District of Maryland

Baltimore, Maryland - Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office announced today that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 20th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day held on Saturday, April 24, 2021, collected 11,536.59 pounds of potentially dangerous prescription medications at Maryland’s approximately 100 available sites. The nationwide event is held twice a year and aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs and educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.

“Pharmaceutical pills can be just as harmful as illegal drugs when they are used without proper medical supervision and without valid medical need,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “Over the pandemic we have seen a sharp increase in overdose deaths, and the path to opioid abuse can begin in the home with unused prescription drugs.  I am grateful to the Marylanders who participated in DEA’s Prescription Drug Take Back Day to get rid of unused and unneeded prescription drugs, which will help prevent drug abuse and opioid addiction. I encourage anyone who missed the event last week to visit https://takebackday.dea.gov/ to find a collection site near them to take advantage of this free and anonymous service.”

“Thousands of Maryland residents die every year due to overdose, with a significant number of those overdose deaths caused by opioids. Take Back Day provides a vital opportunity for us to fight against the opioid problem here in Maryland,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene.  “Those who participated in Take Back Day and disposed of unused prescription medication, may have saved someone from addiction or overdose.”

Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

In addition to DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, prescription drugs can be disposed of at any of the 11,000 DEA authorized collectors at any time throughout the year, and at many local law enforcement agency sites. DEA and its partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illegal drugs are not accepted.

Given the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency, DEA wants to ensure that the public is aware of other ways they can dispose of unwanted prescription drugs without having to leave their homes. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have tips on how to safely dispose of drugs at home.

For more information on DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, and to find a collection site in Maryland, visit https://takebackday.dea.gov/ or call 800-882-9539. 

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III sentenced Boaz Salmon Bratton-Bey, age 38, of Owings Mills, Maryland, to four years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for federal bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges. Judge Russell ordered that the first year of supervised release must be spent in a half-way house or residential reentry program. During the time Bratton-Bey was perpetrating these fraud schemes, he was on supervised release from a previous federal fraud conviction.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division.

According to his guilty plea, Bratton-Bey and his co-conspirators committed numerous acts of bank fraud using the stolen personal identifying information (“PII”) of individual victims, without the victims’ knowledge or permission.

Specifically, on June 5, 2019, Bratton-Bey and his co-conspirators executed an “instant credit” scheme in which a co-conspirator, Terrell Meadows, used a fictitious driver’s license bearing the image of Meadows and the personal information of an individual victim to obtain a store credit card at a home improvement store.  The credit application contained the name, date of birth, Social Security Number, and other personally identifying information (PII) of a real person who did not consent to the use of his PII.  The credit application was approved and a credit card with a $12,000 line of credit was issued in temporary form instantaneously.  Transaction records indicate that on June 5 and June 6, 2019, the account was used to make a total of four purchases at four different store locations totaling in $5,988.14.  Bratton-Bey and Meadows used a U-Haul truck to load and carry away the fraudulently obtained goods. 

After one month of the truck rental, Bratton-Bey failed to provide payment and return the U-Haul truck, which caused the truck to be reported as stolen.   During a traffic stop, The Baltimore County Police located the truck, identified the driver as Bratton-Bey, and retrieved fraudulently obtained14 credit cards featuring 14 different names of real individuals.

Following the seizure of those credit cards, investigators obtained bank records from financial institutions which showed that these cards had been used to commit fraudulent transactions, totaling at least $6,822.03 in actual fraud and at least $1,046.85 in attempted fraud.  Records obtained from U-Haul revealed that Bratton-Bey paid a total of $4,039.91 for the rental of the U-Haul truck using fraudulent credit cards issued to real persons.  The total loss amount from the U-Haul rental and the cards recovered from Bratton-Bey following the traffic stop was $12,652.73. 

According to his plea agreement, investigators executed a search warrant at Bratton-Bey’s apartment on July 25, 2019.  During the course of the search warrant, Law enforcement located counterfeit identification documents bearing photographs of Bratton-Bey and other individuals, credit/debit cards issued to individuals or entities other than Bratton-Bey, mail and financial correspondence addressed to individuals other than Bratton-Bey, and several cell phones and other electronic devices.  Investigators recovered at least 12 credit/debit cards issued to individuals other than Bratton-Bey.  Investigators also found Bratton-Bey’s real driver’s license, along with a fictitious driver’s license that included Bratton-Bey’s picture and his alias, “Boa Salmon” and a fictitious social security card for the “Boa Salmon” alias.  The items recovered from Bratton-Bey’s apartment also included four other counterfeit identifications in the form of fictitious driver’s licenses bearing the PII of real victims, including counterfeit driver’s licenses for Pennsylvania and New York, in addition to Maryland.  The total loss amount from the accounts related to the cards recovered from Bratton-Bey’s apartment was $40,222.30. 

Judge Russell previously sentenced conspirator Terrell Meadows, age 32, of Rosedale, Maryland, to six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in the bank fraud conspiracy.

Bratton-Bey was previously convicted in U.S. District Court in Maryland for bank fraud conspiracy, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.  For that case, he was sentenced to 102 months in federal prison in July 2012.                    

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner praised the Baltimore County Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel A. Loveland, Jr. and Tamera Fine, who prosecuted the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow today sentenced Mehul Khatiwala, age 37, of Voorhees, New Jersey, to 63 months in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and for three counts of bank fraud, in connection with schemes to fraudulently obtain a total of approximately $15 million in loans from Cecil Bank to purchase hotels and a multifamily residential property, resulting in losses of more than $3.5 million.  Judge Chasanow also ordered Khatiwala to pay a $50,000 fine and to forfeit and pay restitution of $3,593,801.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Robert Manchak of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Office of Inspector General; Special Agent in Charge Shimon R. Richmond of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Office of Inspector General(FDIC-OIG); Special Inspector General Christy Goldsmith Romero of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP); and Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware of the Small Business Administration - Office of Inspector General.

“Mehul Khatiwala will now serve more than five years in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $15 million in loans.  Khatiwala’s criminal behavior stole millions of dollars from the victims, which included not only the bank that made the loans, but the American taxpayers whose tax dollars guaranteed the loans,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “All of us in federal law enforcement are committed to investigating and prosecuting this type of costly fraud.”

According to his plea agreement, from February 2011 through January 2014, Khatiwala and two co-conspirators executed a scheme to defraud Cecil Bank, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and other financial institutions by misrepresenting material facts in order to obtain financing for the purchase of two hotels and a multifamily residential property.  Khatiwala defaulted on the loans, causing losses to Cecil Bank and the SBA of more than $3.5 million.  According to the indictment and information presented at today’s plea hearing, on December 23, 2008, Cecil Bank’s holding company, Cecil Bankcorp, Inc., received an $11.5 million bailout from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Specifically, beginning in approximately April 2011, Khatiwala and Conspirator A made plans to apply for a $5 million loan at Cecil Bank to purchase the Memphis Airport Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as a $1.6 million loan to renovate that hotel.  In order to obtain a loan, Khatiwala concealed Conspirator A’s 80% ownership of the borrowing entity because Conspirator A had already reached his legal lending limit at Cecil Bank.  In May 2011, Cecil Bank’s Board of Directors approved the $5 million loan, with the condition that it be guaranteed by the SBA.  The SBA required Khatiwala, as the purported 100% owner of the borrowing entity, to show that he had equity in the borrowing entity, or cash on hand of approximately $1.8 million.  Conspirator B, who was an employee at another bank, falsely verified that Khatiwala had over $2 million on deposit at the co-conspirator’s bank.  Khatiwala admitted that he signed and submitted this statement, which he knew to be false.  The SBA approved its 75% guarantee of the $5 million loan funded by Cecil Bank.  The loan went into default in January 2015.

In 2007, Khatiwala and the other owners of the Best Western Hotel in York, Pennsylvania, refinanced a loan for the property in the amount of $6.635 million.  In early 2010, Khatiwala and his co-owners became delinquent on the loan and began discussions with the loan servicing company.  In August 2011, Khatiwala reached an agreement with the loan servicer to accept a discounted payoff of $3.625 million on the unpaid principal balance of approximately $6.6 million.  Khatiwala submitted fraudulent documentation and a fraudulent settlement statement to the loan servicer showing that the funds were being provided by a private lender.  In fact, Khatiwala had arranged for the sale of the hotel to related parties for the sum of $4.3 million.  

As early as April 2011, prior to the time Khatiwala made the misrepresentations to the loan servicer to negotiate the payoff, he began implementing the second step of his short-sale fraud scheme by arranging the sale of the hotel to Person B and one of Khatiwala’s employees.  Khatiwala fraudulently obtained a $3.225 million loan from Cecil Bank, which was guaranteed by the SBA. During the loan application review and underwriting process performed by Cecil Bank and the SBA, Khatiwala submitted false documents as to the ownership of the selling and purchasing entities, as well as false financial statements for the purchasers.  Khatiwala knew that the funds paid at closing would come from Khatiwala’s own personal bank account and other businesses, not from the purchasers, as was falsely represented to the bank and the SBA, in order to obtain approval of the loan.  As a result of this short-sale fraud, the original holder of the note on the Best Western Hotel lost $675,000, which instead went to Khatiwala.

Finally, Khatiwala admitted that beginning in February 2011, he negotiated the purchase of a multifamily residential property in Perryville, Maryland.  In order to obtain the loan, he established a company to serve as the borrowing and purchasing entity, representing to Cecil Bank that Persons A and B, a husband and wife, were the 100% owners of the company, and Khatiwala was the manager.  In fact, Conspirator A owned 50% of the company and agreed to serve as guarantor on the loan.  The bank approved a $7,122,500 loan for the purchase of the property with Persons A and B as the 100% owners of the purchasing entity.  On about March 28, 2011, several days before settlement, Khatiwala e-mailed to Conspirator A an Amended and Restated Operating Agreement reflecting Conspirator A’s 50% interest in the property and his agreement to indemnify Persons A and B for any loss, cost, liability or expense arising in connection with any enforcement of Cecil Bank’s rights under the loan guarantee agreement.  Khatiwala, Conspirator A, and Persons A and B signed the Amended Agreement; however, that material fact and document were never disclosed to Cecil Bank before or after the settlement, thus concealing Conspirator A’s ownership interest in the property.  As early as February 2012, the loan payments of approximately $29,000 per month became delinquent and the loan went into default.  Cecil Bank ultimately sold the note to a private lender for $3.252 million in lieu of foreclosure, incurring a loss of $3,583.170.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FHFA, the FDIC-OIG, SIGTARP, and the SBA-OIG, for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin J. Clarke and Harry M. Gruber, who prosecuted the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang sentenced Maria Espinal, age 53, of Montgomery Village, Maryland, yesterday to 27 months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns and for aggravated identity theft.  Judge Chuang also ordered Espinal to pay restitution in the amount of $106,066.

The sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Maria Espinal owned and operated a tax return preparation business located in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  From 2011 through 2017, Maria Espinal prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns on behalf of her clients with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Comptroller of Maryland that claimed tax refunds to which the clients were not entitled.  To generate a fraudulent refund, Espinal altered legitimate Forms W-2 in the names of third parties and replaced the third party’s name with her client’s name.  As a result, her client claimed the third-party’s withholdings as his or her own, which generated fraudulent tax refunds.

In addition, Espinal displayed a sign on her office wall that read in Spanish “If you have lost your [identification] number or passport we have these people” and which listed the identifying information for several individuals.  Espinal used the personal identifying information for one of those individuals to obtain a fraudulent refund on behalf of another client.  Espinal also filed a tax return using another individual’s personal identifying information to generate a fraudulent refund that Espinal deposited into her own personal bank account. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Lenzner and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked IRS - Criminal Investigation and the Office of the Comptroller of Maryland for their work in the investigation, and commended Assistant United States Attorney Erin Pulice and Carl Brooker, formerly a Trial Attorney with the Tax Division and now an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California, who prosecuted the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – A federal criminal information has been filed charging Crystal Jones, a/k/a Crystal Powell-Jones, age 53, of Laurel, Maryland, for the federal charges of wire fraud and failure to pay to the IRS employment taxes withheld from employees’ wages.  The criminal information was filed on April 26, 2021.

The criminal information was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington, D.C. Field Office.

According to the criminal information, Jones was the owner and managing partner of JAG Professional Resources, a temporary employment agency doing business in Howard County, Maryland and elsewhere from 2012 through August 2107.  As JAG’s managing partner, Jones exercised control over all aspects of JAG’s business, including its finances.  A relative of Jones was a silent minority partner in JAG.

As detailed in the criminal information, from at least February 2013 through October 2016, Jones obtained factoring services from Victim Lender 1 for JAG.  Factoring is a means by which cash intensive businesses, like JAG, could obtain cash quickly and reliably by leveraging accounts receivable.  JAG was a cash intensive business because JAG had to pay its temporary employees weekly or biweekly, but typically did not receive payment from JAG’s clients until at least 30 days after services had been rendered, which meant that JAG could be short of the cash flow needed to pay its employees each week, but its business model was theoretically profitable if all outstanding invoices had been paid.  Specifically, JAG sold its account receivables to Victim Lender 1 and, in return, JAG received cash advances from Victim Lender 1 totaling approximately 90% of JAG’s accounts receivables.  Upon receiving payments from JAG’s clients on the outstanding invoices, Victim Lender 1 sent JAG the remaining 10% of the invoice that had been purchased, less fees Victim Lender 1 charged for its factoring services.

The criminal information alleges that from March 2016 to about May 2016, Jones caused JAG to sell Victim Lender 1 fraudulent invoices totaling more than $350,000 for services that JAG had purportedly provided to a City in Ohio.  The City in Ohio had contracted with JAG for temporary employment services beginning in February 2013, but JAG’s relationship with the City in Ohio ended in about February 2016.

To execute the scheme, Jones allegedly created false paystubs purportedly issued by JAG and fraudulent invoices that purported to represent services that JAG had provided, so Jones could obtain loans for her own benefit and the benefits of others.  Jones allegedly sent emails to representatives of Victim Lender 1 falsely stating that payments on the false and fraudulent invoices were coming, to lull Victim Lender 1 into a false sense of security about the outstanding collections.  Further, Jones allegedly appropriated the names, signatures, and personal identifying information of her silent partner and others for Jones’s own benefit.

In addition, the criminal information alleges that from January 2014 to October 2016 Jones withheld payroll taxes from the wages paid to JAG employees, but neglected to pay the taxes withheld over to the Internal Revenue Service, resulting in a tax loss to the United States of at least $523,244.38.

If convicted, Jones faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud; and a maximum of five in federal prison for failure to pay over employment taxes.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Jones is expected to have an initial appearance and arraignment in U.S. District Court in Baltimore before U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III, although no date has been scheduled.

A criminal information is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal information is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the IRS-CI for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dana J. Brusca and Harry M. Gruber, who are prosecuting this case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – Marian Unguru, age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland pleaded guilty late yesterday to a federal bank fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, in which the conspirators received approximately at least $1,115,571.68 from 2,654 stolen checks. 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Special Agent in Charge Shimon R. Richmond of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG); Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; Chief Toni Dezomits of the Cary, North Carolina, Police Department; and Sheriff Dusty Rhoades of the Williamson County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Office.

According to Unguru’s plea agreement, from June 2018 to January 2021, Unguru and his co-conspirators fraudulently opened bank accounts at victim financial institutions.  Unguru and his co-conspirators stole checks from the incoming and outgoing mail of churches and other religious institutions, then deposited the stolen checks into the fraudulently opened bank accounts.  Unguru and his co-conspirators then withdrew the funds and spent the fraudulently obtained proceeds.

Specifically, Unguru admitted that he and his co-conspirators used foreign identity documents, often but not universally Romanian, in both their true identities as well as suspected fictitious identities, to fraudulently open bank accounts at victim financial institutions.  Unguru and his co-conspirators then fraudulently negotiated the stolen checks by depositing the stolen checks into the victim bank accounts, often by way of automated teller machine (ATM) transactions, then made cash withdrawals from ATMs and purchases using debit cards associated with the bank accounts.  

Unguru admitted that during the course of the conspiracy, he personally deposited at least 90 stolen checks, totaling at least $35,662.79, and withdrew at least $22,200 from the accounts that received the checks.  In total, the fraudulently opened bank accounts received approximately at least $1,115,571.68 from 2,654 stolen checks.  Based on Unguru’s involvement in the scheme and his relationship with the other conspirators, between $550,000 and $1.5 million in actual and intended loss was foreseeable to Unguru.

As part of his plea agreement, Unguru has agreed to pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which is at least $1,115,571.68, and to forfeit $14,100 in cash seized during a search of Unguru’s home on October 9, 2020.

Unguru faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang has scheduled sentencing for Unguru on July 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, HSI, the FDIC Office of Inspector General, the Montgomery County Police Department, the Cary (North Carolina) Police Department, and the Williamson County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Wright, who is prosecuting the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Edward Scott Finn, age 46, of Dunkirk, Maryland, for the federal charges of attempting to evade or defeat taxes for tax years 2014 through 2019.  Finn is a Lieutenant with the Prince George’s County Police Department and owned and operated Edward Finn Inc. (EFI).  EFI employs off-duty law enforcement officers to provide security services to apartment complexes and other businesses, primarily in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties.  Finn was arrested on April 22, 2021 and will have an initial appearance today at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina L. Simms.

The federal charges were announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Finn allegedly omitted a total of $1.3 million of EFI income on his 2014 through 2019 individual income tax returns.  During that time frame, the affidavit alleges that Finn deposited approximately $1,397,295 of checks written for services from EFI into his personal bank account or into his children’s bank accounts.  These security service deposits were not reported as income on EFI’s corporate tax returns for tax years 2014 through 2019, nor as income on Finn’s personal tax returns.  This underreported income resulted in a total tax loss to the government of $484,281.

If convicted, Finn faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of five counts of attempting to evade and defeat taxes.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the IRS-CI and the FBI and for their work in the investigation and thanked the Prince George’s County Police Department and the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas M. Sullivan and Thomas P. Windom, who are prosecuting this case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Desmond Ringgold, a/k/a Worm and Fool, age 32, of Baltimore, Maryland to 15 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role as a supervisor in a prolific drug trafficking organization (DTO) that operated in and around Baltimore. 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.  

According to Ringgold’s plea agreement, from October 2018 to April 2019, law enforcement investigated a DTO operating in the Baltimore metropolitan area that sold heroin, cocaine base (crack cocaine), and fentanyl to drug users and drug redistributors from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The DTO sold thousands of dollars in narcotics on a daily basis, with street-level distributors in the DTO working in shifts and sharing the phones they used to communicate with DTO leadership and customers.  Customers of the DTO believed they were purchasing heroin, but the DTO adulterated all heroin it sold with fentanyl.

Investigators identified Ringgold as a supervisor and manager in the drug trafficking organization.  As such, Ringgold managed daily supplies of narcotics and the collection of drug proceeds from distributors.  Investigators regularly overheard Ringgold arranging to resupply co-conspirators with heroin and cocaine base to sell to drug customers.  Ringgold also communicated about the DTO business with a leader in the DTO, serving as a conduit between street-level dealers and DTO leadership.  Ringgold admitted that over the course of the conspiracy he distributed more than one kilogram of heroin to street-level distributors.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.               

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner praised the FBI, the DEA, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew DellaBetta, who prosecuted the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – Marcus Street, age 26, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to enticing and persuading a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography, which Street admitted he also distributed. 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Baltimore City’s State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD); and Baltimore County Sheriff Jay Fisher.

According to Street’s guilty plea, in December 2019, HSI and BPD investigators conducted a forensic review of the of a 14-year-old victim’s cell phone.  The review revealed six 15-second videos of the victim engaged in sexual acts with an adult man.  In some of the videos, a distinctive tattoo on the man’s left forearm is visible.  Further investigation identified Street as the man depicted in each of the videos.

Law enforcement interviewed Street on December 10, 2019, concerning his interaction with the victim.  Street initially claimed that he did not engage in sexual acts with the minor victim.  When law enforcement confronted Street with the video of him engaging in sex acts with a minor, Street stated “oh yeah, I did one time, I ain’t gonna lie I did”.  Street also told law enforcement that he recorded the video.  Following the interview, law enforcement obtained an arrest warrant and Street was arrested on January 6, 2020.  After his arrest, Street was again questioned by law enforcement and admitted to engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the victim, stating, “That was it, that was the last time I did anything with this girl.”

Investigators subsequently executed search warrants on Street’s cell phone, social media account, and on the victim’s social media account.  Review of Street’s cell phone revealed two minutes-long videos of him engaging in sex acts with the victim.  A review of Street’s and the victim’s social media accounts showed that Street had sent shortened versions of those videos, 15 seconds in length, to the victim using social media. 

Street faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell has scheduled sentencing for August 19, 2021 at 12:30 a.m.

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the HSI, the Office of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation and thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel A. Loveland, Jr. and Ayn B. Ducao.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – Philip Mungin, age 58, of Bryans Road, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to forgery of a military discharge certificate and identity theft, in connection with a scheme in which Mungin provided fraudulent DD-214 discharge certificates to individuals for fraudulent military waiver applications for commercial driver’s licenses in exchange for payment.    

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jamie Mazzone, U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Washington Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dillard of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.

According to his guilty plea, between 1997 and 1999, Mungin was enlisted in the Army.  Upon Mungin’s discharge in 1999, Victim 1, was the “Senior Transition Specialist” who helped process Mungin’s discharge and signed Mungin’s military discharge certificate, known as the DD-214. 

Federal law mandates that drivers of commercial vehicles, such as tractor-trailers and semi-trucks, obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL).  Among other requirements, CDL applicants must pass both a written test and a driving skills test.  Third-parties, such as driving schools, are authorized to train prospective CDL holders and administer the necessary tests, however, this training generally takes weeks to complete and may cost students $3,000 to $7,000.  The Department of Transportation implemented a program in 2011, aimed at helping U.S. military veterans to get jobs by allowing states to waive the driving skills test for U.S. military veterans who could provide proof that they had been trained to operate the relevant vehicles in the military.  To demonstrate their eligibility, veterans had to submit their DD-214 and complete an application, signed by the applicant’s commanding officer to certify that they had the relevant driving experience.

As detailed in the plea agreement, in December 2018, employees at the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) office in Waldorf, Maryland, became suspicious of waiver documents submitted by an applicant and confronted the applicant.  The applicant, who had never been in the military, identified Mungin as the person who offered to help him get a CDL by submitting falsified military paperwork.  MVA investigators subsequently learned that 44 individuals had submitted fraudulent waiver applications.  Many of the drivers who obtained CDLs based on fraudulent military paperwork identified Mungin as the person who helped them.  Thirty-four of the fraudulent applications had Victim 1’s name and title at the bottom of the form, many of which included a forged or photocopied version of Victim 1’s signature.  The certifying commanding officer on nearly all of the fraudulent waiver forms was the same, a purported colonel.  Department of Defense records showed that no person by that name had ever served in the U.S. military.

Specifically, Mungin admits that he falsified DD-214s and military waiver forms for drivers wanting to obtain CDLs, in exchange for the drivers paying Mungin—reportedly between $500 to $2,000 each.  Employees at the Waldorf MVA were familiar with Mungin because he often accompanied applicants with fraudulent paperwork to obtain their licenses, typically wearing a military uniform while doing so.  At times, Mungin told the employees he was a member of the military police accompanying members who were about to be discharged to obtain their CDLs.  At least one fraudulent CDL was issued in Virginia using the same forged DD-214 that Mungin had used with the Maryland drivers.  In that application, Mungin listed himself as the commanding officer on the waiver form.

Mungin acknowledged that he received between $15,000 and $40,000 to create false military paperwork, including DD-214s, to assist drivers in fraudulently obtaining CDLs.

As part of his plea agreement, Mungin will be required to forfeit any money, property, or assets derived as a result of, or used to facilitate, the commission of his illegal activities, and will also be required to pay a money judgment of $2,000.

Mungin faces a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison for forgery of a military discharge certificate and a maximum of 15 years in federal prison for identity theft.  U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has scheduled sentencing for August 16, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the DOT OIG, DCIS, and the Maryland MVA Office of Investigations and Internal Affairs for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine K. Dick, who is prosecuting the case.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury returned an indictment late yesterday charging Desmond Babloo Singh, age 19, of New York, New York, for the federal charges of cyberstalking and aggravated identity theft.

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department.

“HSI remains committed to protecting the public from cyberstalking and other online harassment,” said Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations Baltimore field office. “The internet and social media platforms are not safe havens for criminal conduct and we will continue to pursue and hold the individuals accountable for their crimes.”   

According to the four-count indictment, Singh, the younger brother of a former middle school classmate of Victim 1’s, began following Victim 1 on multiple social media platforms after Singh’s family moved from Maryland to Texas.  Between approximately 2014 to February 14, 2020, Victim 1 and Singh exchanged limited communications online, but there was never a romantic relationship of any sort between Singh and Victim 1; in fact, Victim 1 had never met Singh in person.  Despite this, on Valentine’s Day 2020, Singh shared with Victim 1 a private social media post in which he professed his love for Victim 1.  He also shared with Victim 1 a separate online posting in which he further expressed his romantic interest in Victim 1.  Victim 1 rebuffed his advances and eventually asked him not to contact her any further. 

The indictment alleges that over the course of the next 10 months, Singh orchestrated and executed a relentless cyberstalking and harassment campaign against Victim 1. Singh carried out a similar cyberstalking campaign against Victim 2, an associate of Victim 1’s, whom Singh perceived to be a romantic rival. Specifically, the indictment alleges Singh used more than 100 different social media, electronic communication, and phone accounts to send Victim 1 harassing communications, some of which included express or implied threats of death or bodily injury, sexualized violence.  The communications also contained racial slurs directed at Victim 1.  The indictment further alleges that Singh used images of Victim 1 in the harassing communications, in which he denigrated Victim 1’s appearance and character and encouraged others to harass Victim 1.  The indictment further alleges Singh posted identifying information of Victim 1 including her address, phone number, school, social media identities, birth date, and other identifying information.  One post containing Victim 1’s identifying information included the text, “UGLY [racial slur] GIRL PLS DO MORE TO HER”. 

According to court documents, Victim 1 pleaded with Singh and his immediate family members to cease the online harassment, but to no avail.  Victim 1 told Singh that if he did not cease the harassment, she would seek a no-contact order.  In response, Singh allegedly sent a text message to Victim 1 stating, “You think I’m kidding I’m genuinely never going to stop, its going to be really funny…” 

On July 19, 2020, a harassing account, allegedly created by Singh, posted Victim 1’s parents’ Maryland address and stated there would be a party at that address the following day.  On July 20, 2020, Victim 1’s parents’ address was the subject of a false bomb threat, which was reported anonymously to the Baltimore County Police.  The following day, Singh allegedly texted Victim 1 from an anonymous phone number, writing “you’re getting swatted.”

As detailed in court documents, Singh’s alleged harassment campaigns also involved gaining unauthorized access to Victim 1’s social media accounts.  Specifically, Singh is alleged to have gained unauthorized access to two such accounts.  Singh used his unauthorized access to those accounts to obtain private photos of Victim 1, which he then posted online.  Singh also posted pictures of himself from one of Victim 1’s accounts, along with the text, “omg he’s so hot!!!”.

Finally, Singh allegedly conducted a similar cyberstalking and harassment campaign targeting Victim 2, which included creating social media accounts to denigrate Victim 2’s character, post Victim 2’s identifying information, and threats to engage Victim 2 in physical violence.  For instance, Singh allegedly posted a video to social media platforms, which showed an unidentified person knocking on front door of a residence where Victim 2 previously lived.  In this communication and others, Singh allegedly threated to seek out and fight Victim 2.

If convicted, Singh faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of two counts of cyberstalking and a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for each of two counts of aggravated identity theft. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Singh is currently detained.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the HSI and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher M. Rigali and Zachary A. Myers, who are prosecuting this case.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander today sentenced Gregory Ray Blosser, age 39, of Tampa, Florida, to 32 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a wire fraud charge in connection with a scheme to defraud clients of The Surrogacy Group (TSG), which he owned and operated from offices in Annapolis, Maryland and Tampa, Florida.  Judge Hollander also ordered that Blosser must forfeit $1,104,706 and pay restitution in the amount of $1,194,519.54.  Blosser was arrested on April 29, 2019 in Florida and has been under home confinement since his arrest.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

“Gregory Blosser took advantage of and defrauded 44 individuals who were trying to become parents,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “Blosser misappropriated funds from escrow accounts that belonged to families and were owed to surrogates carrying babies.  This sentence should send a message to heartless criminals like Blosser who choose to line their pockets by taking advantage of people who are simply trying to start a family.”

“Dreams, hopes and bank accounts were wiped clean by Mr. Blosser who preyed on couples who were already in a vulnerable place,” said Jennifer C. Boone, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “Today’s sentencing is a reminder that the FBI will use our resources appropriately to root out fraudulent surrogacy schemes that violate the trust of the American public.”

According to Blosser’s plea agreement, TSG was incorporated in Maryland on January 5, 2012 and offered and sold surrogacy-related services throughout the United States and internationally to individuals who desired to have children using a pregnancy surrogate.  From at least 2015 until his arrest in 2019, Blosser solicited and accepted funds from TSG clients who desired to have children using a surrogate, representing that these funds would be held in escrow.  Blosser told the clients that he would act as their agent disbursing the funds to the surrogate pursuant to contracts between the TSG client and TSG, and the TSG client and the surrogate.

Instead, Blosser admitted that beginning in 2017, he converted a significant portion of the funds he promised to hold in escrow to his own use without the authorization of the TSG client and failed to pay the surrogate as he had agreed to do. Blosser did not, as promised, create separate escrow accounts for these funds and as a result, those funds intermingled with TSG’s operating accounts and were used to pay business expenses, service business loans, and for other purposes not permitted under the escrow agreements.  TSG clients were forced to pay the surrogate’s expenses themselves, effectively paying twice for the services Blosser had promised to deliver.

As detailed in his plea agreement, at Blosser’s direction, at least seven victims paid fees to establish an escrow account to be controlled by Blosser, with the funds to be used to find a suitable surrogate, and to support the surrogate during a pregnancy.  The victims lived in Maryland, Australia, North Carolina, Germany, and Virginia.  In each case, after the victims deposited funds into the escrow account, Blosser either did not locate a suitable surrogate, or did not pay the surrogate the agreed-upon fees.

In total, Blosser fraudulently obtained approximately $1,104,706 from approximately 44 victims.

Blosser is also facing related civil suits filed by the States of Maryland and Florida.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise, who prosecuted the case.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – Njideka Udochi, M.D., a family practice physician who owns Millennium Family Practice in Howard County, has agreed to pay the United States $663,094.76 to resolve allegations that she submitted false claims to the Medicare program for fraudulent neurostimulator billings, arising from the use of an auricular stimulation (“P-Stim”) device. 

The settlement agreement was announced today by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Maureen Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Taping a device with adhesive is clearly not the same as surgical implantation,” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan Lenzner. “Falsely billing the government for a procedure that reimburses at a high rate for such a simple procedure that is not reimbursed at all diverts valuable government resources and undermines confidence in our healthcare system.  This settlement will restore funds that should not have been reimbursed and should serve as a bold reminder that improper billing will not be tolerated.  I commend our partners at CMS’s Center for Program Integrity and HHS-OIG for identifying and eliminating this kind of waste and abuse in our federal healthcare programs.”

In her practice, Dr. Udochi used a P-Stim device to treat her pain patients.   A P-Stim device provides electrical acupuncture to treat pain symptoms and is applied externally to the patient, generally behind the patient’s ear.  Acupuncture, electrical or otherwise, is not reimbursable by Medicare.    

According to the settlement agreement, from January 2019 to May 2019, Dr. Udochi falsely billed Medicare for the use of the P-Stim device by using the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code for a neurosurgical procedure of an invasive and extensive nature where the device is implanted into the patient. HCPCS codes are used by Medicare to determine the level of reimbursement to providers. Medicare reimburses providers approximately $6,255.61 for an implantable neurostimulator procedure, reflecting the complexity and in-depth nature of surgical implantation of a neurostimulator.  Despite the fact that Medicare does not provide any reimbursement for the use of acupuncture devices, Dr. Udochi’s false billing for P -Stim devices, that were taped behind the ears of her patients and were often removed by her patients at home without assistance from a medical professional, caused Medicare to pay her hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations.  The settlement is not an admission of liability by Dr. Udochi, nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan Lenzner commended the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner also thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Haven and Allen Loucks, along with Investigators Steve Capobianco and Ann Thiel, who handled and investigated the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III sentenced Cheikh Ahmet Tidiane Cisse, age 45, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to three years and a day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for theft of government property and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme in which Cisse filed fraudulent claims for Social Security benefits using fictitious identities and the identities of actual individuals, and attempted to collected over $236,000.  Judge Russell also ordered Cisse to pay restitution of $83,247 and forfeit $30,000 seized from Cisse’s home and pay a money judgment in the amount of $51,107.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration.

Cisse was employed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) as a Claims Specialist in SSA’s Office of International Operations.  Cisse admitted that between July 2018 and March 2019, he filed fictitious claims for benefits using stolen identities and identity documents he obtained through the course of his employment with SSA in order to steal or attempt to steal over $236,000 from SSA.

According to his plea agreement, as part of his job, Cisse was responsible for reviewing the identity documents of social security claimants living abroad, such as passports, marriage certificates, and identity cards.  Cisse then created new, fictitious identities in SSA's database, often using information from the foreign identity documents he reviewed, which were issued social security numbers (SSNs).  Cisse used the fictitious identities to file fraudulent claims for social security divorced spouse survivor's benefits against actual deceased individuals, directing the benefits payments to debit cards or bank accounts he opened in the names of the fictitious identities using the identity documents he obtained through his employment.  Cisse sometimes provided his home address for that of the fictitious claimants, but also provided an address in Quebec, Canada, that corresponded to a mail forwarding service to which he subscribed, making it appear as if the fictitious claimants lived abroad.  Through this mail forwarding service, Cisse received mail associated with the scheme, including genuine social security cards in the names of the fictitious identities and benefits payments.

As detailed in the plea agreement, in one instance, when SSA stopped payment on the $10,734 back payment for one of the fraudulent claims due to suspected fraud, Cisse contacted SSA’s payment center and falsely relayed that the purported beneficiary had called inquiring about the whereabouts of the payment, causing the SSA payment center to issue the back payment by direct deposit.  Cisse received a total of approximately $25,916 as a result of this fraudulent claim, which he spent through cash withdrawals and retail purchases.

In total, Cisse submitted at least nine fraudulent claims in stolen and fictitious identities, causing SSA to pay approximately $87,000 in fraudulent claims through direct deposit, issue approximately $46,000 in checks that were never negotiated, and authorize approximately $103,000 in claims that SSA halted before payments were issued.  Cisse personally received and spent $82,047 as a result of the scheme.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the SSA Office of Inspector General for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Davio, who is prosecuting the case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A criminal complaint was filed today in U.S. District Court in Maryland charging Oluwaseyi Akinyemi a/k/a “Paddy Linkin”, a/k/a “Joseph Kadin”, age 34, of Hyattsville, Maryland, for the federal charges of mail fraud, attempted mail fraud, and mail and wire fraud conspiracy, in connections with an advanced fee fraud scheme using social media to target elderly victims and causing losses of $474,145.07.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Interim Chief Hector Velez of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, from July 10, 2018 to April 29, 2019, Akinyemi was a member of the a fraud group (the AFG), a group of Nigerian nationals who engaged in a social media-based advanced fee fraud schemes targeting elderly individuals.  Allegedly, AFG members perpetrated a financial scheme in which they created fictitious social media accounts to encourage elderly victims to send cash to cover “taxes” or “fees” in order to receive substantial financial awards.  The affidavit alleges that, in some instances, the AFG created fraudulent social media accounts of friends of the victims, making the victims believe they were communicating with individuals they knew and trusted.  Once the victims displayed a level of interest, the AFG allegedly opened a new account or persona (“the Closers”) to carry out the fraud scheme.  At times, the Closers fraudulently posed as real or fictitious government agencies offering the victims financial awards in exchange for associated taxes and fees.  The affidavit further alleges that once victims sent funds to individuals in Maryland and elsewhere, AFG members forwarded the victims’ funds to co-conspirators in Nigeria.  The affidavit alleges that Akinyemi is one of the individuals that received victims’ cash or gift card payments through mail services.

As detailed in the affidavit, on April 16, 2019, the Prince George’s County Police Department intercepted a package sent to “Paddy Linkin” at Akinyemi’s address.  The package was found to contain $30,000 in cash wrapped in money bands and concealed inside two stuffed animal bears.  The money was seized by law enforcement.  As detailed in the criminal complaint, Victim 1 was identified as the sender and was subsequently interviewed by law enforcement.  According to the affidavit, Victim 1 received an application for a purported federal government program from an individual that the victim believed was a “friend” on a social media platform, because the sender’s profile picture matched that of an individual with whom Victim 1 was friends.  The “friend” vouched for the program.  Victim 1 was allegedly contacted by a Closer, who advised that Victim 1 was approved for $100,000 in grant funds but needed to pay taxes to receive the grant funds.  Once Victim 1 sent funds for the “taxes”, she received a “Certificate of Completion” with the Internal Revenue Service seal and another certificate bearing her full name and the text: “Federal Government Grants for the sum of $5,000,000.”  Victim 1 was then notified that the Central Intelligence Agency was going to confiscate the grant funds if he/she did not send more money to cover the taxes on the awarded grant. Following the Closer’s specific instructions, Victim 1 allegedly sent a total of approximately $70,000 to $80,000 in cash to “Paddy Linkin” in six packages addressed to Akinyemi’s residence as well as to an address in Midland, Texas, including the $30,000 seized by the Prince George’s County Police officers.  According to the affidavit, Victim 1 withdrew funds from a retirement account and obtained a bank loan in order to pay the “taxes” believing that he/she would receive federal grants.

At least 13 victims have allegedly been defrauded of a total of $474,145.07 through the AFG scheme. 

If convicted, Akinyemi faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for each count of mail fraud, attempted mail fraud and mail fraud conspiracy.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  At today’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan ordered that Akinyemi be detained.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the HSI and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rajeev R. Raghavan and Erin B. Pulice, who is prosecuting this case.

The Department of Justice has an interactive tool for elders who have been financially exploited to help determine to which agency they should report their incident, and also a senior scam alert website.  Victims are encouraged to file a complaint online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at this website or by calling 1-800-225-5324.  Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Eddy Blizzard, age 42, of Perry Hall, Maryland, with a federal wire fraud charge and with aggravated identity theft, in connection with a fraud scheme in which he embezzled more than $1 million from a client’s retirement account.  The criminal complaint was filed on April 14, 2021 and unsealed upon Blizzard’s initial appearance today.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Mark P. Higgins of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General.

“This defendant is charged with perpetrating a heartless scheme that preyed on a vulnerable elderly victim, allegedly stealing more than a million dollars,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “As a result of the fraud the victim’s house went into foreclosure and he owed the IRS at least $63,000.  We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring to justice those who perpetrate these despicable schemes targeting elderly victims.  I encourage anyone who believes they may be a victim of financial fraud to contact the Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).”

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Blizzard held several licenses that allowed him to operate as a registered broker and a registered investment adviser per the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).  From 2003 to 2014, Blizzard was employed by a bank securities company (Bank 1) and from 2014 to 2017 he was employed by a bank investment services company (Bank 2), both in Maryland.   

As detailed in the affidavit, victim R.M. was a resident of Maryland and was 75 years old in January 2020.  On December 12, 2019, R.M. was interviewed as part of this investigation.  R.M stated to investigators that beginning in 1963, R.M. went to work for a Baltimore based commercial air-conditioning company, where he enjoyed a successful career installing commercial grade air conditioning units around the country.  R.M. told investigators he routinely worked approximately 15 to 30 hours of overtime per week during his career to make extra money.  In 2003, after approximately 40 years of service with the air conditioning company, R.M. took a buyout and retired.  Six months later, R.M. decided to invest his retirement funds in order to provide an inheritance for his grandchildren.  R.M. sought investment advice from Bank 1, where he had his depository accounts.

Blizzard began working at Bank 1 shortly after R.M. began investing there and became R.M.’s financial adviser.  R.M. allegedly told investigators that in about 2005, Blizzard “went on his own” meaning that Blizzard began working as an independent financial advisor and asked R.M. if R.M. wanted to leave Bank 1 and use Blizzard as a full-time financial advisor.  Blizzard allegedly told R.M. that it would be a while before he had his own office, but he would continue to work out of the Bank 1 branch in Catonsville, Maryland.  A review of publicly available FINRA records shows that Blizzard never went to work as an independent financial advisor.  As detailed in the affidavit, approximately once a month, R.M. would drive from his new home in Chester, Maryland on the Eastern Shore to meet with Blizzard at Bank 1 in Catonsville, approximately one hour away; however, R.M. and Blizzard would meet in Blizzard’s car, not the office.  These meetings lasted 30-45 minutes and R.M. was never told why they were meeting in Blizzard’s car. 

In approximately 2010, the affidavit alleges that, at Blizzard’s request, R.M. gave Blizzard 15-20 signed blank checks, which Blizzard used.  According to the affidavit, R.M. did not know what the checks were for, but recognized Blizzard’s handwriting when he received the cancelled checks in the mail.   During the years of investment with Blizzard, R.M. stated that he believed his retirement funds were protected, meaning they would not lose value – a fact that was allegedly told to R.M. numerous times by Blizzard and Blizzard’s wife.  R.M. also believed that his mortgage was being paid by Blizzard.   

The affidavit alleges that on approximately 12 different instances, R.M. went to his local bank to withdraw cash and was told there was not enough money in the account.  R.M. would then call Blizzard to let him know about the deficiency.  Blizzard allegedly would then tell R.M. to wait a day or two and there would be funds in the account to withdraw. 

In August 2019, R.M. was preparing to go on a family vacation and attempted to withdraw $1,000 to $1,500 in cash from the local Bank 1 branch and was told there were not sufficient funds in the account.  R.M. attempted to contact Blizzard on his cell phone for a week with no response.  R.M. then went to Blizzard’s Perry Hall, Maryland residence to talk to Blizzard in person, knocking on the front and back doors of Blizzard’s residence.  No one came to the door, but according to the affidavit R.M. received a voicemail from Blizzard, while he was still at Blizzard’s home.  In the voicemail, Blizzard allegedly stated that the neighbors had called him and were complaining about the banging on the door.  As detailed in the affidavit, Blizzard further explained that all of R.M.’s money was gone. 

According to the affidavit, a review of R.M.’s depository and investment accounts showed that between January 2013 and August 2019 there were a total of 242 distributions totaling approximately $1.4 million from R.M.’s retirement accounts. Of those, 129 distributions totaling $1.2 million were specifically requested from R.M.’s retirement accounts instead of being regular systematic annuity payments. After taxes and fees were deducted from those requested payments, approximately $1 million was deposited into R.M.’s Bank 1 account.  This review allegedly also revealed that from April 2016 to April 2019 Blizzard deposited approximately 112 checks drawn on R.M.’s account into various bank accounts at Bank 1 and elsewhere that were held by Blizzard jointly with his wife or individually.  These checks totaled approximately $848,000 and were written to Blizzard or Blizzard’s wife.  A review of these checks showed that almost all had comments written on the memo section indicating various purposes such as payment of property taxes, construction, boat payments, and down payments for a new house.  

In addition, the affidavit alleges that R.M. received a letter from the IRS, which he turned over to Blizzard as Blizzard had instructed.  R.M.’s relatives later determined that R.M. owed approximately $63,000 in federal income tax due to disbursements from R.M.’s retirement accounts that were allegedly stolen by Blizzard.  In the fall of 2019, R.M.’s home was put into the foreclosure process because of lack of payment which R.M. allegedly thought was being handled by Blizzard.  R.M. died on March 20, 2020.

If convicted, Blizzard faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud and a mandatory sentence of two years, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  At today’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah L. Boardman ordered that Blizzard be released pending trial.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI and the FHFA OIG for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron S. J. Zelinsky, who is prosecuting this case.

The Department of Justice has an interactive tool for elders who have been financially exploited to help determine to which agency they should report their incident, and also a senior scam alert website.  Victims are encouraged to file a complaint online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at this website or by calling 1-800-225-5324.  Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Vantino Johnson, age 23, of Charlotte, North Carolina, in Maryland today to 18 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release on the federal charges of bank fraud conspiracy and bank fraud, in connection with a scheme to negotiate stolen altered postal service money orders at victim financial institutions.  Judge Xinis ordered that Johnson pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, $272,087.19.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division.

According to his guilty plea, between May and October 2019, Johnson and others conspired to defraud victim financial institutions by negotiating stolen and fraudulent postal money orders.  Specifically, Johnson admitted that he and his co-conspirators stole money orders from post offices in Maryland and North Carolina, then altered the stolen money orders to reflect being issued for $800 or $1,000.  Johnson and his co-defendants then deposited the stolen and altered money orders into bank accounts that had been opened at the victim financial institutions in the names of identity theft victims, using those victims’ means of identification without their knowledge or permission.

On October 17, 2019, law enforcement executed search warrants at two residences in North Carolina associated with Johnson and at a residence in Waldorf associated with Beamon.  A search of Johnson’s residences as well as his vehicle recovered: receipts showing the deposit of stolen postal money orders; debit cards for bank accounts that were opened in a number of victims; money orders stolen from various post offices; stolen and altered money orders; blank paper printed with amounts, issue dates, and post office zip codes; and a loaded firearm.

A search of the Waldorf residence associated with Beamon recovered: a stolen postal arrow key used to open United States Postal Service collection boxes; checks that were stolen from the mail; blank paper printed displaying amounts, issue dates, and post office zip codes; and approximately 37 postal money orders.  Law enforcement also seized nine firearms from Beamon’s residence, including one AR-15 style ghost gun assault rifle, firearms with extended magazines, and approximately 553 rounds of various ammunition.

As detailed in their respective plea agreements, between May and October 2019, in Maryland and North Carolina, Johnson deposited 61 fraudulent postal money orders into at least 12 bank accounts that had been opened using the identification of at least 11 separate individuals.  Beamon deposited 34 fraudulent postal money orders into at least 6 bank accounts that had been opened using the identification of at least 5 separate individuals.  During the course of the conspiracy, it was foreseeable to Johnson and Beamon that the conspirators negotiated $529,000 in stolen money orders.  At least $150,200 was negotiated into accounts controlled by Johnson, and at least $124,800 was negotiated into accounts controlled by Beamon.

Johnson’s co-conspirator, Remy Beamon, age 24, of Waldorf, Maryland, pleaded guilty to federal charges for a bank fraud conspiracy and for bank fraud, as well as for being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced on February 18, 2021, to 51 months in federal prison. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Rajeev Raghavan, who prosecuted the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – Veronica Hope Fortune, age 54, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.    

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.

According to Fortune’s plea agreement, in August 2015 Fortune was a tax preparer in Maryland with electronic tax return filing privileges from the Internal Revenue System (IRS).  Fortune agreed to allow Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2, both of whom had been suspended from the IRS’s e-filing program, to use Fortune’s unique electronic filing identifiers, in exchange for the use of Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2’s shared office space in Temple Hills, Maryland. 

Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2 misrepresented their identities on their clients’ tax returns by using Fortune’s identifiers to prepare and electronically file the tax returns with the IRS. Fortune also joined in her co-conspirators’ practice of falsifying tax returns and fraudulently claiming refunds.  Specifically, Fortune and her co-conspirators falsified tax returns by: fabricating, inflating, and improperly claiming items on the Schedules A that were attached to clients’ federal individual income tax returns; and engineering business losses on Schedules C by fabricating, inflating, and improperly claiming purported business expenses.  As a result, Fortune, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 artificially lowered their clients’ taxable income, thereby lowering the taxes that the clients owed to the IRS and inflating their refunds.

On December 15, 2017, the IRS also expelled Fortune from the electronic tax return filing program due to a criminal investigation into fraudulent tax returns filed using her unique identifiers.  Fortune then made misrepresentations about the criminal nature of her issues with the IRS to a third-party electronic return originator (“ERO”) in order to obtain their assistance. The ERO allowed Fortune to file tax returns using its unique electronic filing identifiers, and Fortune shared those identifiers with Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2.  Using the new identifiers, the co-conspirators, including Fortune, continued to prepare and file false and fraudulent returns through at least the 2019 tax filing season, which ended on or about April 2019.

In total, the tax loss caused to the IRS as a direct result of Fortune and her co-conspirators’ conspiracy for the tax years 2012 through 2018 was $189,748.  As part of her plea agreement, Fortune will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss, which the parties stipulate is at least $189,748.

Fortune faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy and a maximum of three years in federal prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for August 20, 2021.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Grossi and Trial Attorney Kathryn Sparks of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – Jeffrey John White, age 53, of Woodsboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to the federal charge of possession of child pornography.  At the time of his federal offense, White was on supervised probation for a previous conviction for similar conduct in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. “Chuck” Jenkins; and Frederick County State’s Attorney J. Charles Smith III.

According to his guilty plea, White was previously convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County on September 25, 2014. The conviction arose from White’s possession of almost 10,000 files of child sex abuse material.  For that conviction, White was sentenced to five years imprisonment, suspended and five years of supervised release. On September 30, 2015, White was found to have violated his probation and was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended, followed by four years of supervised probation.

From April 14, 2020 through July 2020, while on supervised probation for his previous child pornography conviction, White began to use a peer-to-peer file sharing network to access, distribute and possess child pornography.  On three separate dates during April 2020, investigators with the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office were able to establish twenty direct connections with a device, later determined to be White’s laptop and SD card, to view and download known files of child pornography, including a one hour and thirty-nine second video depicting a prepubescent 12-year-old victim displaying her genitals.

On July 6, 2020 investigators from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at White’s Woodsboro residence and seized White’s laptop and SD card.  At that time, White claimed ownership of his laptop, however he claimed he did not know how to access the encrypted laptop. White also claimed to have no knowledge of child pornography activity on the file sharing network.  Additionally, a child-sized sex-doll with an anal and vaginal opening was located during the execution of the search warrant.

Federal agents were able to decrypt White’s laptop and forensically examine its hard drive, recovering 7,000 unique images and more than 240 unique videos of child pornography.  Child pornography found on White’s laptop was similar to the images investigators initially downloaded from White’s IP address. In addition, thousands of child erotica files were also discovered on White’s laptop and SD card. 

As part of his plea agreement, White will be required to continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

White faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has not yet scheduled a sentencing date for White.

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI, Frederick State’s Attorney’s Office, the Frederick Sheriff’s Office, and the Frederick County Cyber Crimes Task Force for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Loveland, Jr. and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce King, who are prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Baltimore, Maryland – Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar today sentenced MS-13 gang member David Ernesto Nolasco Soriano age 29, to 200 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a federal racketeering conspiracy charge related to his participation in a violent racketeering enterprise, specifically MS-13, including a kidnapping and an attempted murder.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge James Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore Office; Chief Jason Lando of the Frederick Police Department; Frederick County State’s Attorney J. Charles Smith, III; Chief Amal Awad of the Anne Arundel County Police Department; Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess; Acting Chief Hector Velez of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

MS-13 is a national and international gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador and other central American countries.  Branches or “cliques” of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland.  Nolasco Soriano was a member and associate of the Fulton Locotes Salvatrucha (FLS) clique of MS-13.

According to Nolasco Soriano’s plea agreement, from at least January 2015 through August 28, 2015, while Nolasco Soriano was a member and associate of the FLS clique of MS-13, members of the Fulton clique engaged in the distribution of marijuana on behalf of MS-13 in the District of Maryland.  Members of the Fulton clique also extorted money from legitimate and illegitimate businesses that operated in the gang’s perceived “territory.” 

As detailed in his plea agreement, in or around May 2015, members of the FLS clique began demanding extortion payments from “Victim 2.”   When Victim 2 stopped making the required extortion payments to the FLS clique, Nolasco Soriano and other MS-13 members kidnapped Victim 2 on May 10, 2015.  Nolasco Soriano and several other members of the FLS clique transported Victim 2 against his will to a remote wooded area in Frederick, Maryland.  While Nolasco Soriano was present, a member of the FLS clique brandished a handgun and put the barrel of the gun in Victim 2’s mouth. Nolasco Soriano and the other members of the FLS clique released Victim 2 once Victim 2 agreed to resume making extortion payments to the FLS clique. Nolasco Soriano and the other FLS clique members who participated in the kidnapping of Victim 2 did so for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their position in MS-13.

In August 2015, Nolasco Soriano and other MS-13 members and associates, to maintain and increase their position in the gang, planned and conspired to murder Victim 3, whom they believed to be a rival gang member.  On August 28, 2015, after previously conducting surveillance of the residence where Victim 3 lived with his girlfriend, Victim 4, the MS-13 members and associates entered the apartment and waited there for the victims to return.  After the victims returned to the apartment, Nolasco Soriano and two other gang members attacked Victim 3 and Victim 4 with machetes and knives.  Although both victims survived, the attack on Victim 3 left him with both hands nearly severed, and severe wounds to his face and torso.  Victim 3 has no use of one hand and limited use of the other. 

At all times of this conspiracy, members of MS-13 were expected to protect the name, reputation, and status of the gang from rival gang members and other persons.  To protect the gang and to enhance its reputation, MS-13 members were expected to use any means necessary to force respect from those who showed disrespect, including acts of intimidation and violence.  MS-13 had mottos consistent with its rules, beliefs, expectations and reputation including “mata, viola, controla,” which translates as, “kill, rape, control,” and “ver, oir y callar,” which means, “see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.”

MS-13 members are required to commit acts of violence both to maintain membership and discipline within the gang, as well as against rival gang members.  Participation in criminal activity by a member, particularly in violent acts directed at rival gangs or as directed by gang leadership, increase the respect accorded to that member, resulting in that member maintaining or increasing his position in the gang, and opens the door to a promotion to a leadership position.  One of the principal rules of MS-13 is that its members must attack and kill rivals, often referred to as “chavalas,” whenever possible. 

A total of 29 defendants have been charged in this case with participating in a racketeering conspiracy and/or other crimes related to their association with MS-13, including 18 defendants charged in the fifth superseding indictment filed on October 21, 2019.  A total of 21 defendants, including Nolasco Soriano, have pleaded guilty to crimes related to their participation in MS-13 gang activities.

Anyone with information about MS-13 is encouraged to call the FBI’s nationwide tipline, 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713).  The FBI tipline allows individuals to provide information about MS-13’s criminal activities to a central location and the FBI will then disseminate the information to the appropriate law enforcement authorities for investigation.  Your identity will be protected.

This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI; HSI; the Frederick Police Department; the Anne Arundel, Montgomery, and Prince George’s County Police Departments; and the Anne Arundel, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s County State’s Attorneys for their work in the investigation, and recognized the Baltimore County Police Department for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth S. Clark, Catherine K. Dick, and Matthew DellaBetta, who are prosecuting this case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Jose Luiz Suarez, age 30, a Honduran citizen residing in Germantown, Maryland, to 21 months in prison for illegal reentry after being removed from the United States as a result of a previous felony conviction.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner Field Office Director Francisco Madrigal of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore; and Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, Suarez unlawfully entered the United States on July 5, 1999.  On September 27, 2012, Suarez was sentenced to five years of imprisonment with all but three years suspended after being convicted of accessory after the fact.  On March 14, 2014, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a removal order.  Suarez was removed to Honduras from the United States on April 4, 2014.  On June 25, 2019, Suarez was found in Montgomery County, Maryland while being treated for an arm injury resulting from an altercation in a restaurant.  Suarez provided a false name and false information about the events leading up to his injuries to police.  Soon after, he was arrested on several state charges, including providing a false statement to an officer.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended ERO and the Montgomery Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Fansler and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morgan, who prosecuted the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland - James Maynard, Jr., age 53, of Boonesboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to a federal charge for coercion and enticement of a minor in order to produce and distribute child pornography. 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Jason Lando of the Frederick Police Department.

According to Maynard’s guilty plea, on November 27, 2019, Maynard used a social media account to meet a 14-year-old female, Victim 1,  During his initial conversation with the victim over social media, the victim informed Maynard that she was 14 years old and he identified himself as a 52-year-old man.  While they did not begin that way, Maynard’s conversations with the victim became increasingly sexual.  On the second day of their online communications, November 28, 2019, Maynard asked Victim 1 to send him nude photographs of herself.  Victim 1 subsequently took the photos that Maynard requested, using her tablet computer to take the photo while she was in her bedroom.  Victim 1 sent the photos to Maynard via her social media account.  Maynard made numerous sexually explicit comments about Victim 1’s genitals, and what he wanted to do to her.  Maynard persuaded Victim 1 to take and send him more photos.  Maynard also sent images of his penis to Victim 1.

After Victim 1 sent Maynard the photographs, she began to feel upset about the social media communications with Maynard.  She tried to delete the images of herself, and she asked a trusted adult for help.  Around this same time, Frederick County detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated an investigation and forensically analyzed the tablet computer and social media records.  Investigators discovered additional evidence that Maynard was using the internet to exploit Victim 1.   

On December 5, 2019, a search warrant was executed at Maynard’s residence and his cell phone was seized.  A forensic analysis of the phone revealed several images relevant to the investigation, including an image of Victim 1.  Forensic analysis of another computer located in Maynard’s residence revealed that Maynard used the internet to search topics involving minors and sex, such as: “daddy and daughter sex;” “kids having sex;” and “little girl nude.”

Investigators interviewed Maynard.  Maynard initially claimed that he thought Victim 1 was 19-years-old.  However, when investigators showed Maynard the content of his online messages with Victim 1, Maynard admitted that he knew the victim was 14-years-old at the time that he communicated with her on social media. 

As part of his plea agreement, upon his release from prison, Maynard will be required to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

Maynard faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison followed by up to lifetime of supervised release for coercion and enticement of a minor.  U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has not scheduled a sentencing date for Maynard.

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI and the Frederick Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Duey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce King, Chief Counsel with the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office, who prosecuted the federal case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang sentenced Sonyia Cruz, age 52, of San Jose, California, and Frankie Cruz, age 46, of San Jose, California, to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute controlled substances and conspiring to commit money laundering.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

According to their plea agreements, beginning in at least 2014, the married couple of Frankie and Sonyia Cruz conducted marijuana sales by purchasing bulk amounts of marijuana (24 to 25 pounds per order), shipping the marijuana to their rental home in Laurel, Maryland, and repackaging the drug parcels to sell in the District of Columbia for $2,800 or $2,900 per pound.  The Cruzes then shipped the proceeds back to California after laundering the money at a Maryland Casino.  In the spring of 2016, they also conducted marijuana sales in North Carolina.  

From October 2015 through November 2016, Frankie Cruz, Sonyia Cruz, and other conspirators laundered approximately $674,897 derived from marijuana sales at a Maryland casino.  The Cruzes attempted to laundered funds by feeding large amounts of currency into slot machines, engaging in minimal gaming activity, and cashing out the remainder of the proceeds.  For example, on January 6, 2016, surveillance cameras captured Sonyia Cruz retrieving large stacks of money in small denominations from her purse and handing the funds to Frankie Cruz and a co-conspirator. Sonyia Cruz, Frankie Cruz, and a co-conspirator inserted the large piles of cash into various slot machines and engaged in minimal gaming activity when others walked by, spending less than $10 for every $500 they put into the machine.  They then collected their fraudulent winnings in the form of a barcode encoded ticket, which totaled the equal value of the currency the conspirators deposited into the slot machines minus the minimal gaming expenditures.  In some instances, Frankie Cruz deposited as much as $2,000 into a slot machine and cashed the same amount in the form of a ticket. 

Sonyia Cruz, Frankie Cruz and a co-conspirator conducted this activity for four hours from 9 pm on January 6, 2016 to 1 am on January 7, 2016.  Sonyia Cruz divided the fixed winnings amongst herself, Frankie Cruz, and a co-conspirator.  All three individuals used various automated cash-out kiosks to retrieve the value of their tickets in $20 denominations.  

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner praised the HSI and Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dwight Draughon and David I. Salem, who prosecuted the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Anjan Ghosh Tagore, age 48, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to 15 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for receipt of child pornography and 18 months in federal prison for violating his supervised release from a previous federal conviction for possession of child pornography.  The sentences were imposed on April 8, 2021 and are to be served consecutively.  Judge Messitte also ordered that Tagore forfeit his electronic devices and pay $3,000 in restitution to a child pornography victim.  Upon his release from prison, Tagore must also continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to Tagore’s plea agreement, in February 2019, the United States Probation Office was alerted by monitoring software that Tagore searched for images of “naked/nude/preteen” children on his desktop computer. When confronted about his use of his authorized computer to search for “naked/nude/preteen” children, Tagore denied any knowledge of his computer being used that way, although he later admitted to viewing this material.  On April 16, 2019, Montgomery County Police contacted the U.S. Probation regarding a complaint that Tagore had been using a computer at a library in Montgomery County to view nude images of children at a library. Tagore’s U.S. Probation Officer had not authorized Tagore to use a computer or the internet.  Furthermore, searching for and viewing images of nude children was a violation of the rules and regulations of Tagore’s sex offender treatment program, nor did Tagore report his questioning by the Montgomery County Police as he was required to do under the terms of his supervised release.

In April 2019, upon questioning by a U.S. Probation officer, Tagore turned over several USB drives and Micro SD cards, which Tagore was not allowed to possess.  A search warrant was executed on the digital media and a forensic analysis revealed 105 video files depicting child pornography, including prepubescent children, at least one of which was an infant or toddler.

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI, the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office, and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Baldwin, who prosecuted the federal case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – Abdel Ndiaye, a/k/a “Pac,” age 32, of Boyds, Maryland, pleaded guilty to the federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme in which Ndiaye and his co-conspirators opened credit card accounts at numerous retail and telecommunications stores in order to obtain money and property.  The guilty plea was entered on April 7, 2021. 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Matthew S. Miller of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, from October 2015 to April 2018, Ndiaye conspired with Jonathan Henry, Dominique Davis, and others to obtain real individuals’ personally identifying information (PII), without the victims’ knowledge or permission.  Ndiaye not only knew that the personal information belonged to real people, but he also used a minor’s identity to lease his Maryland apartment. 

As detailed in the plea agreement, Ndiaye then provided the victims’ PII to other conspirators and Ndiaye and other conspirators used the stolen PII to create fraudulent driver’s licenses.  As part of the conspiracy, co-conspirators used the victims’ personal information and fraudulent driver’s licenses to apply for instant credit at various retailors and telecommunications stores in the names of the victims to purchase merchandise and electronics.  To evade detection by law enforcement, co-conspirators traveled to stores located in different states including Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. 

On April 19, 2018, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Ndiaye’s Maryland apartment.  Officers located a 75’’ Samsung television and Bose Soundtouch 300 soundbar.  On March 7, 2019, Ndiaye used the same minor’s identifying information to open credit accounts and purchased the soundbar and television for $3,750.  Law enforcement also recovered the PII of approximately 659 victims located within a folder in Ndiaye’s bedroom dresser drawer, a total of $17,231 in cash which were proceeds or derived from proceeds of the scheme.  Also found in the apartment were shredded driver’s licenses, a shredding machine, and blank card stock used to create fraudulent identification cards and credit cards, as well as a credit card encoder which Ndiaye used to create fraudulent credit cards.  Officers located 10 telecommunication statements with the same account number but difference customer names and addresses.        

Officers also recovered several items Ndiaye had thrown out of the apartment window prior to law enforcement’s entry including Ndiaye’s laptop, driver’s license holograms from nine different states, as well as 14 fraudulent Maryland driver’s licenses.

During the investigation, law enforcement selected 145 potential victims out of the total 659 victim PII recovered from Ndiaye’s apartment and sent the victim information to the card issuers and telecommunications stores.  From three credit card issuers or telecommunications stores, Ndiaye and his co-conspirators opened over 60 fraudulent accounts and caused a loss of over $142,000 to the three retail institutions. 

Ndiaye admitted that he and his co-conspirators used the stolen personal information of at least 62 victims to open fraudulent accounts, causing a total loss to the card issuers and telecommunication stores at least $150,597.06.  As part of his plea agreement, Ndiaye has agreed to the entry of a restitution order for the full amount of the victims’ losses.Ndiaye faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for aggravated identity theft.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has not yet scheduled Ndiaye’s sentencing date.

Jonathan Henry, age 29, of Bethesda, Maryland, and Dominique Davis, age 30, of Germantown, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and were sentenced to 41 months and 30 months in federal prison, respectively.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the United States Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O. Hayes and Dana J. Brusca, who are prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – Charles “Chuck” Nabit, age 64, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to transportation of an individual to engage in prostitution.  Nabit, who owns residences and resides in Bethany Beach, Delaware and Deerfield Beach, Florida, is the owner of Westport Group, LLC. and previously owned Mountain Manor Treatment Center, a comprehensive drug treatment center.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Chief Lisa Myers of the Howard County Police Department.

 “Charles Nabit used his wealth, his business and his position in society to facilitate his pattern of commercial sex, including with women suffering from narcotics addiction,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner.  “Rather than use his resources to assist these victims, Nabit paid thousands of dollars to engage them in commercial sex acts. This guilty plea should remind others like Mr. Nabit that no one is above the law, no matter their wealth or stature.”

According to his guilty plea, beginning in 2017 until his arrest on June 10, 2020, Nabit regularly paid for commercial sex.  The seven women whom Nabit admitted he paid for commercial sex (Victim 1 through Victim 7), either regularly used narcotics or suffered from serious substance abuse disorders during the time periods in which Nabit engaged in commercial sex with them.  

Nabit admitted that from August 2018 to May 2020, he paid at least $90,000, as well as an unknown amount of cash, to women with whom he had commercial sex.  This includes 52 Cash App transactions to an individual whom he knew to be someone other than the woman he was seeing for commercial sex.  For example, on April 11, 2019, Nabit received a message from the Cash App account associated with an adult male named De’Angelo Johnson requesting $140 for “coming thru on a good girl and a hot girl.”  The victim, Victim 1, had requested that Nabit pay her directly, sending a message to Nabit’s CashApp account, but Nabit refused to pay her and sent $145 payment to the Cash App account associated with Johnson with a message indicating the payment was “for (the first name of Victim 1).”         

As detailed in his plea agreement, Nabit regularly transported victims to and from his Baltimore office for commercial sex, either in his vehicle or by using a rideshare car service.  In separate encounters with Victim 1, Victim 3, and Victim 5, Nabit also recorded their sex acts with a Go Pro camera despite their objections to being filmed.  Nabit was aware of Victim 5’s substance abuse as she discussed her struggles with addiction and depression.  Nabit knew that, more than likely, some of the money provided to Victim 5 was being used to fund her drug use.

According to the plea agreement, beginning no later than February 2019, Nabit began seeing Victim 6 for commercial sex and travel dates.  She discussed her addiction struggles with Nabit on several occasions. During their sexual encounters, Nabit provided Victim 6 with monetary payment and cocaine.  For example, Nabit paid $5,000 to Victim 6 for her to accompany him to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and engage in commercial sex.  During that trip, Nabit also provided Victim 6 with cocaine.  Nabit also traveled with Victim 6 to a hotel in Richmond, Virginia on at least three separate occasions to engage in commercial sex.  Victim 6 was paid at least $1,000 in cash for one of these trips.  Hotel records revealed multiple overnight stays by Nabit between August 2019 and March 2020.

Until her death in May 2019, Nabit admitted that he also regularly engaged in commercial sex with Victim 7.  Victim 7 repeatedly discussed her drug addiction in text messages and expressed her desire to obtain treatment for her substance abuse with Nabit.  Specifically, on August 13, 2018, Victim 7 told Nabit she completed an application for Mountain Manor Treatment Center and Nabit replied, “As you recall, I used to own MM and my ex-partner still does.”  Nabit and Victim 7’s mother spoke on several occasions about Victim 7’s drug use.  For example, on August 18, 2018, Nabit texted Victim 7’s mother about Victim 7 going to drug rehabilitation.  Nabit stated that Victim 7 began using opiates again but that “she seemed to handle crack ok for weeks.”   On May 23, 2019, Victim 7’s mother informed Nabit that Victim 7 had overdosed on drugs and died.

On December 9, 2019, Nabit and his attorney met with investigators for an interview in relation to a sex trafficking investigation involving alleged sex trafficker De’Angelo Johnson and Victims, 1, 2, 3, and 4.  During this interview Nabit was asked whether he was aware that the sex trafficking victims were drug users.  He was shown pictures of four victims and claimed to have only been aware of one victim’s drug use.  He also claimed he had never seen signs of drug use in the remaining victims, as he had owned a drug treatment facility for 10 years and he would have recognized signs of drug use.

On June 10, 2020, Nabit was arrested and law enforcement executed federal search warrants for his person, his electronics, his Baltimore office, and his vehicle.  Law enforcement recovered numerous sex toys and filming equipment, including five Go Pro cameras, from Nabit’s office.  Nabit’s office also had a large sectional sofa that converted to a bed which had a sheet on it.  A forensic analysis of Nabit’s cell phone and Go Pro cameras recovered numerous messages related to commercial sex as well as images and videos of victims engaging in commercial sex with Nabit.

Nabit faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for transportation of an individual to engage in prostitution.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI and the Howard County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary W. Setzer and Daniel A. Loveland, Jr., who are prosecuting the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal jury has convicted Tyrek Montez Arrington, age 23, of Temple Hills, Maryland, on federal charges for robbing a pharmacy, discharging a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  The trial began on Monday, April 5, 2021 and the jury returned its verdict on April 7, 2021, after deliberating for a total of two hours.

The conviction was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Interim Chief Hector Velez of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to evidence presented at the three-day trial, on October 15, 2019, Arrington entered a drug store in Clinton, Maryland wearing a surgical mask and black latex gloves.  Armed with a handgun, Arrington walked to the pharmacy area, entered the pharmacist booth, and pointing the gun at the pharmacist, demanded oxycodone from a safe.  Arrington then demanded the pharmacist to open the cash register.  Arrington fired one round into the ceiling then took the cash the register from the register.  Witnesses testified that Arrington attempted to flee with the cash drawer taken from the register.  Two law enforcement officers encountered Arrington in the store as he was attempting to flee.  One officer saw Arrington with the cash drawer in his hand and ordered Arrington to the ground.  Arrington dropped the cash drawer and the handgun and tried to evade the first officer, but ran into the second officer and was arrested. 

According to evidence presented at trial, law enforcement collected a live round and a spent shell casing from behind the counter and recovered the handgun that Arrington dropped.  The gun, a .22-caliber handgun was loaded with six rounds of .22-caliber ammunition.

Arrington faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for robbery; a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm; and a mandatory minimum of 10 years, consecutive to any other sentence, and up to life in prison for using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.  U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang has scheduled sentencing for Arrington on July 13, 2021 at 2:00 p.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dwight Draughon and William D. Moomau, who prosecuted the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury today returned an indictment today charging Ethan Glover, age 49, of Baltimore, Maryland, for the federal charges of false statements to law enforcement and theft of government property.  Glover joined the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) on February 19, 2003.  He became a federal task force officer (TFO) with the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2013.  

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to the two-count indictment, on April 8, 2016 Glover participated in the execution of a search warrant on John Avenue as a member of DEA Group 51.  Law enforcement recovered three duffel bags containing large amounts of cash and a handwritten document with currency totals stating there was $2,428,900 in the house.  Glover transported the cash from the residence to another location where a search warrant had been executed, and then to the DEA Baltimore Office, alone in his vehicle the entire time.  The indictment alleges that during the drive from John Avenue to the DEA Baltimore Office, Glover stole a portion of the cash seized at the John Avenue residence.  Ultimately, Glover took the seized cash to a professional counting service due to the large amount.  The counting service found that the amount of cash seized, inclusive of any suspected counterfeit bills, totaled $2,419,125, which is $9,775 less than what was actually seized at the John Avenue residence, according to the handwritten document recovered within the home. 

The indictment further alleges that Glover went to his then-girlfriend’s apartment with what he described to her as $10,000 in cash.  Glover allegedly hid the funds in her bathroom.  During conversations about the money, Glover told his girlfriend that he was followed by another TFO while driving the cash from the search warrant site and that the money came from a “big case” that had been recently featured on the news.  Approximately one week later, Glover allegedly moved the money from his girlfriend’s apartment to his home. 

On April 23, 2016, Glover allegedly used some of the cash stolen from the John Avenue search to buy his then-girlfriend a pair of shoes valued at $295 from a mall in Pennsylvania.  According to the indictment, in June 2016, his then-girlfriend moved into his home and saw a large sum of money hidden behind Glover’s refrigerator.

As detailed in the indictment, on February 28, 2020, Glover participated in a voluntary interview with the FBI about a seizure that had occurred with the officer-in-charge of BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force.  Before being questioned, Glover confirmed that he understood that it was a crime to lie to the FBI TFO’s interviewing him.  When questioned, Glover asked the interviewing TFO’s how much the arrestee “is saying is missing?  Is it money or drugs?  How much did he say he had?  A million?” or words to that effect.  Glover told investigators that he did not witness any officer steal money during this seizure.  Glover also stated that he did not steal money from this particular seizure or any other case, saying, “I’ve never stolen anything in my life.  Never money or drugs.”

If convicted, Glover faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for theft of government property and five years in federal prison for making false statements to federal law enforcement.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  No court appearance is currently scheduled for Glover. 

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI and BPD for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leo J. Wise and Christine Goo, who are prosecuting this case.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland has seized “healthbridgescience.com,” “global-pandemic-vaccines.com,” and “genobioscience.com” all of which purported to be the websites of actual biotechnology companies developing treatments for the COVID-19 virus but instead were allegedly used to collect the personal information of individuals visiting the sites, in order to use the information for nefarious purposes, including fraud, phishing attacks, and/or deployment of malware.  Individuals visiting those sites now will see a message that the site has been seized by the federal government and be redirected to another site for additional information.

The seizure of the domain names was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations - Baltimore.

“We have now seized a total of eight fraudulent websites that seek to illegally profit from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “We urge all Maryland residents to be skeptical - don’t provide personal information or click on links in unsolicited e-mails and remember that the COVID-19 vaccine is not for sale.  The Federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to people living in the United States. We will continue to aggressively prosecute fraudsters who seek to prey on unsuspecting residents and their families.”

“The danger with these illegitimate sites is that they can appear legitimate to the average viewer—all the more reason to exercise caution when searching for COVID-19 pandemic information,” said Special Agent in Charge James Mancuso for HSI Baltimore. “As part of our cyber mission, HSI is committed to denying online scammers the ability to deceive and profit from the American people by exploiting the demand for vaccines and treatments.”

According to the affidavits filed in support of these seizures, these investigations began in March 2021. Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Center received notification of two fraudulent websites, “genobioscience.com” and “healthbridgescience.com.”  The third site, “global-pandemic-vaccines.com,” was discovered by Homeland Security Investigations’ Cyber Crimes Center (C3) during ongoing investigations for malicious websites.  The cases were referred to HSI Baltimore for investigation.

Specifically, HSI was notified of two fraudulent websites “healthbridgescience.com” and “genobioscience.com,” by a victim biotechnology company.  The company, which was granted an FDA emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 antibody drug cocktail treatment, confirmed neither of the suspect domains were approved company websites.  The fraudulent sites displayed a nearly identical theme and design as the legitimate biotechnology company except for the subsection tab information.  According to the affidavit, “healthbridgescience.com” was registered on February 21, 2021 and “genobioscience.com” was registered on March 24, 2021, but no registrant or contact information is listed for either website.  As stated in the affidavit, criminals who operate websites and use targeted domain names often conceal their identity when registering their domain names by redacting personal identifiers to avoid being tracked by victims or law enforcement.  An HSI Cyber Operations Officer (COO) also noted the “genobioscience.com” website did not use secure communication technology, making any sensitive information shared on this website potentially compromised.

The third domain name, “global-pandemic-vaccines.com,” offered COVID-19 vaccines for sale that it claimed were manufactured by pharmaceutical companies that had been granted FDA emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines.  A COO indicated that the domain was created on February 26, 2021 and its registrar organization was listed as “WhoisProtection.cc,” located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is a privacy service used to shield a domain registrant’s actual information from being see publicly.  Additionally, under the bogus website’s “Contact Us” page, the telephone number appears to be associated with a messaging application and the street address listed is the address of a restaurant and a postal shipping center located in Torrance, California.  Under the spoof website’s “shop” tab, there were two counterfeit vaccinations offered for sale to the public.  The fraudulent website claimed that their vaccines did not require sub-zero storage.  On March 15, 2021, HSI Special Agents, acting in an undercover capacity, called the phone number listed on the fraudulent website.  An unknown individual agreed to sell fifty vials of the counterfeit vaccines for $20 each with a $500 deposit, and the remaining $500 due upon receipt of the vaccine doses. The provided invoice contained payment information for a specific bank account.

By seizing these sites, the government has prevented third parties from acquiring the names and using them to commit additional crimes, as well as prevented third parties from continuing to access the sites in their present form.

Federal law enforcement agencies are united in our efforts to fight against COVID-19 fraud.  HSI has identified tips to recognize and report COVID-19 fraud.  If you believe you are a victim of a fraud or attempted fraud involving COVID-19, you may also call the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or for more information e-mail justice.gov/coronavirus.    

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI for its work in these investigations.  Mr. Lenzner recognized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Baltimore County Police Department for their assistance and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron S.J. Zelinsky and Sean R. Delaney

Greenbelt, Maryland – Lenore Gail Worthy, age 53, of Accokeek, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.   

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.

According to Worthy’s plea agreement, Worthy obtained electronic tax return filing privileges from the Internal Revenue System (IRS).  Worthy subsequently agreed to allow co-conspirator 1, who was not eligible to for admission into the IRS’s e-filing program due to a conviction for wire fraud, to use Worthy’s unique electronic filing identifiers, in exchange for a fee of $29 per tax return.  Beginning in 2012, Worthy and co-conspirator 1 agreed to operate a business that would allow co-conspirator 1 to misrepresent his/her identity on the clients’ tax returns by using Worthy’s identifiers to prepare and electronically file fraudulent client tax returns with the IRS.  In August 2015, the IRS expelled Worthy from its electronic tax return filing program due to a criminal investigation into fraudulent tax returns filed with her unique identifiers.  At that time co-conspirator 3, who was also participating in the IRS’s electronic tax return filing program, agreed to allow Worthy and co-conspirator 1 to use co-conspirator 3’s unique identifiers in exchange for the use of Worthy and co-conspirator 1’s shared office space in Temple Hills, Maryland. 

Worthy and co-conspirator 1 misrepresented their identities on their clients’ tax returns by using co-conspirator 3’s identifiers to prepare and electronically file the tax returns with the IRS. Co-conspirator 3 also joined in Worthy and co-conspirator 1’s practice of falsifying tax returns and fraudulently claiming refunds.  Specifically, Worthy and her co-conspirators falsified tax returns by: fabricating, inflating, and improperly claiming deductions on the Schedules A that were attached to clients’ federal individual income tax returns; and engineering business losses by fabricating, inflating, and improperly claiming purported business expenses.  As a result, Worthy, co-conspirator 1, and co-conspirator 3 artificially lowered their clients’ taxable income, thereby lowering the taxes that the clients owed to the IRS and inflating their refunds.

On December 15, 2017, co-conspirator 3 was also expelled from the IRS’s electronic tax return filing program due to a criminal investigation into fraudulent tax returns filed using co-co-conspirator 3’s unique identifiers.  Co-conspirator 3 then misled a third-party electronic return originator (“ERO”) about the criminal nature of her issues with the IRS in order to obtain their assistance.  The ERO allowed co-conspirator 3 to file tax returns using its unique identifiers, which co-conspirator 3 shared with Worthy and co-conspirator 1.  Using the ERO’s identifiers, Worthy and her co-conspirators continued to prepare and file fraudulent federal tax returns through at least April 2019.

In total, the tax loss caused to the IRS as a direct result of Worthy and her co-conspirators’ conspiracy for the tax years 2012 through 2018 was $189,748.  As part of her plea agreement, Worthy will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss, which the parties stipulate is at least $189,748.

Worthy faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy and three years in federal prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for August 20, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Grossi and Trial Attorney Kathryn Sparks of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Richard Tingler, age 56, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 14 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on charges of armed bank robbery and brandishing of a firearm during a crime of violence.  The sentence was imposed on April 6, 2021.

The sentence plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; and Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD).

According to his plea agreement, on January 23, 2019 and February 1, 2019, Richard Tingler and his co-defendant David Gollahon committed two-armed bank robberies in Baltimore, Maryland, with co-defendant Richard Adams serving as the getaway driver in each robbery.  During each of the robberies, Tingler and Gollahon brandished firearms and threatened bank employees. 

Specifically, on January 23, 2019, Adams drove Tingler and Gollahon in a gray Hyundai Accent car that he had rented two weeks earlier, to a bank located in the 3600 block of Boston Street in Baltimore.  Tingler carried a loaded black .45-caliber firearm and Gollahon carried a loaded black .380-caliber firearm and both men wore ski masks to disguise their identities.  Tingler also carried a black leather duffel bag.

After entering the bank, Tingler approached the victim teller, pointed his firearm at her and demanded $100 dollar bills and “loose bills” from the bottom drawer of the till.  Meanwhile, Gollahon held the other bank employees and customers at gunpoint in the lobby area of the bank.  He told the bank employees and customers, “don’t move.”  Tingler took more than $7,000 in cash from the victim teller.  Tingler and Gollahon then ran away, accidentally dropping more than $5,000 in cash as they ran through a parking lot.  They got into the waiting gray Hyundai Accent car driven by Adams, and drove away.

On February 1, 2019, Adams drove Tingler and Gollahon in a 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo, which was registered to Adams, to a bank located in the 2900 block of O’Donnell Street in Baltimore.  Tingler and Gollahon each had the same firearm they had used in connection with the January 23, 2019 bank robbery, and their faces were covered.  After entering the bank, Tingler and Gollahon approached the teller window.  Tingler pointed his firearm at the teller and demanded $100 bills.  The victim teller handed over cash from the till, but Tingler continued to demand more money.  At the same time, Gollahon approached the teller line with his firearm pointed in the direction of the tellers and bank customers.  In response to the demands for more cash, the victim teller and a co-worker went to the bank’s vault and removed more cash, which they provided to Tingler and Gollahon, along with a GPS tracker, which was activated. 

Tingler and Gollahon then fled the bank and got into the 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Adams, who was waiting for them.  Adams drove the Monte Carlo away from the bank.  Law enforcement received GPS information concerning the location of the GPS tracker taken from the bank, which they relayed to Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

BPD officers stopped the vehicle.  Adams, Tingler, and Gollahon were ordered out of the vehicle and arrested.  At the time of his arrest, Gollahon had the same firearm he used during the robbery on his person.  Law enforcement searched Adams’ car and recovered a blue backpack containing the cash taken during the robbery, the GPS tracker, and the firearm carried by Tingler during both bank robberies. 

Later that day, law enforcement searched Adams’ residence in Essex, Maryland and seized Gollahon’s gray hooded sweatshirt and the black leather duffel bag carried by Tingler during the January 23, 2019 robbery. 

Tingler was detained pending trial. During the period of his pre-trial detention, Tingler was heard on lawfully recorded jail calls stating that he “robbed a bank” and that it “didn’t work out.” On a separate call, Tingler admitted that the cash taken from the bank “had a GPS in it.” On another call, Tingler described in more detail the banks he robbed, stating that he robbed two banks in Canton, and that he wouldn’t have gotten caught if he hadn’t taken a GPS tracker.

Co-defendants David Gollahon, age 59, of Baltimore, Maryland, and Richard Adams, age 60, of Essex, Maryland, were sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and 90 months in federal prison, respectively.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI, the BPD, and the BCPD for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Riley and Daniel Loveland, Jr., who prosecuted the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte today sentenced Santos Nicolas Obando-Flores, age 48, of Brentwood, Maryland, to 10 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for possession of child pornography.  Judge Messitte also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Obando-Flores must continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).  In 2015, Obando-Flores was convicted of a sex offense after engaging in sexual contact with a nine-year-old minor and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but six years suspended.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police (MSP).

According to his guilty plea, on September 13, 2018, Obando-Flores was being administered a routine polygraph examination by a Maryland State Police polygraph examiner.  The routine polygraph was required because Obando-Flores was a registered sex offender.  During the post-polygraph interview, Obando-Flores admitted to the polygraph examiner that he had viewed child pornography on his cellphone and that the pornography was still on the cellphone. Obando-Flores also admitted to having as many as one hundred videos containing child pornography on his phone.

The polygraph examiner stopped the interview and read Obando-Flores his Miranda Rights, which Obando-Flores acknowledged that he understood.  Obando-Flores agreed to speak with law enforcement without an attorney present and again admitted to the MSP polygraph examiner that there was child pornography on his cellphone.  He explained to the polygraph examiner that he got it from a Facebook page and that he received multiple videos of child pornography through a “group chat” from an application on his phone. Obando-Flores was able to describe some videos depicting prepubescent minors engaged in sex acts or provocatively posed.  Obando-Flores admitted that he started getting the videos approximately six to eight months prior.

The polygraph examiner confiscated Obando-Flores’s cellphone, which Obando-Flores had brought with him to the scheduled meeting and Obando-Flores consented to the search of his phone.  An MSP trooper previewed the phone and found numerous files of suspected child pornography. Obando-Flores was arrested and a federal search warrant was obtained from the phone.  Forensic analysts identified approximately 359 videos and 200 images documenting the sexual abuse of minors. 

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

United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI-Baltimore and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy F. Hagan, Jr. and Jennifer R. Sykes, who prosecuted the federal case.

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Baltimore, Maryland –Jamie Clemons, age 36 of Pasadena, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to malicious destruction of a property by fire, in connection with the fire on July 28, 2017, at Coconut Charlie’s, a bar in Pasadena.  As a result of the arson, Coconut Charlie’s sustained over $500,000 in damage; the building was razed and the business was forced to permanently close.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Timothy Jones of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; the Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Trisha L. Wolford; and the Anne Arundel County Fire Marshal Division Chief John Lane.

“This defendant not only caused devastating damage to a longtime Maryland business, he also endangered our brave firefighters who responded to the arson that he set,” said Acting U. S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “I’d like to thank ATF and our partners in Anne Arundel County for their impressive investigative work in solving this arson.  Arsons are often difficult crimes to uncover and prove in court, and I am grateful to our investigative and prosecution teams for their dedication and persistence.”

 According to the indictment and the government’s plea letter, on July 28, 2017, Clemons maliciously damaged and destroyed by fire a bar known as Coconut Charlie’s, located in the 9100 block of Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena, in order to conceal evidence of an assault he had committed there on July 22, 2017.

As detailed in the statement of facts filed as part of the government’s plea letter, on July 22, 2017, at approximately 1 a.m., Clemons assaulted his girlfriend on the patio area of Coconut Charlie’s.  An Anne Arundel County Police officer witnessed the assault and it was also captured on Coconut Charlie’s video surveillance system.  As a result, Clemons was charged with second degree assault and theft of less than $100 in the District Court for Anne Arundel County, and was served with a summons for the case on July 27, 2017.

Clemons admitted that in the early morning hours of July 28, 2017, Clemons assembled multiple incendiary devices akin to Molotov cocktails, then lit the wicks for the devices on fire, and threw them at the exterior of Coconut Charlie’s in an attempt to burn the structure and destroy the video surveillance system, which had captured his assault on his girlfriend the week prior.

Due to the size of the fire, several agencies responded in an attempt to control and extinguish the fire, and a firefighter sustained injuries due to the force of a backdraft that caused him to fall off a ladder. A fire scene examination was conducted, and the area of origin of the fire was determined to be the west exterior of the restaurant. Investigators reviewed the exterior camera footage from the video recording system, which remained operational after the fire, and were able to observe multiple flashes of light (at least three), followed by a sustained fire on the west exterior of the structure.

Charred melted plastic cups, which had been filled with gasoline, and a burnt cloth used as a wick material were located on the roof and exterior grounds of the building, and most were found to contain the presence of gasoline.  Clemons admitted that he set the wicks on fire prior to throwing the devices on the roof.  An accelerant detection K9 also alerted to the presence of gasoline on the west side of the exterior just on the other side of the fence surrounding Coconut Charlie’s. This is the area where Clemons launched the devices at Coconut Charlie’s. A short distance away, along the north side of the exterior of the property fence line, a glove was found which tested positive for the presence of an ignitable liquid and contained Clemons’ DNA.

On November 30, 2017, a federal search warrant was obtained for Clemons’ text messages on his cell phone. The contents of those messages revealed that after the assault and in the days leading up to the fire, Clemons sent multiple text messages expressing concern as to whether police would obtain the video surveillance of the assault, and what the video had captured.

Clemons faces a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for July 13, 2021, at 1:30 p.m.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the ATF, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, and the Anne Arundel County Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Judson T. Mihok and Mary W. Setzer, who are prosecuting the case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A criminal complaint has been filed charging Derrell Lamar Hooker Orange (“Hooker Orange”) age 36, of Brandywine, Maryland, with enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography.  The criminal complaint was filed on April 1, 2021 and unsealed at Hooker-Orange’s initial appearance on April 2, 2021.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police and Sheriff Michelle Cook of Clay County Sherriff’s Office.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office (“CCSO”) of Green Cove Springs, Florida, responded to a sex offense call in which an adult female discovered sexually explicit messages on her 12-year-old daughter’s cell phone.   CCSO spoke with the victim at her residence and discovered the victim had been communicating with “Lamar Thompson” of Washington, whom she believed to be a 16-year old male, from approximately July 2020 through October 2020.  The victim stated she met “Thompson” on a video creation application and continued to communicate with him, primarily through text message and cellular phone calls.

Based on reports by CCSO, CCSO observed sexually explicit text messages and images on the victim’s phone.  With the adult female’s consent, the cell phone was placed into evidence at the CCSO. On October 22, 2020, the Clay County State’s Attorney allegedly received information that identified Hooker Orange as the subscriber who had been communicating with the victim.

The affidavit alleges that further review of text messages exchanged between Hooker Orange (allegedly posing as Lamar Thompson, a 16-year-old male) and the victim revealed that the minor victim not only disclosed her age to Hooker Orange but also informed him that she was attending junior high school at the time.  Hooker Orange’s number was allegedly saved in the victim’s phone as “Bsf Forever.” According to the affidavit, Hooker Orange sent the victim sexually explicit messages and requested that the victim send him sexually explicit images and videos of herself.

The affidavit further alleges that Hooker Orange told the victim he wanted to see her and mentioned traveling to meet the underaged victim.  The victim allegedly advised Hooker Orange that she would like to see him, but he’d have to “wait a few years”.  

According to the affidavit, on March 16, 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Hooker Orange’s residence, where he resides with two other individuals.   Law enforcement seized Hooker Orange’s tablet and cellular telephone and interviewed the other residents.  The other residents allegedly advised law enforcement that Hooker Orange was constantly on the phone with individuals whom they believed to be minors.  Forensic review of Hooker Orange’s devices allegedly revealed images and videos of child pornography. 

If convicted, Hooker Orange faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and maximum of life in prison for enticement of a minor and a maximum of 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Hooker Orange had a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on April 5, 2021 and was ordered to be released under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services pending trial.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the HSI, the Maryland State Police, the Prince George County Police Department and the Clay County, Florida Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation and thanked the Prince George’s County Police Department for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Grossi and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Fansler, who are prosecuting the federal case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A criminal complaint has been filed charging Derrell Lamar Hooker Orange (“Hooker Orange”) age 36, of Brandywine, Maryland, with enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography.  The criminal complaint was filed on April 1, 2021 and unsealed at Hooker-Orange’s initial appearance on April 2, 2021

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police and Sheriff Michelle Cook of Clay County Sherriff’s Office.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office (“CCSO”) of Green Cove Springs, Florida, responded to a sex offense call in which an adult female discovered sexually explicit messages on her 12-year-old daughter’s cell phone.   CCSO spoke with the victim at her residence and discovered the victim had been communicating with “Lamar Thompson” of Washington, whom she believed to be a 16-year old male, from approximately July 2020 through October 2020.  The victim stated she met “Thompson” on a video creation application and continued to communicate with him, primarily through text message and cellular phone calls.

Based on reports by CCSO, CCSO observed sexually explicit text messages and images on the victim’s phone.  With the adult female’s consent, the cell phone was placed into evidence at the CCSO. On October 22, 2020, the Clay County State’s Attorney allegedly received information that identified Hooker Orange as the subscriber who had been communicating with the victim.

The affidavit alleges that further review of text messages exchanged between Hooker Orange (allegedly posing as Lamar Thompson, a 16-year-old male) and the victim revealed that the minor victim not only disclosed her age to Hooker Orange but also informed him that she was attending junior high school at the time.  Hooker Orange’s number was allegedly saved in the victim’s phone as “Bsf Forever.” According to the affidavit, Hooker Orange sent the victim sexually explicit messages and requested that the victim send him sexually explicit images and videos of herself.

The affidavit further alleges that Hooker Orange told the victim he wanted to see her and mentioned traveling to meet the underaged victim.  The victim allegedly advised Hooker Orange that she would like to see him, but he’d have to “wait a few years”.  

According to the affidavit, on March 16, 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Hooker Orange’s residence, where he resides with two other individuals.   Law enforcement seized Hooker Orange’s tablet and cellular telephone and interviewed the other residents.  The other residents allegedly advised law enforcement that Hooker Orange was constantly on the phone with individuals whom they believed to be minors.  Forensic review of Hooker Orange’s devices allegedly revealed images and videos of child pornography. 

If convicted, Hooker Orange faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and maximum of life in prison for enticement of a minor and a maximum of 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Hooker Orange had a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on April 5, 2021 and was ordered to be released under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services pending trial.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the HSI, the Maryland State Police, the Prince George County Police Department and the Clay County, Florida Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation and thanked the Prince George’s County Police Department for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Grossi and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Fansler, who are prosecuting the federal case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A criminal complaint has been filed charging Rudolph Brooks, Jr., age 45, of Cheltenham, Maryland, on the federal charge of wire fraud.  In addition, law enforcement obtained warrants authorizing the seizure of more than $2.2 million held in various bank accounts, as well as a 2018 Tesla Model 3.  The criminal complaint was filed on March 29, 2021 and was unsealed following Brooks’s arrest on April 2, 2021.

The criminal complaint and seizures were announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Shimon R. Richmond of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General (FDIC OIG); Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington, D.C. Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG).

As detailed in the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act is a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering from the economic consequences of COVID-19.  The CARES Act authorized up to $659 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for employee retention and certain business expenses through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).  The business must use PPP loan proceeds on payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities.  Initially, the program allowed the principal to be forgiven if the business spent the loan proceeds on qualifying expenses within eight weeks of loan issuance and used at least 75 percent of the loan for payroll.  On June 5, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 went into effect.  This law extended the period from eight weeks to 24 weeks that the loan proceeds had to be spent and reduced the requirement that the loan proceeds be spent on payroll from 75 percent to 60 percent.  An Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) is an SBA-administered loan designed to provide assistance to small businesses that suffer substantial economic injury as a result of a declared disaster.  An EIDL helps businesses meet necessary financial obligations that could have been met had the disaster not occurred.  It provides relief from economic injury that the disaster caused and permits businesses to maintain a reasonable working capital position during the period that the disaster affected.  In March 2020, the SBA issued an EIDL declaration making EIDL loans available to small businesses to help alleviate economic injury caused by COVID-19.

Brooks is the owner of Cars Direct by Gavawn HWD Bob’s Motors (Cars Direct), the stated purpose of which was to purchase and sell cars.   Cars Direct was incorporated with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) on October 29, 2010.  Cars Direct was forfeited on October 1, 2012 and subsequently revived on May 28, 2020.  Brooks is listed as the resident agent with SDAT. 

The affidavit alleges that, on May 9, 2020, Brooks applied for a PPP loan on behalf of Cars Direct in the amount of $1,556,589.  In support of the Cars Direct PPP loan application, Brooks allegedly submitted fraudulent tax forms which allegedly reported $724,469 in payments via Forms 1099-MISC and $7,471,630 in total unemployment payments to employees from Cars Direct.  However, as detailed in the affidavit, IRS records do not reflect any tax filings made by Cars Direct for any tax period, indicating that Cars Direct has not hired employees or paid unemployment taxes.  Additionally, the Maryland Department of Labor has no record of Cars Direct paying wages or of Brooks receiving wages.

On April 7, 2020, Brooks allegedly submitted an EIDL loan application on behalf of Cars Direct that contradicted the information and supporting documentation Brooks submitted for Cars Directs’ PPP loan application.  The EIDL application on behalf of Cars Direct allegedly stated that the company’s gross revenue was $148,000 and cost of goods sold was $82,293 in the one year period prior to COVID-19 being declared a disaster, which is inconsistent with a business that can support average monthly payroll costs of $622,635 or annual payments of $7,471,630 as Brooks reported on the PPP loan application and supporting fraudulent tax documents.

On May 9, 2020, Cars Directs’ PPP loan was approved and $1,556,589 was subsequently deposited into a bank account which has Brooks listed as the sole signer on the account.  Prior to the deposit of the PPP loan funds, payroll payments or payroll taxes were absent from this account. According to the affidavit, Brooks allegedly opened another bank account in the name of Payroll by BJM, into which he transferred $500,000 of PPP loan funds.  Brooks also then registered Payroll by BJM with SDAT, listing himself as resident agent.  Although the name Payroll by BJM creates the appearance that the account is associated with a payroll company, there has been no payroll or payroll-related expenses paid from this account.  Brooks also opened additional accounts in the name of Cars Direct, into which he transferred PPP loan funds.

After the deposit of PPP loan funds, Brooks initiated numerous transfers of PPP loan funds from the Cars Direct accounts to his personal bank accounts. Records revealed that Brooks used the PPP loan funds for personal expenditures including credit card bills, purchases at restaurants, retail stores, grocery stores, and automotive auctioneers, and mortgage payments for Brooks Cheltenham residence.

Beginning May 22, 2020, Brooks used PPP loan funds from the Cars Direct account and his own personal account to purchase of 39 used automobiles (including a 2017 Mercedes Benz S Class, two 2017 Infinity Q50s, a 2015 Cadillac Escalade, a 2005 Bentley Continental, a 2018 Tesla Model 3, a 2014 GMC Yukon XL, and several older model luxury vehicles. Under the terms of the PPP loan program, the purchase of these vehicles is not an appropriate use of loan funds.

According to the affidavit, on July 30, 2020, Brooks initiated a wire transfer from his personal account to Tesla Motors for $60,407, which was used to purchase a 2018 Tesla Model 3. “Rudolph Brooks” was listed as the customer for this vehicle, and a District of Columbia driver’s license was on file for a close relative of Brooks.  Records from the State of Maryland reflect that the Tesla Model 3 was registered in Brooks’s name at Brooks’s Cheltenham residence.

Finally, on August 13, 2020, Brooks initiated two wire transfers from one of the Cars Direct accounts for $144,343 and $2165 to a title company regarding a property in Baltimore, Maryland.  At the time of the wire transfers, $133,669.54 in funds from the Cars Direct PPP loan remained in the Cars Direct account.  Real estate deeds filed with the State of Maryland show that the Baltimore property was purchased by Madaro, LLC (Madaro) for $148,500.  Madaro was registered with the District of Columbia on August 8, 2019 and Brooks was listed as the resident agent of the company.  Brooks executed an Auction Contract of Sale on June 18, 2020 to purchase the Baltimore property.

In addition, seizure warrants authorized the seizure of up to $2,296,136.86 from eleven bank accounts and the 2018 Tesla Model 3 described above.  The affidavit in support of the seizure warrants alleges that these funds and vehicle constitute or are derived from the proceeds traceable to false statements made on bank loan applications. 

If convicted, Brooks faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud followed by three years of supervised release.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FDIC OIG, the IRS-CI, the FBI, and the SBA OIG for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean R. Delaney and Jessica Collins, who are prosecuting the case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal grand jury has indicted Marion Rose Payne, age 54, of Harwood, Maryland, on the federal charges of conspiracy to produce and transfer identification documents produced without lawful authority, the production and transfer of identification documents produced without lawful authority, aggravated identity theft, and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.  The indictment was returned on March 31, 2021.

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore.

According to the indictment, from July 2015 to March 2016, Payne conspired with Antonio Portillo, age 35, of Manassas, Virginia to produce and transfer Maryland driver’s licenses while she was employed with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Payne allegedly agreed to illegally produce, transfer, and sell Maryland driver’s licenses to unlawful applicants provided by Portillo.  According to the indictment, at Portillo’s direction, applicants were directed to Payne’s workstation at the MVA Largo Branch to obtain illegally produced and fraudulent driver’s licenses.   Payne allegedly received payment for each fraudulently issued driver’s license.  Payne is no longer employed by the MVA.

As detailed in the indictment and other court documents, prospective applicants paid Portillo thousands of dollars for each fraudulently issued driver’s license and additional funds for making the arrangements to obtain the illegal license.  Payne received names, addresses, and other information that applicants wished to appear on their Maryland driver’s license.  Portillo allegedly provided the information to Payne along with other fraudulent documents necessary to receive a driver’s license, including proof of tax payment for a two-year period, proof of Maryland residence, and an identification document.  Portillo also allegedly gave Payne, or caused Payne to be given, fraudulent documents purporting to show the applicants’ Virginia driver’s license numbers.  In fact, the Virginia driver’s license numbers depicted on the documents belonged to other real individuals who were not the applicants.  The indictment alleges that, using the information provided by Portillo, Payne produced and transferred, or caused to be produced and transferred, Maryland driver’s licenses produced without lawful authority to the applicants at the MVA Largo Branch.

According to the indictment, on January 7, 2016, Payne allegedly produced and transferred six fraudulent Maryland driver’s licenses, including licenses for three individuals that used the identity information of two victims. The license for individual 1 was allegedly fraudulently based on the Virginia driver’s license belonging to Victim 4. The licenses for the remaining two individuals were allegedly fraudulently based upon the Virginia driver’s license belonging to Victim 1. The indictment also claims that Payne met with Portillo and other individuals in the parking lot of the MVA Largo Branch.  Between January 7, 2016 and February 11, 2016 Payne allegedly created 35 fraudulent driver’s licenses, at least nine of which were based on the Virginia driver’s license numbers of at least five victims.

Antonio Portillo, age 35, of Manassas, Virginia, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme.  He has not yet been sentenced.

Maryland Department of Transportation MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer stated, “Following the April 2016 investigation, MDOT MVA immediately cancelled all of the fraudulent licenses in question. Additionally, we implemented system changes to prevent the unlawful production and transfer of licenses and retrained staff to reinforce proper protocols. MDOT MVA has a zero tolerance policy for fraud, and we take pride in maintaining the highest standards in the interest of safety on Maryland roads.”

If convicted, Payne faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison for the conspiracy and for production and transfer of identification documents produced without lawful authority; a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for bribery involving an agent of a program receiving federal funds; and a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, consecutive to any other sentenced imposed, for aggravated identity theft.  The government is also seeking forfeiture of $138,000.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Payne is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt at a later date.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI for their work in the investigation and thanked the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration Investigation and Security Services for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O’Connell Hayes who is prosecuting the case.

# # #

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Julius Bakari and his wife Mboutchock Kabiwa a/k/a Eugenie Bakari, both age 43, of Silver Spring, Maryland, with health care kickbacks and conspiracy to receive unlawful kickbacks, in connection with their company Holy Health Care Services, LLC (“Holy Health”).  Dominic Forka, age 56, of Lanham, Maryland, a Community Support Worker (CSW) employed by Holy Health, is charged with health care kickbacks, conspiracy to receive unlawful kickbacks, and health care fraud.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon, Office of Investigations, Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS OIG); and Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas, District of Columbia, Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Bakari owns and operates Holy Health and is the company’s Chief Executive Officer and President.  Kabiwa is the Vice President of Holy Health. Dominic Forka was a Community Support Worker (“CSW”) for Holy Health. Holy Health entered into Medicaid Provider Agreements with the District of Columbia’s Department of Health Care Finance (“DHCF”), which permit Holy Health to provide healthcare services to D.C. Medicaid recipients. Holy Health is also certified by the District of Columbia’s Department of Behavioral Health (“DBH”) to perform mental health services. After services are performed, Holy Health documents notes for these services utilizing an electronic health record (“EHR”) system for DBH providers. Holy Health then submits batches of notes in invoices for those services to DHCF, which processes the invoices and pays Holy Health. Holy Health was authorized to provide services from two separate locations in Washington, D.C. (Premises 1 and Premises 2).

The affidavit alleges that beginning in at least April 2017, Holy Health paid homeless people to physically go to Premises 1 and sign in as patients, then fraudulently billed the Medicaid plans of those homeless individuals for mental health treatment services that Holy Health did not provide.  According to witnesses, Holy Health allegedly operated a van service to transport the homeless individuals from a park near the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. to Premises 1.  According to witnesses, after signing in, on some occasions, the witnesses saw a doctor who asked general questions about the witness’s health. On other occasions, the witnesses did not meet with a doctor or any other healthcare provider, and instead received payment for signing in on a Holy Health sign-in sheet. Patients allegedly received $25 for attending three appointments during each week. Specifically, they received $10 for each of the first two days and $5 for the third day.  The affidavit alleges that Holy Health did not provide mental health services to the homeless individuals and continued to bill Medicaid for mental health services even after the individuals stopped attending appointments.

As detailed in the affidavit, from March 2019 to November 2019, two confidential sources conducted undercover, recorded appointments inside Holy Health at Premises 1.  The affidavit alleges that Confidential Source 1 (“CS1”) attended nine appointments at Premises 1 as part of the investigation and each time, Holy Health billed CS1’s Medicaid Plan for unrendered services.  In addition, Holy Health allegedly used CS1’s personal identifying information (“PII”) to bill Medicaid for an additional 25 appointments that CS1 never attended.  Between September 19 and November 22, 2019, CS2 allegedly conducted 11 appointments at Premises 1 and on several occasions saw an individual who informed CS2 that he was CS2’s caseworker.  According to the affidavit, after each of CS2’s visits, Holy Health billed CS2’s Medicaid plan for unrendered services. As was allegedly the case with CS1, Holy Health billed CS2’s Medicaid plan for approximately 60-minute treatment sessions, when the video and audio recordings show that the sessions in fact lasted only minutes. According to the affidavit, Holy Health has used CS2’s PII to bill Medicaid for an additional 32 appointments that CS2 never attended.  According to the affidavit, the electronic health records show that Forka accessed Holy Health’s EHR system to input the 32 appointments that CS2 never attended, all for services purportedly rendered by Forka. As detailed in the affidavit, Holy Health also issued two prescriptions to CS2 that were filled at a pharmacy in Hyattsville, Maryland. CS2 did not request or fill the prescriptions.

Finally, the affidavit alleges that Bakari and Kabiwa utilized funds from a non-profit organization to provide kickback payments to patients, which Bakari and Kabiwa referred to as “stipends.” As detailed in the affidavit, Kabiwa founded and ran the Agatha Foundation, a non-profit organization, which listed Bakari as Vice President.  According to its website, Agatha is “a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Africa that provides various key activities in the U.S. … in order to bring positive changes to the lives of at-risk groups in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and in Africa.” Agatha is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland and operates at Premises 1. Kabiwa allegedly transferred money from Agatha’s bank account to Holy Health employees to provide kickback payments to Holy Health patients.

If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to receive unlawful kickbacks, and a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for health care kickbacks.  Forka also faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for health care fraud.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  The defendants had an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina L. Simms in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt today.  The defendants were released pending trial.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI, the HHS OIG, and the District of Columbia OIG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Catherine K. Dick and Erin B. Pulice, who are prosecuting the case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – Russell Stanley III, age 40, of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty on March 31, 2021 to the federal charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and bribery of a government official.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Special Agent in Charge Imari R. Niles of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Assistant and Interim Chief Hector Velez of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to Stanley’s guilty plea, in August 2018 the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began a joint investigation regarding the importation of cocaine into Maryland through the United States mail.  Investigators identified Stanley as the leader of the drug trafficking organization (DTO) in Maryland.  Stanley admitted that he conspired with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine in Maryland.  Stanley further admitted that he had others assisting him with facilitating his distribution of cocaine in Maryland.  Among those Stanley DTO members was Jovan Kirk Louis Savage, age 35, of Bowie, who picked up cocaine parcels in exchange for $500 per parcel from Stanley and assisted with delivering proceeds of the drug sales to pay off Stanley’s drug debt.

The investigation revealed that two U.S. Postal Service (USPS) letter carriers, Zakiyya Holloman, age 37, of Middle River, Maryland and Maurice Vaughn, age 34, of Washington, D.C. agreed to divert U.S. Priority Mail parcels, containing cocaine, sent to addresses on their routes, to Stanley or a member of the Stanley DTO in exchange for money. Holloman serviced a route in Bowie from April 2017 to October 2019, and Vaughn serviced a route in Bowie from July 2018 to October 2019.  As USPS letter carriers, Vaughn and Holloman were public officials and were expected, among other things, to deliver each package to the addressee at the proper address and to keep an accurate record of their deliveries.  Holloman began diverting packages containing cocaine to Stanley in approximately April 2018, after being introduced to Stanley by a mutual acquaintance.  Holloman received $500 from Stanley for each parcel diverted.  Hollman diverted cocaine parcels on at least six occasions, receiving a total of at least $3,000 from Stanley.  In an effort to conceal the scheme, Holloman scanned the parcels as delivered to the addressees, despite delivering those parcels to Stanley.   

As detailed in the plea agreement, at least once a month from December 2018 until October 2019, Vaughn diverted a U.S. Priority Mail parcel containing two kilograms of cocaine to the Stanley DTO.  Specifically, on February 15, 2019, Vaughn delivered to Stanley’s vehicle, a U.S. Priority Mail parcel containing two kilograms of cocaine addressed to a Bowie address on Vaughn’s postal route.  After Vaughn delivered the parcel to Stanley’s vehicle, Vaughn was paid $200 via Cash App.  Similarly, Vaughn delivered U.S. Priority Mail parcels containing two kilograms of cocaine each on August 29, 2019, and October 2, 2019.  Savage picked up each of the parcels, conducting counter-surveillance to make sure that law enforcement was not in the area.   Vaughn was paid $200 in exchange for diverting each of those cocaine parcels to the Stanley DTO.  In an effort to conceal the scheme, Vaughn scanned the United States Priority Mail parcels as delivered to the addressees, despite delivering those parcels to the Stanley DTO or to particular locations for pick-up by the Stanley DTO.

To help ensure that the letter carriers would not report their criminal activity, Stanley and a co-defendant required letter carriers to provide them with the letter carriers’ home addresses.  Stanley discussed with a co-defendant that they should also tell the letter carriers that they knew the location of the letter carriers’ children's daycares.

In October 2019, Postal Inspectors intercepted a United States Priority Mail parcel destined for an Upper Marlboro address that contained the same contents as previous parcels including, edible peanuts, blue-and-white drinking straws, styrofoam plates and cups, and two kilograms of cocaine inside a Tupperware container.  Law enforcement executed a search and seizure warrant, seizing the two kilograms of cocaine from the package.   On October 9, 2019, Stanley and Savage worked together to pick up the parcel, not knowing that the cocaine had already been seized by law enforcement.  They conducted counter-surveillance to make sure that law enforcement was not in the area, but before they could pick up the package, they detected the presence of law enforcement who were conducting surveillance of the Upper Marlboro package’s delivery.  Stanley fled the scene in his vehicle, but Savage was arrested.    

 On October 9, 2019 investigators executed a search warrant at the shared residence of Stanley, Savage, and another member of the DTO.  Among the items that investigators found and seized were approximately 15 grams of cocaine in a clear baggie and two digital scales from a kitchen cabinet as well as a money counter.  Investigators searched Stanley upon his arrest, seizing $3,196 from his person.  Stanley admitted that during the course of the conspiracy at least 40 kilograms of cocaine were attributable to him.

Jovan Kirk Louis Savage, age 35, of Bowie, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.  Maurice Vaughn and Zakiyya Holloman each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and to bribery.  They face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge and a maximum of 15 years in federal prison for bribery.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Judge Xinis has not yet scheduled sentencing dates for Savage, Vaughn, or Holloman.  

Co-defendant Barrington Albert Edwards, Jr. age 37, of Bowie, Maryland, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and bribery.  Co-defendant Delonte Andre Gomez, a/k/a Turk, age 39, also of Bowie, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.  An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Stanley and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Stanley will be sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.  U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has scheduled sentencing for Stanley on June 29, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the USPIS, the DEA, the U.S. Postal Service OIG, and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samika N. Boyd and Jason D. Medinger, who are prosecuting the case.

# # #

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal grand jury returned an indictment late yesterday charging five men with conspiring to commit a kidnapping, in connection with an incident on February 3, 2021.  The defendants charged in the indictment are:

Darius Lawrence Young, a/k/a “Mup,” age 28, of Washington, D.C.; Christopher Allen Young, a/k/a “40,” age 26, of Washington, D.C.; Anthony Erik Hebron, a/k/a “Pain,” age 28, of Washington, D.C.; Tray David Sherman, a/k/a “Racks,” and “Fat Det,” age 26, of Germantown, MD; and
Lamar Jamal Perkins, a/k/a “Lou,” age 27, of Washington, D.C.

Christopher Young and Tray Sherman were arrested on March 31, 2021 on a criminal complaint filed on March 30, 2021 for the same charge.  Darius Young was already in custody on a related charge. Hebron and Perkins are fugitives.

The federal charges were announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Washington Field Office Criminal Division; and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to the indictment and the affidavit filed in support of the previous criminal complaint, on February 3, 2021, the five defendants conspired to kidnap at gunpoint an individual they had met at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in National Harbor, Maryland.  As detailed in the affidavit, Sherman and Hebron were seen on surveillance footage leaving the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in National Harbor, Maryland, with the victim.  The three men then allegedly drove to Washington, D.C. in Sherman’s vehicle and the victim can be seen in surveillance footage getting out of the car and meeting with an unknown male.  The victim and the man appear to give each other something and the victim then gets back in Sherman’s car and they drive away from the area.

A short time later, Hebron allegedly called C. Young.  A minute after that, C. Young called D. Young and allegedly told him about an opportunity to participate in the kidnapping and robbery of a victim who had already been picked up by Hebron and Sherman.  Perkins allegedly served as a lookout for the Youngs, while they held the victim at a location near the 600 block of 46th Place SE in Washington, D.C.  In the meantime, Hebron and Sherman allegedly returned to the MGM Grand and were observed on surveillance footage appearing to enter the victim’s hotel room.  As detailed in the affidavit, Sherman, wearing a backpack, and Hebron, pulling a roller suitcase behind him, appeared to exit from the victim’s hotel room and walk down the hotel hallway.  When Sherman and Hebron were observed in the same hallway prior to entering the hotel room, they did not have a backpack or roller suitcase in their possession.

According to the affidavit, once the robbery was completed, officers saw C. Young and D. Young exiting the tree line directly behind the location where the victim was allegedly held and returning to their vehicle.  Law enforcement also located the victim in the 500 block of 46th Place SE, with blood running down the front of his face from the top of his head, a cut on his mouth and eye, and a broken and swollen nose.  

Court documents allege that the victim was kidnapped at gunpoint, then beaten and threatened to obtain information regarding the code to the safe in his hotel room.  During the abduction, the defendants allegedly stole the victim’s hotel key, watch, wallet, identification, phone, and cocaine that the victim had purchased during the stop in Washington, D.C.  In addition, the robbers allegedly took approximately $6,000 in cash, approximately $1,500 to $2,500 in poker chips, marijuana, an Xbox, a backpack, and a suitcase from the victim’s hotel room.  The kidnappers also allegedly pointed a gun at the victim, placed a gun in the victim’s mouth, hit the victim in the face and head with a gun, and threatened to kill the victim’s family members if the victim contacted law enforcement. 

If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison for conspiracy to commit kidnapping.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  At t initial appearances yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina L. Simms ordered that Christopher Young and Sherman be detained pending detention hearings, which are scheduled for April 2, 2021.  Darius Young is detained on a related charge and will have his initial appearance at a later date.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

This case is an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI Washington and Baltimore Field Offices for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leah B. Grossi and Jeffrey J. Izant, who are prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Nicholas Milano White, age 30, of Baltimore, Maryland, on March 30, 2021, to eight years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the federal charges of conspiracy to steal mail, emergency benefits fraud, and aggravated identity theft.  Judge Bennett also ordered White to pay restitution of $29,234, the full amount of the victims’ losses. 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; Special Agent in Charge Bo Keane of the United States Secret Service - Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department.

“It is crucial that funds available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act go to those who have been hit hardest by this global pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “My office and law enforcement in Maryland are committed to bringing to justice fraudsters who are stealing taxpayer funds and preying on citizens during this public health crisis to personally benefit by stealing victims’ money and personal identifying information.”

“Stealing mail to commit identity theft and bank fraud not only jeopardizes people’s trust in the U.S. postal system, it threatens the overall financial health of our communities,” said U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge for the Washington Division Peter Rendina.  “This is especially true in the world today when individuals are seeking to take advantage of American consumers during this pandemic.  We will continue to work to bring these people to justice with our U.S. Attorney’s office and local, state and federal law enforcement partners.”

According to his guilty plea, between October 2019 and June 2020, White conspired to and engaged in various fraud schemes, theft of mail, counterfeiting of U.S. currency, production and possession of false identification documents and credit profiles, unemployment insurance fraud, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

White admits that on October 11, 2019, he submitted a fraudulent application for financing to purchase a 2016 Maserati Ghibli vehicle.  The credit application listed a false social security number for White and false employment and income information for White and his co-applicant.  White also arranged to have fake paystubs created for attachment to the credit application as verification of his income.  As a result, White secured financing of $30,227 to purchase the vehicle.

As detailed in his plea agreement, in February and March 2020, White devised schemes to defraud banks and to steal money from individuals by negotiating checks stolen from the United States mail.  On March 8, 2020, law enforcement was able to monitor the movements of White and his co-conspirators through a GPS tracking device installed in a parcel stolen from the collection box at the Rosedale Post Office in Baltimore County.  The conspirators’ movements were tracked to several other post offices and collection boxes in Baltimore County where they continued to steal mail.  When Baltimore County Police officers approached, the conspirators fled in a white sedan registered to one of White’s co-conspirators.  Officers located the vehicle in a residential area of Pikesville, Maryland.  The vehicle was unoccupied and gloves, trash bags, and approximately 358 pieces of unprocessed U.S. mail were found on the ground outside the vehicle.  Law enforcement found and arrested White at a nearby location with a co-conspirator and seized cell phones and USB storage devices from White.  White was released from custody following his arrest.  There were at least 136 postal customers whose mail was stolen.  Approximately 48 victims reported that their stolen mail contained bank checks or other financial instruments totaling $48,938 in value.

A search warrant was subsequently executed on the cell phones and other electronic media seized from White.  The cell phones contained text messages about White creating fake credit profiles and false identification documents for himself and others, and conducting fraudulent bank transactions, as well as the personal identifying information (PII) of identity theft victims.  White’s phones also contained credit card “dumps,” and lists of sensitive information pertaining to at least 1,100 credit cards issued to other persons that could be used to create counterfeit copies of the cards.  White had downloaded these lists from websites that illegally marketed and distributed them.  White’s cell phones also revealed Internet searches for business and personal check refills, a credit card dump website and a personal data broker website, and photos of numerous stolen checks, among other things.  Law enforcement also recovered text messages in which White negotiated prices for the purchase of multiple firearms.  A search of White’s USB devices recovered images of U.S. currency in various denominations, which White admitted were used and/or intended to produce counterfeit U.S. currency.  In at least one exchange of text messages, White attempted to sell $5,000 of counterfeit currency to another person, at one point claiming that he had purchased firearms with counterfeit currency.

Following White’s release from custody in March 2020, he continued to engage in fraud by submitting a false claim for Florida state unemployment benefits through the Internet in the name of a real person, using the victim’s personal information, but providing a false mailing address in Baltimore.  As a result of this false application, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) issued at least two checks payable to the victim totaling $875 and mailed them to the Baltimore address.  The victim, a resident of Florida was later contacted by Florida DEO and confirmed that the claim had been submitted without her knowledge or permission.

In addition, on a date no earlier than May 1, 2020, White unlawfully acquired an Economic Impact Payment (EIP) check issued by the U.S. Treasury and authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.  The EIP check, in the amount of $2,900, was intended for the benefit of M.H. and M.I., a married couple residing in Maryland.  The EIP check had been placed in the mail and addressed to the former home address of the couple in Baltimore.  On June 23, 2020, White fraudulently negotiated the stolen check by endorsing it with the forged signature of M.H. and depositing it into a bank account fraudulently opened on June 14, 2020, in M.H.’s name and using his social security number and date of birth. 

On June 24, 2020, law enforcement executed search warrants at White’s residence and at another address used by White, and conducted a consent search of a storage unit used by White, all in Baltimore.  Law enforcement recovered the following items:  the stolen EIP check issued to M.H. and M.I.; two fake driver’s licenses listing M.H.’s name and former address, but each displaying a different person’s face; two debit cards issued in the name of M.H.; stolen mail pieces and sensitive financial documents belonging to multiple victims; several blank checks issued for a trust account; numerous fake photo identification cards; counterfeit U.S. currency; fraudulently altered money orders; credit and debit cards displaying different names, at least one of which was determined to be counterfeit; equipment used to print counterfeit currency, create counterfeit credit cards, and fabricate false identification cards, as well as check stock intended to fabricate blank checks and money orders; a .45-caliber pistol; a 9mm pistol with a 50-round-capacity magazine; two .223 caliber high-capacity magazines; and several rounds of ammunition.

Two cell phones and a desktop computer were seized and subsequently searched pursuant to federal search warrants.  One of the phones was found to contain notes listing individuals’ names and identifying information, including M.H., as well as a U.S. Postal Inspector who was involved in the investigation of White’s mail thefts and arrest on March 8, 2020.  Information stored on White’s desktop computer revealed a search of the Postal Inspector’s name on a personal data broker website on March 14, 2020, after White was released from custody.

Judge Bennett also ordered that White forfeit his interest in the following items seized during searches in March and June 2020: firearms, ammunition, and firearms magazines; laptop and desktop computers; cell phones; electronic storage devices; blank plastic cards with magnetic strips and/or chips; blank checks and check stock; printers; embossing machines; and magnetic stripe reader/writers or encoders.

Co-defendant Cedric Jonathan McNeal-Parker, age 29, of Randallstown, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft of mail and was sentenced on March 10, 2021, to 18 months in federal prison.          

Charges remain pending against Dominic Jerry Robinson, age 26, of Baltimore, who is scheduled to go to trial on September 20, 2021.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation and thanked the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Maddox, who is prosecuting the federal case.

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Baltimore, Maryland  – Today, Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office today condemned bigotry and hatred against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and encouraged members of the public to report to law enforcement incidents of violence, threats and harassment.

Acting United States Attorney Lenzner stated: “Unfortunately, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders throughout the United States continue to be targeted because of their race or ethnicity.  No one should fear or be subjected to violence, discrimination, or harassment because of who they are, their appearance or their origin.  Attacks and discrimination against our AAPI residents and neighbors are affronts to all of us.  Through the leadership of our Civil Rights Unit and working with the FBI and our other partners, the United States Attorney’s Office is committed to addressing violations of federal law that undermine the civil rights of any residents of Maryland.”

“Acts of hate have no place in our community,” said Jennifer C. Boone, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “If a crime is shown to be motivated by bias, it will be investigated by the FBI and the perpetrators held responsible for their actions. Today, in partnership with the United States Attorney’s Office, we are reminding the public to report information regarding any hate crime to the FBI.” 

Through the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s prioritization and strengthened partnerships, civil rights violations in Maryland will be investigated and, as appropriate, prosecuted by federal or state prosecutors.  To report suspected violations of civil or criminal civil rights statutes, please contact the FBI at 410-265-8080 or tips@fbi.gov.     

The United States Attorney’s Office for Maryland on March 10, 2021, launched its Civil Rights Unit to ensure that the full spectrum of criminal and civil statutes are employed in addressing hate crimes and discrimination; to conduct outreach to government, not-for-profit and private entities in Maryland; and to help provide training and resources to local and state law enforcement in Maryland.  For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao/md; information on the Civil Rights Unit can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/civil-rights.

The most recent statistics on hate crimes are available here 2019 Hate Crime Statistics from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.

Additional resources regarding hate crimes and bias incidents can be found by visiting these links: civilrights.justice.gov/#your-rights and fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights/hate-crimes#FBI-Resources.

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Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced John Michael Raley, age 51, of Silver Spring, Maryland to 10 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography.  Raley was ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution.  Judge Xinis also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Raley must continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to his guilty plea, in 2012 Raley was convicted in U.S. District Court in Maryland of one count each of distribution and possession of child pornography.  Raley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.  Raley was released from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons on February 15, 2019.

On March 27, 2019, during the administration of a court-ordered polygraph, Raley admitted that after he was released from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, he obtained his personal effects from another individual to whom he had entrusted the effects during his imprisonment.  Raley admitted that among the effects was a secure digital memory card (SD card).  Raley had purchased an SD card adapter to plug into his television in order to allow him to view the contents of the SD card on the television at his home in Maryland.  Raley admitted that the SD card contained images and videos of child pornography, which Raley had viewed three to four times since his release from prison. 

Raley then spoke with his U.S. Probation Officer by telephone in the presence of the polygraph examiner and admitted the same conduct.  The Officer advised Raley to go to his home, where the Probation officer met him and confiscated the SD card.  A federal search warrant was obtained for the card and a forensic examination was performed by an FBI examiner.  The memory card contained thousands of images of child pornography, including boys under the age of 12 and depictions of sadistic conduct and violence. 

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy F. Hagan, Jr. who prosecuted the federal case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis today sentenced Ronald S. Repass, age 57, of Poolesville, Maryland, to five years of probation on the federal charge of making false statements or fraud to obtain federal employees’ disability compensation and ordered Repass to pay restitution in the amount of $22,000.  Repass admitted that he falsely claimed that he was unable to work, even though he had worked at various jobs between June 2016 and February 2019, for which he was paid.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Imari R. Niles of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General (OIG); and Special Agent in Charge Derek Pickle, of the Washington Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General (OIG).

As stated in the indictment, the Department of Labor’s Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (“OWCP”) administered major disability compensation programs which provided wage loss benefits, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and other benefits for federal government employees who became disabled during the performance of their duties.

According to the indictment, beginning in October 1989, Repass was employed by the U.S. Postal Service at the Poolesville Post Office in Montgomery County, Maryland.  Repass was a rural carrier on December 5, 2014, when he filed a workers’ compensation claim after he fell and hurt his right shoulder.  OWCP granted his claim on February 11, 2015, for a “right rotator cuff tear” based on a finding that Repass was not able to perform any of the routine duties of his job.  Repass began receiving benefits of approximately $3,227 per month on February 22, 2015. 

The Department of Labor required disabled employees to annually sign and complete a form certifying that they had not worked for the past 15 months.  The disabled employees were also required to immediately report any improvement in their medical condition or any part-time or full-time employment.  In 2016, 2017, and 2018, Repass signed and submitted the form stating that he had not worked for any employer, nor was he self-employed or involved in a business enterprise, despite that fact that during those years Repass worked part-time as a snow plow driver, as a service advisor at an automotive repair shop, as a field supervisor for a home improvement company, as a plumber, and he installed window blinds and mowed lawns, all in exchange for compensation.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the U.S. Postal Service OIG and U.S. Department of Labor OIG for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Hollis R. Weisman, who is prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury has indicted Medard Ulysse, a/k/a “Jay,” age 37, of Miami, Florida, Eghosasere Avboraye-Igbinedion a/k/a “Ego” and “Ghost,” age 26, of Miramar, Florida, and Amaya English, age 21, of Baltimore, Maryland on the federal charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, in connection with a far-reaching scheme in which they allegedly defrauded more than 70 elderly victims of more than $1.5 million.  The indictment was returned on March 4, 2021, and was unsealed today.  Ulysse turned himself in to authorities today and is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.  Avboraye-Igbinedion and English were arrested and had their initial appearances on March 24, 2021.

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

“These defendants are charged with participating in a heartless scheme that preys on elderly victims by falsely claiming that a grandchild was in trouble and needed money to pay legal or other expenses.  The indictment also alleges that members of the conspiracy pretended to be the victim’s relative to convince them to send thousands of dollars to the conspirators,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “By preying on the grandparents’ love for their family and then stealing their retirement savings, these defendants allegedly victimized them twice.  We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring to justice those who perpetrate these despicable schemes targeting elderly victims.  I encourage anyone who believes they may be a victim of financial fraud to contact the Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).”

“This case is a true example of international law enforcement cooperation leading to multiple indictments, arrests and the wide scale disruption of a transnational organized crime group that was mercilessly preying on elderly Americans,” said Jennifer C. Boone, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “These arrests demonstrate the FBI’s determination to stop these egregious crimes and should serve as a warning to those who would seek to profit by threatening and terrorizing seniors.”

According to the one-count indictment, from January 2018 through November 2019, the defendants were part of a conspiracy to defraud elderly victims by persuading them to send thousands of dollars in cash to members of the conspiracy by falsely stating that the money would be used to help the victims’ relatives pay legal or other expenses in connection with crimes and other incidents that had not actually occurred.  Conspirators allegedly telephoned elderly victims throughout the United States, posing as a police officer, lawyer, or other individual, falsely telling the victim that a relative, typically the victim’s grandchild, had been incarcerated in connection with a car accident or traffic stop involving a crime, and needed money—often tens of thousands of dollars—for bail, legal fees, and other expenses. 

As stated in the indictment, during the telephone calls, the conspirators directed victims to send cash to a particular address via an overnight delivery service.  The conspirators allegedly even posed as the victims’ relatives to further induce them to send the cash.  Once the victims did send money, the conspirators called the victims asking for more cash, regularly obtaining tens of thousands of dollars from the retirement savings of victims.  To prevent the victims from sharing the information with anyone, the conspirators allegedly told the victims that a “gag order” had been placed on the case requiring secrecy, or that the situation was embarrassing for the grandchild and they didn’t want anyone else to know about it.

The indictment alleges that Ulysse recruited individuals in Florida with promises of travel and cash payments to participate in the scheme by retrieving packages of cash sent by elderly victims and delivering the packages to him.  Ulysse allegedly directed conspirators to travel from Florida to Maryland and other states and to identify residential locations across the country where the cash should be sent. At Ulysse’s direction, conspirators identified locations that were either vacant or for sale, so that no one would be at those locations at the time of the deliveries, and then retrieved the packages of cash when they were delivered.  Avboraye-Ibginedion, English and other conspirators allegedly retrieved packages of cash from designated locations and relayed directions to other participants in the scheme about where and when to retrieve packages of cash.  The conspirators would then allegedly deliver the packages to Ulysse, English, or to other conspirators.  Ulysse allegedly distributed, and directed other conspirators to distribute, cash payments to other participants in the fraud scheme. 

If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for mail fraud conspiracy.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Two defendants previously charged as part of this ongoing investigation, David Green, age 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, and McArnold Charlemagne, age 33, of Miramar, Florida pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud conspiracy charge, admitting that they defrauded more than 28 elderly victims of more than $939,000.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for Green and Charlemagne on October 29, 2021.  

The Canadian Sûreté du Québec  announced on March 24, 2021, that as part of a National Organized Crime Suppression Squad investigation they carried out a major operation targeting a criminal organization specializing in "Grandparent" type fraud, similar to the scheme alleged in the Maryland indictment.  As part of this project, Canadian officials executed 17 search warrants in the greater Montreal metropolitan area and police met with 35 people in connection with the alleged fraud scheme.  On that same date, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced the indictment of defendants charged with a similar fraud scheme in that District.

The Department of Justice has an interactive tool for elders who have been financially exploited to help determine to which agency they should report their incident, and also a senior scam alert website.  Victims are encouraged to file a complaint online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at this website or by calling 1-800-225-5324.  Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI for its work in the investigation and thanked the Sûreté du Québec for its assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean R. Delaney and Matthew J. Maddox, who are prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – Robert Lee Snowden Jr., age 45, of Owings Mills, Maryland, pleaded guilty on March 22, 2021, to the federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to aggravated identity theft, in connection with a series of fraud schemes perpetrated between 2013 and 2020.    

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Bethanne M. Dinkins of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Inspector General Marva Sutherland of the Office of Inspector General for the Maryland Department of Human Services.

According to his guilty plea, from 2013 to July 16, 2020, Snowden conspired to defraud the Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”), formerly known as the “Food Stamp Program,” by using victims’ stolen identification information to obtain SNAP benefits.  Snowden sold the SNAP benefits for cash at approximately 50% of the value of the benefits on the SNAP card.

In 2011, prior to being laid off from his temporary position at a health care business, Snowden stole lists of health care professionals’ personal identifying information.  Beginning in 2013, Snowden used the health care professionals’ stolen identity information to apply for SNAP benefits, creating fraudulent supporting documents in the names of the victims to provide when requested during the application process.  Snowden used the addresses of acquaintances or nearby vacant homes for the mailing of SNAP cards, which Snowden, or another at his direction, would pick up from those addresses.

Snowden admitted that he sold the majority of the SNAP benefit cards for cash.  After the buyer used the SNAP card, the card was returned to Snowden, who would sell the card to another buyer when the next month’s benefits were loaded to the card. Snowden and his co-conspirator, Larae Betrand, also used the SNAP cards at stores to purchase groceries for themselves. Over 220 victims’ identities were used to apply for SNAP benefits and at least $1,021,583.72 in SNAP benefits were issued and redeemed through the scheme. Snowden also used victims’ identities to open utility accounts including internet, phone, and electricity at his residence.

From 2015 to 2019, Snowden was in a relationship with Larae Betrand.  Betrand was aware of and participated in the SNAP fraud scheme. In addition to receiving DHS mail and SNAP benefit cards at her home address, Betrand sometimes posed as victims on phone calls with DHS and provided false information to secure approval of the fraudulent SNAP applications. Snowden provided Betrand fraudulent SNAP cards for her personal use.

As detailed in his plea agreement, Snowden and Betrand also engaged in a scheme to obtain fraudulent loans from banks and a credit union by providing false employment information on applications for six vehicle loans. Snowden fabricated documents, intending to deceive the lenders regarding his and Betrand’s ability to repay the loans. Snowden was unemployed during all relevant times, and Snowden was aware that Betrand earned significantly less than they claimed on the false documents.  Between March 2017 and February 2020 Snowden and Betrand fraudulently obtained $92,668.58 for four auto loans—two loan applications were denied.

Finally, in the spring of 2020 and continuing through at least July 9,2020, Snowden attempted to obtain COVID-19 SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) using the identity of at least one of the SNAP victims. Using the victim’s information, Snowden established a fictitious business entity in the name of the victim and obtained fraudulent credentials to apply for EIDL. Snowden did not complete the transaction before law enforcement searched his residence on July 16, 2020.

Snowden faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for aggravated identity theft. Additionally, Snowden will be required to pay restitution of at least $1,021,583.72. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has scheduled sentencing for June 3, 2021 at 10 a.m.

Betrand, age 39, of Elkridge, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in relation to this scheme. Betrand will also be ordered to pay at least $5,000 restitution.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Maryland Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Budlow who is prosecuting the case.

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Baltimore, Maryland – A criminal complaint has been filed charging Jeffrey Dean Lecates, age 52, of Salisbury, Maryland, on the federal charges of being a felon in possession of ammunition and of dealing of firearms without a license.  Lecates was arrested and had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on March 24, 2021.  He was ordered to be detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for March 31, 2021.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Timothy Jones of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Division; and Wicomico County Sheriff Michael A. Lewis.                       

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, in December 2020, Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office officers (WCSO) received information that Lecates was manufacturing and selling firearms.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Lecates’ home on February 23, 2021 and seized a number of items, including: a 45 round capacity black PMAG magazine; numerous rounds of live ammunition and spent shell casings; a chore boy; gun rails and other gun parts; tools; drug paraphernalia; a book titled “How to Build Military Grade Suppressors”; and a black book bag containing four AR-15 lower receivers—including one with drilled holes ready to be assembled—and tools used to assemble firearms, gun cleaner, and five paper shooting targets.

According to the affidavit, a forensic analysis of Lecates’ cell phone allegedly revealed text messages indicating that Lecates was building and illegally selling/transferring firearms and ammunition. Photographs of weapons were also allegedly located on Lecates’ phone, including at least 12 outgoing photos of firearms.  What appear to be suppressers (also known as “silencers”) are attached to the firearms in some photos. Within other text messages, Leactes allegedly acknowledged that he was prohibited from possessing and selling firearms.

If convicted, Lecates faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for being a felon possession of firearm and a maximum of five years in federal prison for unlicensed selling of firearms.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the DEA, ATF, and the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gallena and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Wilkinson, who are prosecuting the case.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Brian Edward Steuart, age 52, of Huntingtown, Maryland, and Jamie Lynn Alford (formerly known as Jamie Lynn Steuart), age 44, of Port Republic, Maryland, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, in connection with an alleged scheme to siphon off a portion of closing funds they collected while acting as settlement agents in certain real estate transactions.  The criminal complaint was filed on March 18, 2021, and was unsealed at the defendant’s initial appearance today.

The criminal complaint was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Mark P. Higgins of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Office of Inspector General (OIG); and Acting Special Agent in Charge Shawn Rice of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG).

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Steuart and Alford were husband and wife from June 2008 until September 2017.  Beginning in August 2011, Steuart and Alford were settlement agents for Company 1, a title and settlement company located in Prince Frederick, Maryland, which closed real estate transactions for properties in Maryland and Virginia.  Steuart and Alford were responsible for closing mortgage loans used to purchase or refinance properties, reviewing property titles, issuing title insurance, facilitating closings, and ensuring that the land records were properly filed and recorded. Steuart and Alford also had a fiduciary duty to all parties involved in each real estate transaction, including to accurately account for, collect, and disburse settlement funds from the seller, the buyer, and the lender, in order to close a transaction.

The affidavit alleges that Steuart and Alford violated their fiduciary duty by embezzling funds from unsuspecting clients during real estate closings from at least 2011 to 2017, from both buyers and sellers, from Company 1, and even from a deceased seller’s estate.  The fraud was typically accomplished by inflating or inventing various fees or taxes, creating false entries in settlement documents, and creating forged or altered checks.  Steuart and Alford allegedly wrote checks to themselves, wrote checks payable to each other, or were jointly made the payee on checks.  The affidavit alleges that the defendants deposited the fraudulently obtained funds directly into joint accounts for the benefit of both of them.

According to the affidavit, in order to conceal their fraudulent activities from individuals inside and outside Company 1, Steuart and Alford falsified the settlement statements and altered or fabricated bank statements.  The fabricated bank statements allegedly had beginning and ending balances that were significantly lower than the true amounts according to the actual bank records.  In addition, information such as the date or amount for deposits, withdrawals, credits, or checks were allegedly also inaccurate and there were checks added or missing in some of the fabricated statements.

As detailed in the affidavit, between 2011 and 2017 Steuart received a total of $735,825.63 from Company 1—both lawfully and unlawfully.  However, he allegedly reported his salary to the State of Maryland for that time period to be only $208,168.50.  Between 2011 and 2016 Alford allegedly received a total of $653,537.91 from Company 1 for all sources—both lawful and unlawful.  However, she allegedly reported her salary to the State of Maryland for that time period to be only $302,462.50.

If convicted, Steuart and Alford each face a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for wire fraud affecting a financial institution.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  At today’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan ordered that the defendants be released pending trial.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FHFA OIG and the HUD OIG for their work in the investigation and thanked the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police, and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for their assistance.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Morgan and Erin B. Pulice, who are prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao/md.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal jury has convicted Haitian national Jean Buteau Remarque, age 40, of Greenbelt, Maryland, of two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.  The jury returned its verdict late on March 25, 2021. 

The verdict was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

According to testimony presented at his four-day trial, Remarque previously held positions at the International Bureau of Children’s Rights in Montreal, Canada, and as a Child Protective Officer for the United Nations in Africa.  In May 2018, law enforcement received information that Remarque was engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 15-year-old female.  In addition, Remarque was believed to have sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors on his cell phone.  On July 17, 2018, a federal search warrant was executed at Remarque’s residence in Greenbelt.  Investigators recovered an external hard drive that contained files that had been copied from one of Remarque’s phones.  The evidence presented at trial proved that on November 16 and November 22, 2017, Remarque received sexually explicit images of minors.  Further, the evidence showed that the files included a collection of approximately 100 images of child pornography, including sexually explicit images depicting prepubescent minors. 

As a result of his conviction, upon his release from prison, Remarque will be required to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

Remarque faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of the two counts of receipt of child pornography, and a maximum of 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography.   U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has not yet scheduled a sentencing date.

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

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hagan and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim, who are prosecuting the federal case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm today sentenced Michael Barry Carter, age 47, of Potomac Falls, Virginia, to five years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on charges of wire fraud and investment adviser fraud, in connection with a scheme to steal more than $6 million.  Judge Grimm also ordered Carter to pay a money judgment in the amount of the net proceeds he obtained from the scheme, which was at least $4,355,110.39. 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

“For more than 12 years, Michael Carter perpetrated a brazen scheme that defrauded victim account holders at a global bank of their life savings,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner.  “When his fraud was discovered, Carter repaid some victims by stealing money from other victim accounts, and ultimately he stole close to $5 million.  This case reflects the reality that large-scale fraud can still occur at a global institution with a robust compliance program, and it also reflects our commitment to holding bad actors accountable in order to provide restitution to victims and restore confidence in our system.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work closely with our federal law enforcement partners and the Securities and Exchange Commission to hold accountable financial advisors who defraud victims whose investments they are supposed to protect.”

According to his guilty plea, from August 7, 2006 to April 29, 2011, and again from November 16, 2011 to July 29, 2019, Carter was employed by a financial institution and worked primarily out of the financial institution’s Tysons Corner, Virginia location.  In 2012, Carter was promoted to financial adviser in the wealth management section of the financial institution and was registered to sell securities and act as an investment adviser in Maryland and Virginia, among other locations.  Carter managed and had authority over multiple investment accounts maintained by Victims 1 through 5 (as listed in the indictment) with the financial institution, which contained a mix of assets including securities and cash deposits.  As a financial adviser, Carter was required to manage the victim accounts in the best interests of his clients, consistent with their investment objectives, and not for his personal benefit.

As detailed in the statement of facts, from at least October 2007 to at least July 2019, Carter made numerous unauthorized transactions from the victim accounts for his personal benefit, defrauding Victims 1 through 5 of at least $5 million.  To effect the unauthorized wire transfers, Carter caused the submission of an internal bank authorization form that falsely stated that Carter had received verbal client instructions from each victim authorizing the transfer at a specific date and time.  Carter caused the wire transfers to be sent to his personal accounts and used the money to pay for his lifestyle expenses, including Carter’s mortgage, credit card bills, and country club membership fees.

Carter’s fraud was first discovered when Victim 1 and her adult daughter attempted to obtain a bridge loan from the financial institution to cover relocation expenses to an assisted living facility in Florida until the sale of Victim 1’s home in Columbia, Maryland, was completed.  When they applied for the loan, Victim 1 and her daughter discovered that an $800,000 loan had already been obtained in Victim 1’s name, without Victim 1’s knowledge or permission.  The financial institution determined that the disbursement of the loan proceeds went to Carter’s personal bank account and that Carter used his personal e-mail address in furtherance of the fraud.  The financial institution then learned that Carter had transferred approximately $5 million in unauthorized funds associated with clients of the financial institution.

On July 29, 2019, Carter was fired from the financial institution.  On August 2, 2019, during a call with employees from the financial institution, Carter admitted that he had defrauded the five victims over a period of years, that he had forged clients’ signatures on bank authorization forms, that he had created false financial statements to disguise his theft, and in some cases had mailed those financial statements.  With respect to Victim 1, Carter further admitted that he had met with the victim at her home and answered Victim 1’s phone in order to authorize the transactions, unbeknownst to Victim 1.  Carter did this in order to overcome the financial institution’s multi-factor verification system required to execute the transactions.

According to the plea agreement, during the course of the scheme, Carter made at least 53 unauthorized transfers from his clients’ accounts to his own accounts.  In addition, Carter admitted that he embezzled more than $50,000 from a non-profit sports organization located in Loudoun County, Virginia.  In all, Carter stole at least $6,149,162.77.  Prior to his offenses being detected, Carter caused $1,794,052.38 to be returned to the victims.  After learning that his fraud had been discovered, in October 2019, Carter also repaid the non-profit organization for its loss.  Of the total amount repaid, $1,118,318.52 was repaid through transfers Carter made from other victim accounts. 

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the FBI for their work in the investigation and recognized the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has filed a related civil proceeding.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erin B. Pulice and Jennifer L. Wine, who prosecuted the criminal case.

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