charge of dealing in firearms without a license provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of possessing a machinegun provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County and Plymouth County Sheriff’s Offices. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aidan Lang of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – A Brockton man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to two separately charged cases involving the distribution of kilograms of fentanyl and, in one case, cocaine.

Elijah Melton, 28, pleaded guilty on March 20, 2026 in United States v. Elijah Melton et al., Cr. No. 22-10356-LTS, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances (involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl), and to one count of distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl.  Melton also pleaded guilty in United States v. Theodore Richards et al., Cr. No. 25-10288-LTS, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances (involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine). U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for July 15, 2026.

On Dec. 7, 2022, in recorded calls, Melton agreed to deliver four kilograms of fentanyl to an individual working with law enforcement. Among other things, the defendant stated, “I told you four, I got you the four.” That evening, the defendant sent an associate to deliver the kilograms to a residential area in Attleboro, Mass. The associate arrived in a car, which law enforcement stopped. From the trunk of the car, a bag containing approximately 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl was seized.
 

Melton’s associate, Samuel Fonseca, 32, of Brockton, previously pleaded guilty in 22-10356-LTS. His sentencing is scheduled for June 16, 2026.

Melton was arrested on Dec.12, 2023 (22-10356-LTS). Following his arrest, a search was conducted and a mobile phone was seized from Melton. The phone contained communications relevant to the second charged case against Melton (25-10288-LTS). Specifically, investigators discovered communications on an encrypted application between Melton and a user identified as “James Jackson,” which is alleged to be co-defendant Theodore Richards. In those communications, from 2023, “James Jackson,” located in California, agreed to deliver to Melton, in Massachusetts, kilograms of fentanyl (referred to as “boy”) and cocaine (referred to as “girl”).  “James Jackson” ultimately agreed to send Melton 4 kilograms of fentanyl, 32 kilograms of cocaine and approximately 300 pounds of marijuana. “James Jackson” sent Melton photographs of the drugs he would be sending.
 

On or about Oct. 29, 2023, “James Jackson” sent an associate to Massachusetts to deliver the drugs to Melton. Melton confirmed receipt and described to “James Jackson” his efforts to sell the drugs in Massachusetts.

Theodore Richards has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

The charges of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances (involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl and five kilograms or more of cocaine), and distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl, provide for a sentence of at least 10 years in prison and up to life, at least five years of supervised release and up to life and a fine of up to $10 million.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Rhode Island State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Crowley and Samuel R. Feldman of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

The cases are 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 and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.  

BOSTON – A Massachusetts woman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston in connection with a scheme to defraud a bank in Massachusetts. 

Trinity Antonetty, 24, of Boston, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud. U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick scheduled sentencing for Aug. 18, 2026.  

Between July and October 2024, Antonetty opened a business bank account and allowed Phalentz Vernot to deposit fraudulently obtained cashier’s checks into the account. Antonetty used funds from one of the checks Vernot deposited into her account to purchase a cashier’s check payable to a shell company Vernot controlled. When the bank froze another of the checks Vernot deposited into Antonetty’s account for suspected fraud, Antonetty called the bank and falsely claimed that she operated a high-end car dealer and that the funds were related to a luxury car.  

In July 2025, Vernot and five other men were charged as part of a related investigation into a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud banks in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Vernot pled guilty on Dec. 17, 2025. Earlier this month, two additional people were charged for their roles in the scheme.  

The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and P.J. O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Haven Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Connecticut State Police, the Glocester (RI) Police Department, the Sutton Police Department, the Concord (MA) Police Department, the Dracut Police Department, the Westwood Police Department and the Abington Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case. 

BOSTON – An Alabama-based doctor has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for a $2.7 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME) and genetic testing primarily used to detect mutations in genes that could indicate a higher risk of developing certain types of cancers.

Tommie Robinson, 44, was sentenced on March 20, 2026 by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 16 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Robinson was also ordered to pay $2,784,733.49 in restitution. In October 2025, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud. Robinson was charged in August 2025.

Between December 2018 and March 2021, Robinson worked with telemedicine companies to sign medical documentation, including doctors’ orders, for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment and genetic testing. The orders Robinson signed were pre-populated based on telemarketing calls made to Medicare beneficiaries. Robinson generally did not contact the beneficiaries himself and had no provider-patient relationship with the beneficiaries. DME suppliers and laboratories ultimately submitted claims to Medicare for these signed orders. As a result of Robinson’s participation in this scheme, the suppliers and laboratories submitted over $2.7 million in claims to Medicare for DME and genetic testing that were medically unnecessary and based on false documentation.  

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Robert Coviello, Special Agent in Charge, Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division; Jason Buckley, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division; Kelly Lawson, Acting Regional Director, Boston Regional Office, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor; and Christopher Silvestro, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexandra Brazier and Lindsey Ross of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit prosecuted the case.

BOSTON – A Rehoboth man has been arrested and charged with allegedly sexually exploiting four minor females between 12 and 16 years old.

Christopher Mota, 29, was charged by criminal complaint with four counts of sexual exploitation of children. Mota was arrested this morning in Rehoboth and will make an initial appearance in federal court in Boston later today.

On June 5, 2025, Mota was scheduled to board a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Aruba. During a border search of Mota’s luggage, an iPhone 16 Pro Max. was observed which contained a hidden folder in the Photos application containing apparent child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”). The device was subsequently seized.

During a recorded interview by federal authorities Mota admitted that he stored CSAM in a hidden folder on his phone and that he obtained CSAM from minors via Snapchat, text and Telegram. Mota allegedly stated that he estimated he has received CSAM from approximately 20 to 25 minor girls. When asked how many images or videos of CSAM he has received, Mota allegedly stated, “it’s a lot” and said, “probably hundreds.”

A preliminary forensic review of Mota’s phone revealed that he had sexually explicit communications and exchanges of CSAM with at least four identified minor females, whose identities are known to law enforcement.

The charge of sexual exploitation of minors (and attempt and conspiracy) provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Boston Field Office and Rehoboth Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and member of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law. 
 

BOSTON – A California man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.  

Jimmy Fu, 64, of West Hills, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. In November 2025, Fu pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Fu agreed to forfeit approximately $689,697.09 seized from various accounts.

Since in or around November 2022, law enforcement began investigating two online pharmacies believed to be operating in India that advertised controlled substances for sale and distributing misbranded and counterfeit drugs, including drugs that contain controlled substances. The investigation revealed that online orders placed by customers in the United States were filled in several ways, including by illicit pill press locations operating in the United States as well as via shipments from overseas locations with several illicit pill manufacturing locations identified as being involved in the shipment and fulfillment of orders. During the investigation, a variety of counterfeit prescription drugs, some of which contained controlled substances, were obtained via undercover purchases. One undercover purchase of 60 Adderall pills was found to contain methamphetamine and caffeine. Another undercover purchase of 90 Adderall pills contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Fu was identified as the operator of Axson Engineering, Inc., doing business in Canoga Park, Calif. as “Axson Data.” The business processed customer payments for controlled substances from the online pharmacies and wired the proceeds of these illegal purchases to various businesses located overseas. The wires were directed to a number of different businesses that identify as information technology consulting businesses, among other things.

During the investigation over 18 undercover purchases for prescription drugs were processed by Fu’s business, Axson Data, with each of the payments deposited into an Axson bank account. A review of all of Axson’s bank accounts revealed thousands of checks deposited from individuals across the United States, including Massachusetts, for various amounts of money ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. At least some of these payments corresponded to purchases from the network of online pharmacy websites. Between January 2021 and August 2024, Axson accounts appeared to have received approximately $11.5 million from individuals across the United States. 

A search warrant executed for an account associated with Axson revealed, among other things, a photo of a cell phone displaying an image of a drug test showing a positive indicator for methamphetamine, followed by a text message that read: “I ordered Adderall . . . I got this . . . it’s pressed meth.  I said if they don’t have real Adderall I would take 20mg Ritalin to replace.  They refused unless I sent these back (which is highly illegal).”

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New England; and Fernando P. McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations in West Palm Beach, Fla., Northridge, Calif. and Las Vegas; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Customs & Border Protection; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Federal Air Marshals Service; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office; and the Quincy, Framingham and Henderson, Nev., Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Mackenzie Duane of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit, Alexandra Amrhein of the Major Crimes Unit and Leslie Wright of the Health Care Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.

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

BOSTON – A Haverhill man was charged in federal court in Boston with fraudulently obtaining $350,000 in investor funds.

Luciano Schipelliti, 28, was charged with one count of wire fraud and has agreed to plead guilty before Senior United States District Judge F. Dennis Saylor on a date to be set by the Court.

According to the charging documents, in the fall of 2018, Schipelliti established the Superstars Fund and raised roughly $275,000 to invest in cryptocurrency. By 2019, through a series of bad investments, Schipelliti allegedly lost all the money in the Superstars Fund. He did not, however, tell any of the investors that he had lost the money. Instead, according to the charging documents, beginning in approximately November 2020, Schipelliti began sending monthly newsletters to investors that falsely reported that the Superstars Fund continued to grow in value. 

Based on the misrepresented performance of the Superstars Fund, in approximately February 2021, Schipelliti allegedly launched a new fund, the TTM Fund. He raised approximately $350,000 to invest in cryptocurrency. Schipelliti allegedly lost all the money in the TTM fund by September 2021. According to the charging documents, Schipelliti lost most of the money in the TTM Fund investing in cryptocurrency and also used some of the money in a manner inconsistent with the terms of the TTM Fund’s operating agreement.

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Saltzman of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BOSTON – A Dominican national has been extradited to the United States for his alleged role in a transnational “call center” operation in the Dominican Republic that tricked hundreds of elderly victims in the United States into believing that their grandchildren or other close family members were in trouble and needed money. In total, the investigation identified over 400 victims with an average age of 84, including at least 50 in Massachusetts, and more than $5 million in losses.

Gerardo Heriberto Nuñez Nuñez, 42, was arrested in August 2025 in the Dominican Republic at the request of the United States and extradited on March 18, 2026. He appeared in federal court in Boston today and was detained pending trial. The defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024 and is charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy.

According to the charging documents, the defendant allegedly served as a money launderer for a sophisticated “call center” operation in the Dominican Republic that defrauded hundreds of elderly victims in the United States. English-speaking employees of the call center carried out what are commonly known as “grandparent scams,” in which they tricked elderly victims into believing that their grandchildren or other close family members were in trouble and needed money. One employee would call victims and pretend to be a grandchild who was in an accident. Then, another employee would allegedly follow up with another call, pretending to be the grandchild’s attorney, asking for a sum of money to pay for the grandchild’s attorney’s fees. Callers would instruct elderly victims to provide cash to “runners” in the United States.

As alleged in the indictment, the defendant laundered illicit proceeds from the operation back to the Dominican Republic. The defendant provided the call center operators with access to bank accounts in the names of purported businesses. The runners would then deposit cash from victims into those bank accounts. The defendant also arranged for the runners to hand-deliver cash from victims to individuals in New York and elsewhere. The defendant then provided cash to the call center operators in the Dominican Republic. The defendant allegedly charged the call center operators a fee of approximately 8 to 10 percent in exchange for transmitting scam proceeds from the United States to the Dominican Republic.

Charges were unsealed in August 2025 against the defendant and 12 others who operated the call center or served as runners. Members of the public who believe they may be victims of this case, or other elder fraud scams, should contact USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Suspected fraud can also be reported on the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the amount of laundered funds, whichever is greater. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition to the United States of Nuñez Nuñez. Valuable assistance was provided by the Dominican National Police; División Especial de Investigación del Crimen Organizado Internacional (DEICROI); Central de Investigaciones Criminales (DICRIM); and the Ministerio Publico. Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Holcomb of the Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
 

BOSTON – A Cambridge man has been indicted for trafficking four women and attempting to traffic a fifth victim. One victim was a minor when she was first trafficked.  

Daniel Rodriguez, 36, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of sex trafficking of a minor, four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, one count of attempted sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and one count of knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing an individual to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. Rodriguez is currently held in state custody and will be arraigned in federal court in the coming weeks.

According to the indictment, Rodriguez allegedly forced four separate women, one of them beginning when she was a minor, to engage in commercial sex from 2018 until as recently as January 2026. Rodriguez also allegedly attempted to force a fifth victim to engage in commercial sex on his behalf in 2017. According to previously filed documents, Rodriguez’s trafficking enterprise involved travel to Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine.

According to publicly filed documents, Rodriguez was arrested on state charges in January 2026 after leading the police on a high-speed chase in Randolph, MA, ultimately crashing the car with one of his victims in it. Rodriguez is alleged to have used multiple tactics to force his victims to engage in commercial sex on his behalf, including but not limited to physical violence, stalking and fraud.    

The charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion and attempted sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion carry minimum mandatory sentences of 15 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of sex trafficking of a minor carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charges of coercing a person to travel for purposes of prostitution provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks Special Agent in Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigations; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Riley and Craig Estes of the Human Trafficking & Civil Rights Unit are prosecuting the case.

If you or someone you know may be impacted or experiencing commercial sex trafficking, please contact USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
 

BOSTON – A Lawrence man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to drug charges connected to a drug manufacturing ring.

Joshua Morales, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for June 12, 2026. Morales was charged in August 2025.

According to the charging documents, Morales was observed by law enforcement entering into a residence in Methuen and leaving with a large orange bag. According to court documents, investigators knew that the residence was an alleged drug distribution and manufacturing location. While under surveillance, Morales then drove to a location in Lawrence, where he was apprehended. During a search of Morales’ vehicle, 10,000 counterfeit Percocet pills believed to contain fentanyl were recovered.

During a search of the residence in Methuen, an automated pill press was located, along with multiple kilograms of counterfeit Adderall and Percocet pills believed to contain fentanyl and methamphetamine. Numerous items used in the pill manufacturing process, including cutting agents, blenders, scales, bowls and bags full of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine powders and binding agents were also recovered.

The charge of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Methuen Police Chief Scott J. McNamara made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Peabody Police Department, Lawrence Police Department and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Boston Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) as part of Operation Take Back America. HSTFs, which were established by President Trump in Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, are joint operations led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide federal initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
 

BOSTON – An Uxbridge man was sentenced on March 13, 2026 in federal court in Worcester for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Scott Morrill, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. In October 2025, Morrill pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Morrill was arrested and charged in April 2025.

Morrill utilized a Google account to store hundreds of images of CSAM material.  Google identified the use of their services to store CSAM and notified the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. A subsequent investigation identified CSAM material stored both in the defendant’s Google account and on a computer that he possessed at his home.  

At the time of the offense, Morrill was on federal supervised release for a 2013 conviction of distribution of child pornography, for which he was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Uxbridge Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Noto of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.

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

BOSTON – A Saugus man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for leading a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine and laundered the proceeds. 

Lawrence Michael Nagle, Jr., 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. In April 2025, Nagle pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams of more of methamphetamine; five counts of possession with intent to distribute various weights of fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone; one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; one count of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition; and one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Nagle, Jr. was one of 27 individuals charged, beginning in October 2022, in connection with a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills.

In 2018, law enforcement identified Nagle, Jr. and his brother, Christopher Nagle, as leaders of a DTO distributing various controlled substances throughout the North Shore region of Massachusetts. The Nagle DTO distributed significant quantities of various controlled substances, including, Adderall (both pharmaceutical-grade pills and counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine), methamphetamine, Xanax, Oxycodone (both pharmaceutical-grade and counterfeit pills containing fentanyl), cocaine and marijuana, among others.

The Nagle DTO distributed controlled substances to a network of individuals who would then redistribute the drugs to other traffickers, including separate, but interconnected, organizations.

The investigation resulted in numerous seizures of controlled substances, including: over 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms; 591 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine; 1,000 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl; and 101 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.

In January 2022, a search of Christopher Nagle’s apartment recovered more than 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms. On Oct. 25, 2022, a search of Nagle, Jr.’s home in Saugus and two homes he used to store narcotics—one of which was inhabited by Castillo—resulted in the seizure of more than 7.8 kilograms of fentanyl and more than 650 grams of methamphetamine. In addition, two Glock firearms and ammunition were recovered from Nagle, Jr.’s house in close proximity to oxycodone pills. At the time, Nagle, Jr. was a felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

In August 2024, Christipher Nagle was sentenced to 139 months in prison.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Beverly, Everett, Peabody, Revere, Salem, Saugus and Swampscott Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys K. Nathaniel Yeager, and Samuel R. Feldman of the Criminal Division and Annapurna Balakrishna of the Asset Forfeiture Unit prosecuted the case.

This case 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 Boston is comprised of agents and officers from HSI, FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, IRS-CI, USPIS, DOL-OIG and DSS, as well as several state and local law enforcement agencies, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

BOSTON – A Guatemalan national has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation.

Jasson Humberto Marroquin Moro, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun to time served (approximately four months in prison) and is now subject to deportation proceedings. Earlier in the hearing the defendant pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry of a deported alien. Marroquin Moro was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2025.

On or about May 6, 2025, Marroquin Moro was found in the United States after having been deported to Guatemala on or about June 3, 2014.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Julissa Walsh of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
 

BOSTON – A Brazilian national illegally residing in Boston pleaded guilty on March 6, 2026, to conspiring to obtain driver’s licenses for ineligible applicants, principally illegal aliens.  

Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for April 9, 2026. In December 2024, Nascimento De Andrade was charged along with four co-conspirators.
  
From in or about November 2020 through in or about September 2024, Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators fraudulently procured driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who resided in states that prohibited illegal aliens from obtaining driver’s licenses. Prior to July 2023, illegal aliens residing in Massachusetts were not permitted to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses. Beginning in 2019, illegal aliens residing in New York became eligible to obtain New York driver’s licenses. 

Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators conspired to fraudulently obtain New York driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who did not reside in New York, including Massachusetts residents, and after July 2023 to fraudulently obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who did not reside in Massachusetts. The co-conspirators collected money from the customers in exchange for fraudulently obtaining the driver’s licenses for them. In one instance, on April 24, 2024, Nascimento De Andrade requested and accepted $450 in cash from a customer in the parking lot of a Plymouth RMV branch location, in return for providing the customer with a fake cable bill to provide to the RMV, falsely showing that the customer lived at an address in Massachusetts.

In New York, before obtaining a driver’s license, applicants were required to pass a written permit test and complete driver’s education coursework from a New York driving school. Online permit test-takers were required by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) to take a picture of themselves with a web camera during the test. This was to ensure that the test-taker was indeed the applicant and that there was not a person sitting with and helping the applicant with the test.

To avoid the customers having to take the permit tests, Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators conspired to obtain several pictures of the customers sitting down, making it look as if the customers were taking the tests. They also allegedly conspired to complete the permit tests for the customers online and, when prompted by the NY DMV to take pictures during the tests, and to upload the pictures that the customers previously provided – purporting to show that it was the customers who were taking the tests, not the defendants.  The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to create fraudulent driver’s education certificates of completion, purportedly from New York driving schools, and they conspired to forge the signatures of driving school staff on the fake certificates and to give these documents to the customers to provide to the NY DMV.

The NY DMV also required that applicants appear at a NY DMV location and provide documents to prove their identity and residence in New York. The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to meet Massachusetts-based customers at locations in Massachusetts – typically several customers at a time – and drive them to NY DMV branch locations. When they arrived at the NY DMV locations, the defendants allegedly gave the customers fraudulent documents falsely purporting to demonstrate that the customers resided in New York. The NY DMV relied on the misrepresentations to issue New York driving permits to the customers. The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to arrange for the NY DMV to mail the permits to locations in New York that were controlled by the defendants and provided the permits to the customers in-person. The defendants then allegedly conspired to schedule road driving license tests for the customers with the NY DMV and, again, drive the customers to New York for them to take the road tests. If the customers passed the tests, the NY DMV sent the driver’s licenses to mailing addresses in New York that the defendants allegedly controlled, and the defendants then provided the licenses to the customers. 

The defendants allegedly conspired to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for out-of-state residents, in generally the same manner as they allegedly obtained the New York licenses for Massachusetts residents.  Collectively, the co-conspirators allegedly fraudulently applied for licenses for more than 1,000 customers, obtained licenses for more than 600 of the customers, and collected at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.    

Nascimento De Andrade is the third defendant to plead guilty in this case. For their roles in the conspiracy, in September 2025, defendant Cesar Agusto Marin Reis was sentenced to 290 days in prison, and in October 2025, Helbert Costa Generoso was sentenced to 9 months in prison. 

The charge of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents carries up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.  Nascimento De Andrade will be subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. 

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Kelly Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the NY DMV Division of Field Investigation; the Boston, Danbury (Conn.) and Waterbury (Conn.) Police Departments; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut; and the New York State Inspector General’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
 

BOSTON – A Massachusetts man has been arrested and charged with making threats in interstate commerce.

Alden Welch Ruml, 26, was charged with one count of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another. Ruml will make an initial appearance in federal court in Boston later today.

According to the indictment, on Feb. 28, 2026, Ruml allegedly sent an email to the victim’s email account. In that email, Ruml is alleged to have referred to the victim in obscene terms and stated that he would be “happy” when her face is “canoed by an assault rifle.”

The charge of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Looney is prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
 

BOSTON – A former science teacher at Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for coercing and enticing at least one underage female to engage in sexual conversations online and requesting that she produce and send child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of herself. Defendant, who also previously worked at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Hyde Park and the Brookline Public Schools, possessed CSAM depicting rape of both female and male minors, ranging in age from approximately five to 17 years old.

John Magee Gavin, 35, of Brookline, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In December 2025, Gavin pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor; one count of receipt of child pornography; and one count of possession of child pornography.  Gavin was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2025, and remains in federal custody.

According to court filings, Gavin is a former teacher at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston. Prior to that, he was a 6th grade teacher at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Hyde Park and was a paraprofessional with the Brookline Public Schools.

In January 2025, Gavin was identified as the owner of a Discord account who messaged at least 20 underage females between the ages of 12 and 17 years old located throughout the country, including Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, as well as the United Kingdom and Canada. In these chats, Gavin disclosed that he was a teacher, engaged in sexual conversations and often asked the minors to send him pictures of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct – knowing that the children were underaged. He was arrested by local authorities in February 2025 and charged in Brookline District Court with enticing a child under 16, possession of child pornography and other offenses.

A forensic review of evidence seized from Gavin’s Brookline residence revealed approximately 147 files (94 images and 53 videos) on his iPhone depicting CSAM. The CSAM depicted rape of both female and male minors, ranging in age from approximately five to 17 years old.

Further analysis of Gavin’s Discord account identified numerous chats with underage females in which he engaged in online masturbation sessions with the minors; solicitated images from and exchanged images with the minors; and engaged in sexualized conversations with the minors while he was at school.

The chats also included conversations in which Gavin expressed his sexual interest in certain students at Josiah Quincy. In one conversation, Gavin discussed his sexual interest in a freshman student at the school where he was employed as a teacher and fantasied about having sex with her.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Brookline Police Department; the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations; and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, prosecuted the case.

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

BOSTON – Eleven Indian nationals have been charged in connection with a conspiracy to carry out staged armed robberies of convenience stores for the purpose of allowing store clerks to falsely claim they were crime victims on immigration applications.  

The following defendants have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud:

1.      Jitendrakumar Patel, 39, unlawfully residing in Marshfield, Mass.;  2.      Maheshkumar Patel, 36, unlawfully residing in Randolph, Mass.;  3.      Sanjaykumar Patel, 45, unlawfully residing in Quincy, Mass.;  4.      Dipikaben Patel, 40, deported to India after unlawfully residing in Weymouth, Mass.;  5.      Rameshbhai Patel, 52, unlawfully residing in Eubank, Ky.;  6.      Amitabahen Patel, 43, unlawfully residing in Plainville, Mass.;  7.      Ronakkumar Patel, 28, unlawfully residing in Maryland Heights, Miss.;  8.      Sangitaben Patel, 36, unlawfully residing in Randolph, Mass.;  9.      Minkesh Patel, 42, unlawfully residing in Perrysburg, Ohio;  10.  Sonal Patel, 42, unlawfully residing in Perrysburg, Ohio; and
11.  Mitul Patel, 40, unlawfully residing in Worcester, Mass.

Jitendrakumar Patel, Maheshkumar Patel, Sanjaykumar Patel, Amitabahen Patel, Sangitaben Patel and Mitul Patel were arrested in Massachusetts and released following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston earlier today. Rameshbhai Patel, Ronakkumar Patel, Sonal Patel and Minkesh Patel were arrested and made their initial appearances in Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio. They will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

According to the charging documents, in March 2023, Rambhai Patel and his co-conspirators set up and carried out staged armed robberies of at least six convenience/liquor stores and fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and more elsewhere. It is alleged that the purpose of the staged robberies was to allow the clerks present to claim falsely that they were victims of a violent crime on an application for U non-immigration status (U Visa). A U Visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.  

In the course of the alleged staged robberies, the “robber” would threaten store clerks and/or owners with an apparent firearm before taking cash from the register and fleeing, while the interaction was captured on store surveillance video. The clerks and/or owners would then wait five or more minutes until the “robber” had escaped before calling police to report the “crime.” The “victims” are alleged to have each paid Patel to participate in the scheme. In turn, Patel allegedly paid the store owners for the use of their stores for the staged robbery.

Patel, the “robber,” and the getaway driver were previously charged and convicted.  The 11 defendants charged today are alleged to have either arranged with the organizer to set up each robbery, or paid for themselves or a family member to participate as a “victim.”

The charge of conspiracy to commit visa fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance in the investigation was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York, the Western District of Washington, the Northern District of Ohio, the Eastern District of Missouri, and the Eastern District of Kentucky; FBI’s New York, Seattle, Louisville, Cleveland and St. Louis Field Offices; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations; Massachusetts State Police; Worcester County District Attorney’s Office; and the Boston, Dedham, Hingham, Malden, Marshfield, Randolph, Somerville, Weymouth, Worcester, Upper Darby, (Pa.), West Pittston (Pa.), Louisville, (Ky.) and Bean Station (Tenn.) Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elianna J. Nuzum and Jessica L. Soto of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
 

BOSTON – The former manager of a Lowell, Mass. temporary employment agency has been arrested and charged with tax crimes that deprived the U.S. Treasury of approximately $980,000 in revenue.  

Siharath Panyanouvong, 56, of Dunstable, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false tax return. Panyanouvong was arrested today and released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston.

According to the charging documents, Panyanouvong was the manager of Viscosity Inc.  It is alleged that, between approximately 2017 and 2019, Panyanouvong deliberately failed to report more than $3.5 million of Viscosity’s gross receipts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As a result, Viscosity allegedly avoided paying more than $980,000 in federal income taxes.

The indictment alleges that Panyanouvong, often using the alias “Mike Pan,” cashed more than $4.5 million in customer checks. Panyanouvong allegedly used a substantial portion of the cash to operate an off-the-books cash payroll for Viscosity employees and to pay himself.  

The charge of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.  

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Saltzman of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BOSTON – A former Veterans Affairs Nursing Assistant was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan.

Wigenie Francois, 44, of Brockton, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to one year of probation. Francois was also ordered to pay $62,499 in restitution. In December 2025, Francois pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Francois was charged in October 2025.

In April 2021, Francois submitted an application seeking a PPP loan. In the application, Francois made false claims regarding gross income purportedly earned from a sole proprietorship. To support these false claims, Francois attached fraudulent tax documents as part of the application. The PPP loan application was approved and Francois received $20,833. Francois used that money on personal expenses. However, in March 2024, Francois submitted a loan forgiveness application that falsely claimed the entire $20,833 was spent on payroll. Based on the misrepresentation, the entire loan was forgiven.   

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Sullivan of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.  

BOSTON – A Lunenburg man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Michael Myers, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for June 16, 2026. Myers was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in December 2024 and has remained in federal custody since that time.  

In 2015, Myers was convicted of possession of CSAM, for which he was sentenced to two years’ probation by state authorities. He is a Level One Sex Offender.

In August 2023, Myers was identified as the owner of a Kik Messenger account transmitting CSAM files. One of the files depicted a male victim, approximately as young at eight years old, being raped by an adult male. Separately, in April 2024, Myers was identified as the owner of a Reddit account transmitting CSAM files depicting the abuse of a minor male victim. Search warrants obtained for both the Kik and Reddit accounts revealed several chats further demonstrating Myers’ criminal sexual interest in young boys.  

During a search of his Lunenburg residence in December 2024, an anonymous private messenger application was found on Myers’ cell phone and showed that several videos and pictures depicting CSAM were sent and received.  

Due to Myers’ prior conviction, the charging statute provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, a minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Lunenburg Police Interim Police Chief Jeffrey M. Thibodeau made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danial Bennett of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

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

BOSTON – A Lowell man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Steven Estrada Ramirez, 23, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to five years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence. In November 2025, Estrada pleaded guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography Estrada was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024.

Estrada was identified as a participant in multiple groups on a mobile chat application in which the primary purpose of the groups was for users to share and view CSAM. At the time of his arrest, Estrada was found to be in possession of a USB drive containing over 700 video files depicting CSAM, including files depicting children who appeared to be approximately one to eight years old. Additionally, the home screen of Estrada’s cell phone depicted an image of CSAM and the phone contained over 5,000 images and videos depicting CSAM.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.       
 

BOSTON – A Boston lawyer was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for defrauding two of his clients of over $2 million.

Patrick J. Dolan, 60, of North Attleboro and Haverhill, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 39 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Dolan was also ordered to pay $2,022,833 in restitution as well as $2,087,372.55 money judgment. In October 2025, Dolan pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud. Dolan was charged in July 2025.

Between November 2018 and November 2024, Dolan devised a scheme to defraud his clients and other individuals who entrusted Dolan to maintain funds in accounts he controlled for their benefit. Specifically, Dolan stole over $2 million that he was holding in escrow pending the outcome of a family trust lawsuit in which Dolan represented one of the parties. Dolan used the stolen funds for himself and his family members, including by making transfers to shell companies, using funds to make mortgage, tuition and student loan payments as well as using funds to pay for personal items and services.

In addition, Dolan stole at least $87,500 from a supplemental needs trust that Dolan established for another client and used those funds to make a down payment towards the purchase of real property located in Haverhill, where Dolan subsequently resided with his family. Dolan also made false statements to his clients and others regarding the stolen funds, falsified bank statements and falsified accounting records.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions prosecuted the case. 
 

BOSTON – The United States Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action to recover approximately 3,444,470 USDT (Tether), alleged to be proceeds of an online investment fraud scheme and money laundering scheme. The cryptocurrency currently has an estimated value of approximately $3,444,470.

In late 2024, the government began an investigation into a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that targeted at least four individuals, including two Massachusetts residents, a resident of Utah and a resident of South Carolina. In such fraud schemes, scammers obtain funds from victims using manipulative tactics. The scammer establishes a level of trust with a victim in online communications and then entices the victim into investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The victim’s funds are stolen by the criminal, or criminals, ultimately causing the victim financial and emotional harm. Perpetrators behind these cryptocurrency investment schemes are often located overseas.  

As alleged in court documents, unknown subjects initially communicated with the victims through what appeared to be misdirected messages via texts or through encrypted messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram. After cultivating a relationship, the unknown subjects – who usually appear to be one individual, but may not be only one individual – then convinced the victims to invest in an exclusive Ethereum (ETH) investment opportunity that the unknown subjects claimed was backed by physical gold.

The unknown subjects directed the victims to purchase ETH and transfer the cryptocurrency to intermediary wallets controlled by the unknown subjects. The victims believed they were investing in a legitimate platform, when in fact the unknown subjects were instead sending victim funds to intermediary wallets, converting victim funds from ETH into USDT, transferring that USDT to unhosted wallets and stealing the funds.

The government seized 3,444,470 USDT involved in this scheme in February and March of 2025.

It is a violation of federal law to use wire communications as part of a scheme to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses. It is also a violation of federal law to conduct a financial transaction knowing that the transaction is designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of criminal proceeds. A civil forfeiture action allows third parties to assert claims to property, which must be resolved before the property can be forfeited to the United States and returned to victims.

This is one of several civil forfeiture actions the U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed seeking to forfeit cryptocurrency involved in fraud schemes targeting Massachusetts victims.

Members of the public who believe they are victims of a cybercrime – including cryptocurrency scams, romance scams, investment scams and business email compromise fraud scams – should contact USAMA.CyberTip@usdoj.gov.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Woburn Police Department and the New England State Police Information Network (NESPIN). Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Lyons of the Asset Recovery Unit is prosecuting the civil forfeiture action.

The details contained in the civil forfeiture complaint are allegations only.

BOSTON – A Dominican national unlawfully residing in Lawrence, Mass. pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation.

Jose Alberto Tejeda Turbi, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for April 2, 2026. In January 2026, Tejeda Turbi was indicted by a federal grand jury.

In July 2015, Tejeda Turbi was convicted in federal court in Boston of heroin distribution and conspiracy, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison and four years of supervised release. Tejeda Turbi was deported from the United States in March 2020 upon his completion of the sentence imposed.

Sometime after his March 2020 removal, Tejeda Turbi illegally reentered the United States without permission.

In June 2024, Tejeda Turbi was sentenced in Lawrence District Court to two years in prison for assault and battery resulting in serious bodily injury and three years of probation for remaining charges.

The charge of unlawful reentry of a deported alien provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad A. Rocheville of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.
 

BOSTON – A Quincy man was sentenced On March 4, 2026 in federal court in Boston for bank fraud and money laundering.

Eric Banks, 71, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper 14 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In November 2025, Banks pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and five counts of money laundering. 

Banks obtained a stolen U.S. Treasury check for $1,127,331.80 made out to a New York-based company. Banks formed a Massachusetts-based entity with the same name, opened a bank account for that fake entity and deposited the check. Banks then conducted multiple illegal money transactions designed to conceal the source of the funds from the stolen Treasury check.  In addition, Banks created a second fake entity and opened a bank account in the name of this second fake entity. Other individuals who obtained and deposited stolen U.S. Treasury checks transferred over $1.3 million to this bank account created by Banks. This was part of a scheme involving seven other defendants charged in separate charging documents:

1.    Gino Rosario Tyler Alexander Allegra, 31, of Brockton, charged with theft of $861,646 in government funds; 2.    Jesse El-Ghoul, 31, of Leominster, charged with theft of $1,355,863 in government funds; 3.    Nnamdi Opara, 30, of Woburn, charged with theft of $700,767 in government funds; 4.    Gurprit Singh, 34, of Framingham, charged with theft of $2,547,508 in government funds; 5.    Amarpreet Singh, 33, of Framingham, charged with theft of $536,214 in government funds; 6.    Lonnie Smith-Matthews, 33, of Hyde Park, charged with theft of $150,000 in government funds and bank fraud of $232,588; and
7.    Domingo Villari, 49, of Framingham, charged with theft of $1,288,575 in government funds.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; Michael Carpenter, Special Agent in Charge of the Treasury Inspector General; and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Needham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Sullivan and Seth Kosto of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the cases. 
 

BOSTON – A Nantucket man who is an associate of the transnational criminal organization 18th Street Gang, was sentenced on March 6, 2026 in federal court in Boston for drug distribution charges.

John Angel, 32, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Myong J. Joun to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In November 2025, Angel pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.

Between March 2024 and July 2024, Angel met with a cooperating witness three times to sell approximately 117 grams of fentanyl, 28 grams of cocaine and a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun for a combined sum of over $7,000. Specifically, on March 27, 2024, Angel directed the cooperating witness to meet him in East Boston, where he sold “a 50” (approximately 50 grams of powder fentanyl). Later, on July 10, 2024, Angel met the cooperating witness on Nantucket and sold more powder fentanyl together with a quantity of cocaine. During the drug deals, Angel flaunted his prominence as a high-level drug supplier by boasting of his connections in the 18th Street Gang and in one instance, showing the cooperating witness a backpack containing a kilogram of cocaine and a bag of orange pills and, elsewhere in his apartment, what appeared to be another kilogram of fentanyl. At the third meeting, Angel sold the Glock handgun together with a quantity of fentanyl and claimed he could also obtain Glock “switches,” machinegun conversion devices, for the cooperating witness.  

The charge of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations; the Suffolk County and Middlesex County District Attorney’s Offices; and the Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Falmouth, Lynn, Medford, Nantucket and Revere Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred Wyshak and Sarah Hoefle of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

This case 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 Boston is comprised of agents and officers from HSI, FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, IRS-CI, USPIS, DOL-OIG and DSS, as well as several state and local law enforcement agencies, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. 

BOSTON – A Guatemalan national residing in Framingham was sentenced on March 4, 2026 in federal court in Boston for unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation. Defendant previously deported five times to Guatemala and convicted of illegal re-entry twice.

Ariel Humberto Diaz, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper to 14 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence. In October 2025, Diaz pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. Diaz was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2025.

Diaz was most recently deported from the United States to Guatemala in March 2022. Sometime after his March 2022 removal, Diaz illegally reentered the United States without permission. Diaz had previously been removed to Guatemala in May 2014, April 2016, October 2016 and November 2018. In addition, Diaz had previously twice been convicted of illegal re-entry in federal court.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexandra W. Amrhein and Jennifer Zacks of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
        
 

BOSTON – A Fitchburg man and former Quincy official pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to a scheme to embezzle funds from the City of Quincy, Mass.

Thomas F. Clasby, Jr., 61, pleaded guilty to embezzlement, mail and wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for June 17, 2026. Clasby was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2025.

Clasby was the Director of the Quincy Department of Elder Services (Elder Services) between approximately 1999 and April 2024. Beginning in 2019, Clasby used the City’s purchasing process to pay personal expenses and generate cash for himself. For example, Clasby arranged for the City to pay $8,950 to a music studio to produce recordings of Clasby singing songs; $2,236 to food service vendors for 153 pounds of bourbon steak tips; $4,800 for a Toyota Prius; and $1,658 for a signature, lacquered, mounted and framed self-portrait, all of which were personal expenses.

In addition, Clasby arranged for the City to pay over $38,000 to a New York consulting company owned by Clasby’s friend. The consulting company never provided goods or services to any City department. Instead, Clasby’s friend cashed the City checks and delivered the cash to Clasby at a rest stop in Framingham, Mass., a ferry terminal in Bridgeport, Conn. and at the friend’s New York apartment. Starting in June 2021, Clasby stole the majority of cash receipts generated by Elder Services at the Kennedy Center in Quincy.

The charge of embezzlement provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charges of mail and wire fraud provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of interstate transportation of stolen property provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Quincy Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.

BOSTON – An Adams, Mass. man has been sentenced for sexual exploitation of children and producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Brian Warner, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 28 years in prison, to be followed by seven years of supervised release. An amount of restitution will be determined at a hearing scheduled for June 11, 2026. In November 2025, Warner pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children. He has remained in federal custody since his May 2024 arrest.

Over a six-year period, Warner repeatedly abused a child for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct. Searches of Warner’s devices showed that he possessed hundreds of images of CSAM, including imagery of a child known to him.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Merck of the Springfield Office prosecuted the case.

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

BOSTON – An Arlington man pleaded guilty on March 6, 2026 in federal court in Boston to a drug conspiracy. The defendant conspired with a codefendant, who is a Vice Lord gang member on parole from a state prison sentence during these offenses.

Jonathan Perry, a/k/a “Peazy,” 26, of Arlington, Mass., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for June 2, 2026.

Perry is a relative and coconspirator of Keith Harlow in the distribution of controlled substances.  A review of Perry’s cellphone seized during his arrest on state charges on May 29, 2025 revealed that Perry and allegedly Harlow worked together to distribute controlled substances and sell firearms throughout Massachusetts. It is further alleged that, in text message communications with Harlow, they discussed robberies and using firearms to shoot at various individuals. At the time of the alleged offenses Perry and Harlow were prohibited from possessing firearms due to numerous prior felony convictions, including Perry’s youthful offender conviction of manslaughter. At the time of all the messages, Harlow was also still on parole following his multiple concurrent state prison sentences and Perry was on probation for a domestic violence offense.

According to the charging documents, Harlow is a member of a Vice Lords chapter known as the Four Corner Hustlers. Known by his street name “Lord Savage,” Harlow has been convicted of multiple prior armed robberies and, at the time of the alleged offenses, was on parole from multiple six to 10-year concurrent state prison sentences.

It is alleged that during a search of Harlow’s residence on May 29, 2025, multiple firearm receivers, suspected firearm suppressors, machinegun conversion devices, 3D printers and firearm manufacturing supplies were recovered. Approximately 100 grams of suspected cocaine was allegedly found in the residence as well.
 

The charge of conspiring to distribute controlled substances provides for a maximum penalty of up to 20 years, at least three years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; David E. Sullivan, Northwestern District Attorney; and Athol Police Chief Craig Lundgren made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police; the United States Marshals Service; the Franklin County House of Correction; and Massachusetts Department of Correction. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BOSTON – A Pittsfield, Mass. man has been arrested and charged with falsely impersonating a United States Army veteran for over 30 years to obtain medical care at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and other benefits.

James D. Sommers, whose age is unknown, has been charged with one count of false statements. Sommers was arrested yesterday in Pittsfield, Mass., where he was staying under the guise of a victim’s identity at Soldier On, a facility that provides transitional housing to United States military veterans. Sommers remains in federal custody and will next appear in federal court on March 9, 2026.

According to the charging documents, beginning as early as 1994, Sommers has falsely impersonated a United States Army veteran who served honorably from 1979 to 1982. It is alleged that Sommers used the victim’s stolen identity to obtain thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits and nearly $30,000 in medical care and medications from VA medical centers. Most recently, Sommers falsely impersonated the victim on Feb. 20, 2026, to obtain medical care at the VA Medical Center in Northampton, Mass.

It is further alleged that Sommers has numerous prior convictions in New York State in 1994, 1997, 2001 and 2011 all under the victim’s name, for offenses including: criminal possession of stolen property; intent to obtain transportation without paying; sale of a controlled substance; possession of a forged instrument; attempted grand larceny; grand larceny; and forgery.

The charge of false statements provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.  

BOSTON – A Mansfield man was arrested yesterday for unlawfully possessing ammunition as a convicted felon. At the time of the alleged offense, the defendant was on supervised release for a prior 2021 conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Michael Kennedy, 48, was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition and remains detained in federal custody following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston.

According to the charging documents, Kennedy had been ordering firearms parts online to be shipped to his residence, including parts utilized to complete and/or manufacture M-16 type and AR-15 type rifle. During a search of his Mansfield residence, it is alleged that numerous privately made firearms frames, a 3D printer and ammunition in varying calibers were located. One firearm, a 5.7 pistol, was allegedly found tucked into the arm of a reclining chair where Kennedy had been sleeping. The pistol was loaded with 22 rounds of ammunition including one round in the chamber. The ammunition allegedly recovered included CBC 9mm ammunition, JAG 9mm ammunition and FN 5.7 x 28mm ammunition.

Kennedy is prohibited from possessing ammunition due to prior convictions in the District of Massachusetts for bank robbery and felon in possession of ammunition and in Norfolk Superior Court for armed robbery and witness intimidation.

The charge of being a felon in possession provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Mansfield Police Department and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Allegra Flamm of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.  
 

BOSTON – A Geneva, Ill., man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for a fraud scheme to defraud Medicare of over $2 million by submitting claims for durable medical equipment (DME) that was medically unnecessary, not wanted by the Medicare beneficiaries and tainted by kickbacks.

Kartik Bhatia, 36, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison. In August 2025, Bhatia was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of making false statements. 

Bhatia worked with Raju Sharma, and other co-conspirators to own and operate a DME company that paid telemarketing companies for DME orders for orthotics such as ankle, wrist, knee and back braces. Often, the Medicare beneficiaries did not need or want the braces the defendants shipped them and, the doctors whose signatures appeared on these DME orders often did not treat these beneficiaries and did not prescribe the DME. After the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a payment suspension to Bhatia’s DME company, Bhatia simply opened a new DME company that engaged in the same conduct. 

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge, Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General; and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Graber and Sarah Hoefle of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
 

BOSTON – A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for filing false tax returns in order to fraudulently obtain tax refunds and stealing Social Security benefits.

Kathleen Mannion, 59, of Lawrence, was sentenced on March 4, 2026 by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In May 2025, Mannion pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false tax return and one count of theft of government money. Mannion was charged in March 2025.

From 1998 to 2009, Mannion worked as an IRS contact representative in Andover, Mass. Between approximately July 2020 through April 2023, Mannion prepared and filed income tax returns for other individuals with the IRS. Even though Mannion prepared these returns on behalf of other individuals, she did not list herself as the tax return preparer. Instead, Mannion prepared the returns to appear as if the taxpayers prepared the returns on their own. Further, Mannion listed ineligible dependents on the tax returns, resulting in higher refund amounts for which the taxpayers did not qualify without the knowledge of the taxpayers. Mannion also filed forms with the IRS directing that a portion of the fraudulently obtained tax refunds be deposited in her personal bank accounts, which she then used for her personal benefit.

Separately, between April and October 2020, Mannion applied for Social Security retirement, spouse and widow benefits with the Social Security Administration (SSA) via telephone for other individuals. Unbeknownst to these beneficiaries, Mannion directed SSA to deposit the Social Security benefits in her personal bank accounts, which she also used for her personal benefit.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Amy Connelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division made the announcement. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Nagelberg of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
 

BOSTON – ASD Specialty Healthcare, LLC, (ASD) doing business as Oncology Supply Company (Oncology Supply), a distributor of specialty pharmaceutical products and a subsidiary of Cencora, Inc., f/k/a AmerisourceBergen Corporation, has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to health care providers (HCPs) and medical practice executives to induce them to purchase specialty pharmaceutical products from Oncology Supply.

As part of the settlement agreement, ASD admitted and accepted responsibility for certain facts providing the basis for the settlement. Specifically, from January 2012 to October 2019, another Cencora subsidiary, International Oncology Network (“ION”), hosted conferences for its “Large Practice Program” members. At the conferences, ION and Oncology Supply employees provided meals and alcohol at high-end restaurants and various forms of entertainment to health care providers and medical practice executives, including rounds of golf and outings at bars and nightclubs. Additionally, outside the conference setting, from January 2012 to September 2022, ASD Specialty Healthcare, through 15 Oncology Supply and ION employees, also paid for meals and alcohol at high-end restaurants and various other forms of entertainment for HCPs and medical practice executives, including rounds of golf and outings at bars and nightclubs. At some of the events, ASD even covered the expenses of the spouses of HCPs and medical practice executives. The government alleges that ASD caused physicians to submit false claims to Medicare and Medicaid induced by these kickbacks.

The claims resolved in today’s settlement include claims that were brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the Act, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The qui tam case is captioned United States et al. ex rel. Brandon Osborn v. AmerisourceBergen Corporation, et al., No. 20-cv-12018-IT. As part of today’s resolution, the relator will receive 17.5% of the settlement amount.
        
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Ross handled the matter.