Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis appeared in court Tuesday to face a federal carjacking charge connected to a fatal shooting in St. Louis earlier this month.

Laveal D. Jones II, 24, was charged by complaint October 14 with carjacking. 

Charging documents say Jones and the victim were at a Sauget, Illinois night club early on the morning of October 1. Based on witnesses and electronic evidence, they later drove back to St. Louis, dropping off someone else before pausing in the 3000 block of Walton Place. They arrived at 4:24 a.m. Two shots were heard two minutes later. Shortly after the shots were heard, a body could be seen on video in the street. Other video cameras spotted the victim’s car being driven to East St. Louis. Police were called to Walton Place at about 5:46 a.m. and found the victim’s body. 

The East Saint Louis Fire Department found the victim’s 2015 Kia K900 on fire at 5:51 a.m.

Charges set forth in a criminal complaint are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – Three men accused of federal crimes connected to the theft of mail or attempted theft of mail appeared in court Tuesday to face charges and a fourth has also been indicted.

Tahj K. Boyd, 19, of St. Louis County, and James R. Townsend, 18, of Ferguson, were indicted September 21 on one felony charge of mail theft. Their indictment says they stole mail from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes outside the Post Office at 1100 Town and Country Commons Drive in Town and Country on September 1.

Dwaundre K. Valley, 19, of Bridgeton, was indicted September 21 on three felony charges of bribery of a public official. The indictment says Valley offered three different postal carriers money for the keys that allow access to certain mail collection boxes. On March 4 he approached someone in St. Ann, Missouri, the indictment says. Valley then made similar offers on April 15 in Florissant and April 20 in Maryland Heights.

Dennis Cooperwood Jr., 19, of Country Club Hills, was indicted October 12 on one felony charge of possession of stolen mail matter. Cooperwood’s indictment accuses him of being in possession of about 179 business and personal checks on April 12 that had been taken from a collection box. 

The mail theft and possession of stolen mail matter charges carry a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The bribery charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

“Today’s arrests are the result of the well-coordinated investigative efforts between Postal Inspectors and our local and federal law enforcement partners,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Kai Pickens, who heads the St. Louis Field Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “The Inspection Service is firmly committed to bringing to justice, those who choose to steal mail and victimize the good citizens of St. Louis.”  

Chief James Cavins of the Town and Country Police Department said, “We wish to thank all of our local, state and federal law enforcement partners for the coordinated effort in bringing this investigation to a successful conclusion. This partnership is paramount to our collective success and the ability to provide closure for those affected.  We will continue to work aggressively with other law enforcement organizations at all levels throughout the St. Louis region to investigate, arrest and seek charges for those who choose to engage in criminal activity.”

These cases were investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Town and Country Police Department, and a U.S. Marshals Service task force that includes the St. Louis County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.   

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The United States Attorney's Office announced that Haoyu Wang, age 29, has been sentenced to serve seven years in federal prison for the offense of Possession of Child Pornography. Wang appeared for his sentencing hearing Monday before United States District Judge Stephen R. Clark at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

According to court documents, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Wang’s residence in January 2021 after developing probable cause that he was uploading videos containing child pornography. Wang, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, was attending Southeast Missouri State University on a student visa at the time. Numerous items were seized from Wang’s residence, including his cell phone and computer. Investigators subsequently discovered a large volume of child pornography on the devices. At his guilty plea hearing earlier this year, Wang admitted that he downloaded the material over the internet. After serving his sentence, Wang will be deported back to China.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

ST. LOUIS – A Missouri state employee has been indicted on three federal felony charges and accused of using her position to send about $140,500 in unearned unemployment benefits to friends, relatives and others.

According to the indictment, Vicky Hefner, 63, of Jefferson County, Missouri, began work with Missouri’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Employment Security as a benefit program specialist in 2009. She worked out of her home and an office in St. Louis helping people file their claims over the phone and adjudicating issues people were having with unemployment claims.

From July to December of 2020, Hefner logged into the accounts of multiple friends, relatives or associates, the indictment says. She changed their status and used her credentials in ways that either made them eligible for unemployment benefits or increased their benefits, the indictment says,

She also triggered unemployment payments to people who were still working, the indictment says. Hefner’s friends and relatives then paid her kickbacks, the indictment says.

Hefner was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 28 on three charges of theft of public money. She pleaded not guilty to the charges last week. Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. If convicted, Hefner will also be ordered to repay the money.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General at both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Dowd III is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – Three more people have been indicted in connection with the fatal fentanyl overdose of a 19-year-old in Jefferson County, Missouri, including those accused of supplying the man who gave drugs to the victim.  

William Edward Martin, 22, of St. Louis County, appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to five felonies: conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl with a resulting death, distribution of fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The death resulting charge carries a potential penalty of 20 years to life in prison, and the fentanyl conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Martin was originally charged by complaint in July. Steven “Lemon” Littler, 33, Jacqueline Williamson, 33, and Tanisha Payne, 22, were added in an October 5 indictment. 

Williamson also pleaded not guilty Tuesday. Littler pleaded not guilty October 6. Payne is expected to turn herself in Thursday.

“Hard work by federal and local investigators resulted in charges not only against the person who provided a fatal dose of fentanyl to the victim, but those higher up in the chain of supply,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming. “These charges won’t bring this young girl back, but will provide some accountability for a heinous crime and hopefully serve as a warning to those who sell this potentially fatal drug.”

Littler and Williamson also face the death resulting and conspiracy charges. Williamson also faces charges of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Payne was indicted on the conspiracy charge and a charge of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

Charging documents say Martin sold fentanyl to the teen in a Walgreens parking lot in Arnold on June 23. Surveillance video shows the woman getting into a BMW with Martin. Martin then dragged the teen out of the BMW and put her in the backseat of her vehicle, where she was found dead the next morning. 

Motions seeking to have Littler and Williamson held in jail until trial say they supplied Martin with fentanyl on multiple occasions, including the fentanyl that killed the teen. Their distribution of fentanyl “presents a lethal threat to those purchasing drugs,” a motion says. Williamson had a firearm on July 11, when law enforcement arrived at her home, and was using drugs, a motion says. Drugs were also being prepared for sale in her home, the motion says.

Both were also caught after their arrest with more suspected fentanyl hidden on their person, according to court documents and statements. Williamson failed to tell deputy U.S. Marshals after her arrest about the drugs, which were found at the federal courthouse. Suspected narcotics were found on Littler prior to his entry into jail. 

"Overdose deaths are the tragic consequence of someone's greed and lack of regard for human life," said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of DEA’s St. Louis Division. "With drug overdose deaths at historic highs, DEA will work relentlessly to destroy the criminal networks pouring dangerous drugs into our communities, so that they can longer cause harm to families."

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Arnold Police Department, The U.S. Marshals Service and the St. Louis County Police Department.

ST. LOUIS –A retired St. Louis priest pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday and admitted possessing thousands of images containing child pornography.

James T. Beighlie, 72, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp. In his plea agreement, Beighlie admitted that on May 17, 2021, while he was working at the Congregation of the Mission in St. Louis, colleagues found compromising images of Beighlie on a church printer.

The church launched an internal investigation that included a review of four desktop computer towers, a laptop and a smartphone used by Beighlie. When a private IT support company found what appeared to be videos of minors engaging in sex acts, an attorney for the church contacted the FBI.

About 6,000 images of child sexual abuse material were found on one computer, including about 3,000 images containing child pornography and 2,992 images of child erotica, Beighlie’s plea says. There were also two PowerPoint presentations created by Beighlie that linked to thousands of the images. Another computer had 236 images and 40 videos containing child sexual abuse material.

Beighlie is scheduled to be sentenced January 10.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday sentenced a Florissant woman who committed coronavirus pandemic fraud to two years in prison and ordered her to repay $787,000.

Dionneshae Forland, 51, will be on supervised release for five years after she gets out of prison.

Forland pleaded guilty in July to bank fraud, theft of government property and four counts of wire fraud and admitted a scheme to fraudulently obtain money from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Missouri Small Business Grant Program. 

Forland took advantage of relief programs intended for small businesses and employees at risk of losing their jobs and used the money for personal expenses, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow said in court.

From January 2021 through May 2021, Forland lied on PPP loan applications about payroll and the number of employees and submitted fraudulent documents to obtain four loans totaling $592,225. She spent the money on personal expenses. 

Forland also fraudulently obtained a $150,000 loan for a company linked to her son, Dwayne Times, and two loans totaling $36,600 on behalf of two people referred to her by Times.

Forland unsuccessfully submitted four fraudulent grant applications to the Missouri Small Business Grant Program in July 2020. She did succeed in fraudulently obtaining a grant of $49,988. After Times took out $8,000 in cash, the money was “clawed back” due to officials’ fraud suspicions.

Nearly $600,000 has been seized from various accounts linked to Forland or Times.

Times, 31, pleaded guilty June 9 to one count each of wire fraud and theft of government property. Judge White sentenced him Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered Times to repay $194,850.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Friday sentenced a woman from St. Louis County, Missouri to a year and a day in prison and ordered her to repay the $267,239 she reaped in a pandemic-related fraud.

Semaj Portis, 43, registered a company called Forever Riding with the Missouri Secretary of State on Jan. 15, 2021, then submitted 52 fraudulent applications for rent assistance to the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which administered Emergency Rental Assistance and COVID-19 Emergency Solutions Grants. Portis listed herself or Forever Riding as the landlord and also submitted fraudulent rental leases.

The grants were designed to help both landlords and their financially struggling tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic and “could have and should have gone to Missourians who were struggling during the darkest days of the pandemic,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman said in court Friday. 

Portis, who used the money for vacations and to purchase real estate, took “advantage of a once-in-a-generation crisis,” Wiseman said.

“For too many Missourians, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented time of financial hardship, turmoil, and suffering. But for Defendant Semaj Portis, it constituted a lucrative opportunity to line her pockets with relief payments earmarked for struggling Missourians,” Wiseman wrote in a sentencing memo. 

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.   

“The United States Secret Service will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to aggressively target individuals and groups who attempt to take advantage of federal programs designed to help those in need,” said Special Agent in Charge Thomas Landry of the U.S. Secret Service St. Louis Field Office.  

Anyone with information about rental assistance fraud should contact the FBI at tips@fbi.gov or (314) 589-2500.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Friday sentenced a man from St. Louis, Missouri who carjacked two vehicles in 2020 while armed to 19 years in prison. 

Andre Whitfield, 32, of St. Louis, was also sentenced to 18 months more in prison for violating his supervised release in a 2011 case in which he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

On April 21, 2020, Whitfield stole a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix at gunpoint from a woman who had given he and his paramour, Cherri Barton, a ride. Barton had asked the victim, who was her cousin, for the ride before Whitfield pointed a gun at the woman and said, “Give me everything you got and get out of the car,” his plea agreement says.

On May 13, 2020, Barton asked a woman in her 70s for directions before Whitfield flashed a pistol and took the woman’s 2010 Toyota Corolla. The woman’s purse, which contained $700, was in the vehicle when it was stolen. Police later spotted the car, and Whitfield crashed after a high-speed chase. Police found an AR-15 rifle and a .45-caliber pistol in the car.  

Whitfield pleaded guilty July 1 to two counts of carjacking and two counts of possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Cherri Barton, 36, of Northwoods, pleaded guilty July 7 to one count each of carjacking and possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. At her sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 13, she could face at least seven years in prison for the gun charge.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the Hillsdale Police Department. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Friday sentenced a man from Cahokia, Illinois to 46 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm on two separate occasions. 

Freddie Tilmon, 31, pleaded guilty June 7 to two counts being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that he and his co-defendant, Tishonda Turner, 32, of St. Louis County, went to a St. Louis County gun store on August 8, 2020 and spent $3,984 on three guns, ammunition and accessories. Tilmon told Turner what to buy. 

One of the guns, a Glock semiautomatic pistol, was found by authorities when Tilmon was pulled over in Sandy Springs, Georgia on Nov. 21, 2020.

Tilmon was initially indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on March 3, 2021. When the U.S. Marshals found and arrested him on Oct. 14, 2021, a second Glock pistol with an extended magazine was discovered. 

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kourtney Bell said that on July 28, 2020, an East St. Louis police officer spotted Tilmon with what appeared to be an assault rifle in the driver’s seat of in a car outside of a nightclub. The incident triggered an officer-involved shooting that injured a passenger in Tilmon’s car. Law enforcement later discovered that two pistols found in Tilmon’s car were purchased by Turner at the same gun store as in the August purchase.

Tilmon still faces a federal charge in Georgia of being a felon in possession of a firearm and state charges in Illinois, Bell said in court.

Turner pleaded guilty Feb. 11, 2022 and was sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to two counts of making a false statement to a federally-licensed firearms dealer: on July 16, 2020 and again on August 8, 2020.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kourtney Bell prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Louis County to 12 years in prison for selling the fentanyl that killed a pregnant woman in 2018.

Judge Schelp also ordered Raymond Blankenship, 27, to pay restitution of $10,300 to the victim’s mother. 

Blankenship sold fentanyl capsules to the woman on Sept. 17, 2018. She originally tried to buy a painkiller from Blankenship via Facebook Messenger. Blankenship said he was out, but would call someone else to see if they had any drugs. They later arranged to meet. Blankenship knew he was providing the victim fentanyl, and knew she was pregnant.

She died a few hours later of acute fentanyl intoxication. The victim’s family found her after the overdose but was unable to save her. She left behind a young son. 

“Our world is forever changed,” one of the victim’s relatives told Judge Schelp Thursday. “Fentanyl is the work of the devil.”

After the woman’s death, St. Louis County police detectives posed as the woman and arranged to buy more drugs from Blankenship. When police tried to arrest him, Blankenship ran and swallowed some capsules containing fentanyl.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department. 

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Peters, Missouri on Thursday admitted downloading and sharing child pornography via a variety of social media apps.

Eric Crews, 37, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel. Crews admitted using social media to send and receive child pornography, including via large group chats.

The investigation began when Crews uploaded 14 files containing child sexual abuse material to Kik Messenger on Nov. 11, 2020, and shared them with at least one other Kik user.

A tip from the messaging app to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children resulted in a court-approved search of Crews’ home by St. Charles County police on June 15, 2021. Investigators found at least 5,400 images and 610 videos containing child pornography on Crews’ Apple iPhone. Also on the phone was evidence of Crews’ use of Viber, WhatsApp and TamTam accounts to obtain child sexual abuse material, his plea agreement says.

Crews could face up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both when sentenced January 6.

The St. Charles County Police Department and the FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A woman from Ralls County, Missouri on Thursday admitted embezzling more than $1.2 million from her employer over six years.

Stephanie D. Carper, 51, admitted taking advantage of her position as secretary of a family-owned Ralls County agricultural business to write checks to herself. From September 2013 to September 2019, Carper filled in her own name on at least 44 checks that had been pre-signed by the company’s owner and his relatives so they could be used to pay vendors, Carper’s plea agreement says. Carper then wrote in false explanations on bank deposit slips and the check registry to conceal her thefts.

Carper used the money to buy a 2015 Nissan Murano SUV, a 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup, a Caterpillar 247 skid loader and vacations to Alaska and elsewhere, the plea agreement says.

Carper, who has since moved to Eufaula, Alabama, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to a felony bank fraud charge. At her sentencing, scheduled for January 9, Carper could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. She will also be ordered to repay the money.

The FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh on Thursday sentenced a business owner from Jackson, Missouri to 30 months in prison for health care fraud and ordered him to repay $7.5 million. 

Jamie McCoy, 42, pleaded guilty on Nov. 23, 2020 to three felony counts: health care fraud, making false statements related to health care matters and offering and paying illegal kickbacks for referrals. He admitted owning or operating companies that supplied orthotic braces and other durable medical equipment (DME): AE Wellness LLC, Summit Medical Supply, Patriot Medical Supply and DME Device Co. 

McCoy contracted with marketing firms who placed ads on television and online that offered orthotic braces at no cost. The companies sent patient information to a telemedicine doctor who signed an order for medical equipment without evaluating or even communicating with the patient in some cases, McCoy’s plea agreement says. Those leads, consisting of the patient information and the medical equipment order, were then sold to DME companies.

McCoy admitted paying 70% to 80% of his profits to one person who supplied leads to AE Wellness. Another received $35-40 for leads without a doctor’s order and $280-$300 for a “full lead.”

From September 2016 to August 2017, AE Wellness submitted $6 million in reimbursement claims to Medicare for DME and $67,955 to Tricare. Patriot Medical Supplies billed Tricare $23,951. McCoy admitted knowing Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare, which reimburses for health care services provided to current and former members of the military and their families, would not pay for items obtained by paying illegal kickbacks.

After AE Wellness was suspended in 2017 for paying illegal kickbacks, McCoy, AE’s office manager Brandy McKay and Jackson Preston Siples III, who ran day-to-day operations at AE, opened new DME companies. They concealed McCoy’s role, and continued to pay kickbacks for referrals and leads, McCoy’s plea agreement says.

From June 5, 2018 to March 21, 2019, McCoy and McKay submitted $1.8 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare and $15,540 to Tricare on behalf of a company known as MC Medical. From March 8, 2018 to March 13, 2019, Siples submitted $6 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare and $145,614 to Tricare on behalf of a company known as Integrity Medical Supply. Siples submitted $922,562 in false claims to Medicare from March 5, 2019 to Match 27, 2019 on behalf of Radiance Health Group.

McKay went on to manage a series of companies that continued the scheme.

“Submitting false claims for medically unnecessary equipment diverts funding from the necessary services required to support beneficiaries of federal health care programs,” stated Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. “OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable individuals who choose to waste vital taxpayer dollars by participating in health care fraud schemes.”

McKay was sentenced Jan. 18, 2022 to three years in prison and ordered to repay $7.5 million. Siples pleaded guilty in May to the same charges as McCoy and is awaiting sentencing.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dorothy McMurtry and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Thursday sentenced a man who tried to meet with a 12-year-old girl for sex and then fled from police to 18 years in prison.

Joshua L. Brown, 40, of from St. Clair, Missouri, pleaded guilty Dec. 21, 2021 to a felony charge of coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted offering drugs to a 12-year-old in exchange for sex, while he was on parole from a child molestation conviction.

On March 3, 2020, Brown used Instagram to contact the girl. He made remarks about the girl’s breasts, requested photographs and referenced engaging in sexual acts with her. The girl told her mother, who contacted the Breckenridge Hills Police Department.

“We are incredibly indebted and grateful to this child - that she did the right thing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said during Thursday’s sentencing hearing.

Police took over the girl’s cellphone and Instagram account and began posing as the girl. Brown offered to provide marijuana and methamphetamine if the girl would engage in sexual intercourse. Brown arranged to meet the girl at Sims Park in Breckenridge Hills to engage in sex.

On March 17, 2020, he showed up in a Ford F150 truck at about 12:45 a.m. and sent a message via Instagram to the girl telling her to “leave now” so the two could meet.  When a police officer in a marked patrol vehicle activated his emergency lights and tried to stop Brown, he sped off, running three stop signs and two traffic lights before reaching the highway. Brown eventually drove off of Interstate 44 and down a steep embankment before crashing the truck through the gate of a private property owner’s land. Brown then abandoned his truck and fled on foot.

He was arrested in Jefferson County after a brief standoff in January of 2021.

A review of Brown’s Instagram account revealed that the defendant followed a large number of Instagram pages devoted to young girls.

At the time of his initial arrest, Brown was on parole after being sentenced to seven years in state prison in a 2011 case in Jefferson County Circuit Court. He had pleaded guilty to child molestation in the first degree in a case involving a victim under the age of 12.

The Breckenridge Hills Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

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

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A former police officer from the southeast Missouri city of Piedmont has been indicted and accused of violating the civil rights of two people and then lying to the FBI about it.

Woodrow Massa, 66, of Wayne County, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau Tuesday on two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of lying to the FBI.

The indictment says Massa, while a Piedmont police officer, participated in the arrest and detention of two people “despite the absence of an arrest warrant or probable cause.” The arrest deprived the people of the Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure, the indictment says.

The first arrest, of someone identified in court documents as “J.R.,” occurred on Aug. 12, 2020, the indictment says. The second, of “E.W.,” occurred on Dec. 22, 2020, the indictment says.

The indictment says Massa lied about the arrest of J.R. twice in FBI interviews: first on Oct. 5, 2020 in Wayne County and again on May 24, 2021 in Cape Girardeau County. Massa lied by saying he was not present in the booking room while J.R. was being processed, despite a video recording depicting his presence there, the indictment says.

Massa is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau October 13 to answer the charges.

Each misdemeanor civil rights charge carries a potential penalty of up to a year in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both. The felony charge of making a false statement carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug is prosecuting the case.

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI – The Justice Department announced today the results of its efforts over the past year to protect older adults from fraud and exploitation. During the past year, the Department and its law enforcement partners tackled matters that ranged from mass-marketing scams that impacted thousands of victims to bad actors scamming their neighbors. Substantial efforts were also made over the last year to return money to fraud victims. Today, the Department also announced it is expanding its Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force to amplify efforts to combat scams originating overseas.

 “We are intensifying our efforts nationwide to protect older adults, including by more than tripling the number of U.S. Attorneys’ offices participating in our Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force dedicated to disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting foreign-based fraud schemes that target American seniors,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This expansion builds on the Justice Department’s existing work to hold accountable those who steal funds from older adults, including by returning those funds to the victims where possible.”

“This office has done more than just prosecute those who prey on older adults,” said Sayler A. Fleming, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. “Along with law enforcement partners, older adult advocates and consumer protection groups, we have focused on providing education, outreach events and other vital services to vulnerable populations to try and help them avoid becoming victims in the first place.”

During the period from September 2021 to September 2022, Justice Department personnel and its law enforcement partners pursued approximately 260 cases involving more than 600 defendants, both bringing new cases and advancing those previously charged. 

This past year, the Eastern District of Missouri pursued seven elder fraud cases involving 10 defendants, 62 victims who were over the age of 60 and losses in excess of $4,300,000. The fraud schemes ranged from embezzlement by a bank manager from elderly account holders to romance fraud schemes involving transnational groups to a woman who fraudulently obtained an $18,000 student loan. With the assistance of the district’s law enforcement partners and advocacy groups, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been able to prosecute fraudsters and provide necessary resources to their victims. 

As part of the Eastern District of Missouri’s efforts to combat elder fraud, it engages in outreach to the community and industry to raise awareness about scams and exploitation and preventing victimization. By networking with the St. Louis Elder Financial Protection Coalition, the Better Business Bureau’s Consumer Fraud Task Force and Cape Girardeau County, the district has participated in the Cape Girardeau County Senior Information Fair and the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The office also helped produce a public service announcement featuring an 81-year-old money mule and educated the public via the media. Members of the U.S. Attorney’s office and our federal law enforcement partners are available to conduct educational seminars for community groups, civic organizations and other groups.

The Justice Department also highlighted three other efforts: expansion of the Transnational Elder Fraud Task Force, success in returning money to victims and efforts to combat grandparent scams.  

The Department announced that as part of its continuing efforts to protect older adults and bring perpetrators of fraud schemes to justice it is expanding the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, adding 14 new U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Expansion of the Strike Force will help to coordinate the Department’s ongoing efforts to combat largest and most harmful fraud schemes that target or disproportionately impact older adults.

In the past year, the Department has notified over 550,000 people that they may be eligible for remission payments. Notifications were made to consumers whose information was sold by one of three data companies prosecuted by the Department and were later victims of “sweepstakes” or “astrology” solicitations that falsely promised prizes or individualized services in return for a fee. More than 150,000 of those victims cashed checks totaling $52 million, and thousands more are eligible to receive checks. Also notified were consumers who paid fraudsters perpetrating person-in-need scams and job scams via Western Union. In the past year, the Department has identified and contacted over 300,000 consumers who may be eligible for remission. Since March of 2020 more than 148,000 victims have received more than $366 million as a result of a 2017 criminal resolution with Western Union for the company’s willful failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and its aiding and abetting of wire fraud.

Over the past year, the Department pursued cases against the perpetrators of “grandparent scams,” otherwise known as “person-in-need scams.” These scams typically begin when a fraudster, often based overseas, contacts an older adult and poses as either a grandchild, other family member or someone calling on behalf of a family member. Call recipients are told that their family member is in jeopardy and is urgently in need of money. When recently sentencing one of eight perpetrators of a grandparent scam indicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal judge described such scams “heartbreakingly evil.” The Department is working with government partners and others to raise awareness about these schemes.

Reporting from consumers about fraud and fraud attempts is critical to law enforcements efforts to investigate and prosecute schemes targeting older adults. If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833 FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Department of Justice Hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professional who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting or connect them with agencies, and provide resources and referrals on a case-by-case basis. The hotline is staffed seven days a week from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Central. English, Spanish and other languages are available. More information about the Department’s elder justice efforts can be found on the Department’s Elder Justice website, www.justice.gov/elderjustice.

Some of the cases that comprise today’s announcement are charges, which are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Thursday sentenced a registered sex offender who tried to obtain nude photos of a 6-year-old girl to 15 years in prison.

On April 9, 2022, the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office was notified that William C. Dickhans, 39, was using a borrowed cell phone for illegal activity. Dickhans told deputies that he’d met someone in a chat room who purportedly was the mother of a 6-year-old. In conversations on April 6 and April 7, Dickhans sent pictures of his genitals to the girl and requested pictures of her. Dickhans also admitted to deputies that he was using the chat room to try and find young children.

Dickhans pleaded guilty June 23 to a charge of solicitation of child pornography.

In 2005, Dickhans was sentenced to 70 months in prison after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography and two counts of transportation of child pornography.

The FBI and Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin prosecuted the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday ordered the fourth of four defendants involved in a tax fraud conspiracy to pay $26,558 to the IRS.

Tammy Flanagan, 56, was also sentenced to five years of probation.

All four defendants pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and admitted participating in a scheme to underreport money paid to contractors who performed work at apartment complexes.

Patricia Jane Tucker, 73, of Fredericktown, was the manager of the MACO Management Company office in Farmington, Missouri, and Flanagan, Robin McWilliams, 53, and Billie McFadden,46, of Fredericktown, were property managers. All were responsible for hiring contractors to work on the properties. They hired their spouses as contractors, then manipulated computer records to prevent the submission of 1099 forms to the IRS that would have reflected the money paid to those contractors. 

McWilliams triggered a failure to report about $398,250 in taxable income in 2013 and 2014, resulting in a $124,175 in tax loss to the IRS.  

Flanagan failed to report about $41,770 in taxable income in 2013 and $39,640 in 2014, causing a tax loss of $26,558.

McFadden caused the failure to report $28,442 in 2013 and $19,194 in 2014 for a total tax loss of $46,636.

On Sept. 20, Judge White sentenced Robin McWilliams to four years of probation and ordered her to repay $124,175. In July, Patricia Jane Tucker was placed on probation for four years and ordered to repay $357,917. In March, Billie McFadden also received four years of probation and was ordered to repay $47,636.

“Tax evasion is not a victimless crime.  When people scheme to evade paying taxes, it’s local communities and honest taxpayers who end up paying,” said IRS-CI Acting Special Agent in Charge, Charles Miller, St. Louis Field Office.  “Ms. Flanagan and her co-conspirators knowingly took part in a scheme to cheat the IRS.  We take such violations of the nation’s tax laws very seriously.”

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday sentenced a former youth pastor from New York to 13 years and four months in prison for the sexual abuse of a Missouri 15-year-old in 2013.

Judge White also ordered Jesse E. Vargas, 38, to pay $146,594 in restitution to his victim.

Vargas originally met the then 11-year-old girl at a religious camp in Michigan where he worked.

“Over the course of the next four years Jesse played with my family and I like frogs in a pot,” the victim said in court during Thursday’s hearing. “Slowly increasing the temperature of his manipulation until we each were unaware of the water we had been submerged in, let alone its suddenly scalding temperature. By age thirteen I abandoned most of my spiritual leaders and friendships at his suggestion. By fourteen he even guided me to push away my two closest friends,” she said.

In January of 2013, Vargas traveled from New York to the St. Louis area home of the teen. He stayed in her family’s house and preached a sermon at her church. During the visit, he also sexually abused her.

“I was assured by him throughout my formative young teenage years that ‘The World’ wouldn’t understand the illicit affair of ours he was suggesting, but God had provided us a path that we should follow together in secret. Tell no one. Trust no one else,” the victim said.

He returned in March of 2013 and abused her again. In June of that year, he arranged for her to travel to New York, where he abused her again. He exchanged images and videos containing nude images with the teen via social media apps and text messages.

The victim also spoke about the effects of Vargas’ abuse, including PTSD.  “As a lifelong honors student with high career hopes entering high school, I instead dropped out because I was simply too exhausted to care about anything.”

Vargas, of Nassau County, pleaded guilty March 22 to two felony counts: travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual contact and coercion and enticement of a minor.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Hazelwood Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

“The way Jesse Vargas used the guise of spiritual instruction is repugnant. He manipulated not only his victim, but the adults who tried to protect her,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis of the FBI St. Louis Division. “I commend the victim’s bravery for coming forward, in spite of having to relive her trauma, to prevent others from becoming a victim.”  

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

ST. LOUIS – A woman from Franklin County, Missouri on Wednesday admitted fraudulently applying for three Paycheck Protection Program loans while being prosecuted on an unrelated $727,000 embezzlement case.

On Aug. 3, 2020, Christen Diane Schulte pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering. She admitted embezzling funds from her employer and other individuals and entities associated with her employer. She then sought a series of delays in her sentencing.

On Wednesday, Schulte, 36, admitted that between March 22, 2021 and May 19, 2021, while awaiting that sentencing, she fraudulently applied for three PPP loans, designed to help save small businesses and jobs from economic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schulte admitted lying on the loans when asked if she was facing or had been convicted of a felony, and when asked the same question about a felony involving fraud, bribery, embezzlement or a false statement in an application for a loan or for federal assistance.

She also lied about the gross income for the company, the “Mama Bear Cake Company.”

One application for a $13,691 loan was rejected due to her criminal history. A $13,566 loan was approved by a different financial institution. She then sought and received a “second draw” of $13,566 from that company, receiving the money on May 19, 2021.

Eight days later, Schulte was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison and ordered to pay $517,140 in the embezzlement case. She began serving that sentence on Aug. 30, 2021.

Schulte was indicted in the new case on Nov. 10, 2021. On Wednesday Schulte pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp to three more counts of bank fraud.

She is scheduled to be sentenced December 28 and could face up to 30 years in prison on each count. She faces an additional penalty of up to ten years for committing her crimes while on pre-trial release in the embezzlement case.

The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Vinita Park, Missouri who stole nearly $600,000 in items from The Home Depot and then returned them for gift cards was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison. 

U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White also ordered Xavier Brown, 46, to repay the retailer $598,036.

Brown, who also goes by Xaiviar Brown, was convicted by a jury in May of four counts of wire fraud and one count of unauthorized use of an access device.

From 2017 to 2021, Brown stole from Home Depot stores and then made more than 1,900 returns of that merchandise across 20 states, using more than 1,700 different temporary drivers licenses to conceal his scheme. Brown, having no receipts, was given store credit or gift cards.

“There’s a reason that the saying ‘Crime doesn’t pay’ has stood the test of time. Xavier Brown hid his scheme by defrauding Home Depot in different states until it caught up to him,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis of the FBI St. Louis Division. “As soon as Home Depot detected Brown’s suspicious activities, the business contacted the FBI which resulted in today’s nine-year sentence in federal prison.”

The FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday sentenced a woman from St. Charles to four years and nine months in prison for her role in a $2.5 million fraud involving Missouri’s Medicaid program and a nearly $60,000 fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan.

Judge Clark also ordered Barbara Martin, 63, to repay $2,566,989 to Missouri’s Medicaid program and $58,295 to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Martin pleaded guilty on June 28 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and bank fraud conspiracy. She admitted being the administrator for Legacy Consumer Directed Services, a business that fraudulently enrolled in 2013 in the Missouri Medicaid program to provide personal care services. Martin falsely listed the name of her daughter, Zamika Walls, on the application to conceal her own role and the role of her sister, Margo Taylor, as the people who ran the day-to-day operations of the company. Walls was listed as the director of the company but was not involved in its operation.

Had Martin listed her name or Taylor’s, the application would not have been approved as they did not meet the enrollment criteria. On the application, Martin falsely checked “no” in response to the question asking whether the applying provider had ever been convicted of a crime.

Legacy billed the Missouri Medicaid program a total of over $2.5 million between May 2014 and September 2020. Some of that money was for care that was never provided, as Martin, Walls and another child of Martin not named in court documents were out of town on trips to Miami, Las Vegas or Atlanta when Martin claimed they were providing personal care services for Medicaid clients and Walls lived in Atlanta.

Arvids Petersons, director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, told Judge Clark during the hearing that Martin actively subverted controls designed to prevent fraud. Peterson said $2.5 million would provide personal care services that could keep more than 200 people in their homes instead of skilled nursing facilities.

Martin and Walls also conspired to submit a fraudulent loan application to the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID-19 pandemic-era program designed to help save small businesses and jobs, on behalf of Legacy. Martin lied when she claimed the loan would be used to pay salaries, mortgage or lease payments and utility bills. In support of the application, Martin submitted fake payroll data and eventually received a $58,295 loan. After Legacy ceased operations, Martin submitted a fraudulent application seeking forgiveness of the loan, falsely claiming the loan money had been used for authorized purposes.

Zamika Walls, 38, was sentenced September 21 to 15 months in prison and ordered to repay $127,491. She pleaded guilty June 16 to the same charges as her mother.

Taylor, 66, pleaded guilty July 11 to two counts of health care fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced October 19.

"Defrauding Medicaid diverts valuable resources from beneficiaries and undermines the integrity of federal health care programs," said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “We work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to pursue fraudsters and ensure the appropriate use of U.S. taxpayer dollars."

The U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Reiter is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Manchester, Missouri who had previously been convicted of a charge of possession of child pornography admitted on Monday being caught again with child sexual abuse material.

Eric D. Goodwin, now 41, was sentenced in 2020 to two years in prison and a life term of supervised release. In June of 2022, while Goodwin was on house arrest after his release from prison, a U.S. probation officer doing a home visit discovered that Goodwin had access to a room with computers and electronic devices. Goodwin then admitted possessing an iPhone, a tablet computer and a USB drive containing at least 882 images and 624 videos of child sexual abuse that he found using the Telegram app and on the dark web.

Goodwin was also sharing child pornography with someone via SnapChat, his plea agreement says.

Goodwin, by pleading guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography as a prior offender, now faces 10 to 20 years in prison when sentenced Jan. 4, 2023. Both prosecutors and Goodwin's attorney agreed as part of the plea to recommend a ten-year term. He was taken into custody at the end of Monday’s plea hearing.

The U.S. Probation Office and the FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Friday sentenced a man from St. Louis County who robbed two stores and was shot while robbing a third to ten years in prison.

Malik Dorsey, 23, pleaded guilty at the start of Friday’s hearing to three robbery charges and one count of possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He admitted two armed robberies and one attempted robbery. 

On Dec. 5, 2020, he and a co-defendant, Darrion Gardner, robbed a T-Mobile store on Lackland Road in Overland. They forced an employee to the ground, stole cash from the cash registers and an employee and then stole phones from a storage area after forcing an employee at gunpoint to take them there.

Two days later, they robbed the Universal Accessories store on St. Charles Rock Road in Breckenridge Hills of cell phones.

Dorsey was in the process of robbing the Boost Mobile store at 7222 Manchester Road in Maplewood when he was shot by a store employee and wounded. He is now a paraplegic. 

The crimes were caught on surveillance video and both Dorsey and Gardner were wearing GPS ankle monitors at the time.

Gardner, of St. Louis County, was sentenced September 13 to 14 years in prison. Both Dorsey and Gardner were also ordered to pay $16,183 in restitution.

The FBI and police departments in Overland Hills, Breckenridge Hills and Maplewood investigated this case.

ST. LOUIS –A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Thursday admitted involvement in a gun deal that turned into a police chase after a shooting.

Michael Joseph Monroe, 25, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp to one felony count of conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

On Aug. 21, 2019, during a joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis County Police Department, Monroe sold a 9mm pistol for $325 to someone near a market in Dellwood. 

Treyvon Perry, 20, of St. Louis, was in the passenger seat of the car, a black Audi A6 with heavily tinted windows and an Illinois temporary license tag. He was armed.

Investigators then learned that shortly before the gun deal, the passenger of a black Audi A6 matching the description of Monroe’s car fired multiple shots at another car on westbound Highway I-270 near Old Halls Ferry Road. The shooting victim’s vehicle was hit six times, including three times directly underneath the left driver’s side door.

Police soon located the Audi again, and Monroe fled, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph in a chase that lasted about 12 miles before he crashed. During the chase, Monroe forced a marked police vehicle off the road.

Police found fentanyl, cocaine base, oxycodone and a mixture of other drugs in the car, as well as a single bullet.

Perry pleaded guilty in July to the same charge as Monroe. He is scheduled to be sentenced October 27. Monroe is scheduled to be sentenced December 20.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.   

ST. LOUIS – A man from Ballwin, Missouri on Thursday admitted providing the fentanyl that killed an acquaintance in 2020, and then hiding the body in the backyard.

Quinton O’Bryan Adaway, 26, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey to one count of distributing fentanyl.

Adaway admitted that late in the evening of July 11, 2020 or early the next morning, he provided several capsules containing fentanyl to a man he’d known for several years. The victim, identified in court documents as “M.C.,” had bought drugs from Adaway in the past or traded drugs with him, the plea says, and both struggled with drug abuse. Adaway warned M.C. that the capsules were more potent than capsules M.C. had previously used.

M.C. was parked at the rear of the home on Holly Terrace Court where Adaway was living. He took the fentanyl in his car before leaving, overdosed and died. Later that day or the next, Adaway discovered the body and tried to hide it in the backyard by partially covering it with cloth and placing items around it. Adaway also removed the SIM card from M.C.’s cellular phone and disposed of the phone.

M.C.’s family and girlfriend began looking for him on July 12. M.C.’s girlfriend contacted Adaway, who denied knowing where he was. The next day, they reported M.C. missing to police and tracked M.C.’s cell phone to Adaway’s house. 

The family contacted the Ballwin Police Department, and officers found M.C.’s body. Police found the SIM card, two of the victim’s debit cards, drugs and drug paraphernalia in Adaway’s home. 

Adaway is scheduled to be sentenced January 12. Both sides have agreed to recommend a 10-year prison sentence.

Adaway was sentenced to four years in state prison after pleading guilty in St. Louis County Circuit Court to a felony charge of abandoning a corpse.

The Ballwin Police Department investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The United States Attorney's Office announced that Duramus T. Coleman, age 38, of Charleston, was sentenced to serve 115 months in federal prison for the offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Coleman appeared for his sentencing hearing today before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

According to court documents, on October 22, 2021, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo traveling on MO Highway 105 with expired license registration tags. Before coming to a stop, the driver of the Monte Carlo attempted to flee and a vehicle pursuit ensued. The driver eventually left the roadway and drove into the front yard of a residence. While the car was still in motion, the driver exited and fled on foot. A woman was standing nearby and advised the trooper that she saw a man run into her home, and she gave permission for the trooper to enter. The door was locked and the landlord was contacted to bring extra keys.

Once inside, the trooper located the driver of the Monte Carlo hiding in a bedroom of the home. The subject was identified as Duramus Coleman and taken into custody without further incident. The trooper returned to the Monte Carlo and observed a pistol in plain-view inside the car.
Coleman was previously convicted of the felony offense of domestic assault in the second degree in Mississippi County and is therefore prohibited from possessing firearms.

This case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney Julie Hunter handled the prosecution for the government.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis man to five years and 10 months in prison for using stolen or fake identification documents to buy, lease or steal three cars and a $5,600 puppy.

Samuel Stoddard, 26, pleaded guilty in June to eight felony counts in two criminal cases: aggravated identity theft, identity theft, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, access device fraud, possession of five or more identification documents, possession of document-making implements, possession of falsely made securities and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle.

Stoddard admitted being found in possession of a series of fake or stolen identification documents and vehicle registration materials after a court-authorized search of his home in St. Louis. He’d already created a fake Missouri driver’s license that another person used to rent a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu and a fake Illinois title for the car to prevent the rental company from getting it back.

After the search, he used a fake temporary driver’s license in the name of a Webster Groves man to buy a $5,600 German Shepherd puppy from a Lake St. Louis company. He used other fake identification documents to lease a 2021 Volvo XC90 worth more than $56,000 from a Kansas car dealer and buy another XC90 worth $41,000 from a St. Louis County dealer.

Stoddard also forged the name of another individual and used a fraudulently obtained credit card to pay towing and impound fees for a 2020 Acura RDX. The vehicle was in the custody of a St. Louis tow yard because it had been reported as having been fraudulently purchased from a St. Louis area dealership.

After his arrest on the federal charges, he used another jail inmate to help him conceal the proceeds of his crimes as well as the material he used to commit them, according to his guilty plea.

After Stoddard fled from federal pretrial supervision and became a fugitive, he continued his criminal activities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia before he was arrested and returned to federal custody in Missouri.

For three years, Stoddard “just kept engaging in fraud on top of fraud,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry said during the sentencing hearing Tuesday.

The Missouri Department of Revenue, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service and police departments in the Missouri jurisdictions of Manchester, O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Charles County, St. Louis, St. Louis County and Webster Groves investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former high school counselor in St. Louis County, Missouri on Tuesday admitted having sexual contact with one student and having inappropriate contact with nine others.

James Q. Jenkins, 38, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White to two felonies: coercion and enticement of a minor and transfer of obscene material to minors.

Between Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 1, 2021, while a high school counselor, Jenkins engaged in a pattern of inappropriate activity with multiple students.

Jenkins admitted approaching one 15-year-old student at school and telling her he wanted to get to know her better. The student began to go to Jenkins’ office, where they would paint or play board games.  Jenkins began to contact the teen on her personal cell phone and via social media. Jenkins told the victim that he was very sexual, requested nude pictures and sent her nude pictures. He claimed he loved her and told her not to tell anyone about their communications while telling the victim that he wanted to have sex with her.

Jenkins approached another teen in the lunchroom and asked her to come see him. He soon began to compliment her body and told her that he wanted to engage in phone sex with her.

A third teen began meeting with Jenkins because of challenges at home. He started communicating with her in a sexual manner, sent her nude pictures of himself and requested pictures in return. He also engaged in sexual conduct with the teen while she was a student, on occasion leaving school early to do so. In his plea agreement, Jenkins disputed the teen’s claim that the first sexual encounter was non-consensual.

Jenkins told a fourth student that another teacher had recommended counseling. Jenkins brought up inappropriate topics, arranged to smoke marijuana with her and asked her to teach him a “sensual” dance.

About six more students reported inappropriate behavior. They told authorities that Jenkins made comments about their bodies, communicated with them on their personal cellular telephones and social media accounts, tried to make plans with them outside of school, showed them sexual videos, took his shirt off, called them by pet names and touched them in a manner that was inappropriate and uncomfortable, Jenkins’ plea agreement says. 

Jenkins was counseled by school officials about concerns that he put off seeing male students in need of counseling while demonstrating alarming familiarity and frequency of contact with certain female students, his plea says.

After Jenkins quit in the summer of 2021, claiming his mother was ill, he tried to get work as an elementary school counselor.  The investigation also revealed that Jenkins had been counseled and put on administrative leave by the St. Joseph School District in Missouri due to inappropriate behavior with female students, his plea says.

Jenkins is scheduled to be sentenced December 20. He faces a penalty of 10 years to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The St. Louis County Police Department investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A jury on Friday convicted a former reality show star from Jackson, Mississippi of murder-for-hire and insurance fraud charges connected his successful plot to have his nephew killed in 2016. 

After seven days of evidence, jurors found James Timothy Norman, 43, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Andre Montgomery Jr. on March 14, 2016, at 3964 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis.

Norman took out a life insurance policy worth $450,000 on Montgomery, then arranged through intermediaries for his nephew's murder so that he could profit from it. Norman and Montgomery appeared on the reality show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s. 

All three of Norman’s co-defendants pleaded guilty before trial. On June 3, 2022, Travell Anthony Hill, now 31, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire. Hill admitted that prior to Montgomery’s death, he met with a mutual acquaintance of his and Norman’s, who told Hill that Norman wanted Montgomery killed. On the day of Montgomery’s death, Hill and Norman met in St. Louis and Norman told Hill that a woman would be calling with Montgomery’s location. After receiving a call from the woman, Terica Ellis, Hill fatally shot Montgomery with a .380-caliber handgun at 8:02 p.m. and then disposed of the gun and his phone. He was later paid $5,000. 

On July 22, Ellis, 38, pleaded guilty to the murder-for-hire conspiracy charge and Waiel “Wally” Rebhi Yaghnam, 44, pleaded guilty to a charge of wire and mail fraud conspiracy.

Ellis, an exotic dancer from Memphis, Tennessee, admitted finding Montgomery twice for Norman before the murder and providing Montgomery’s whereabouts first to Norman, then to Hill, using prepaid “burner” phones Ellis and Norman purchased together. Ellis admitted knowing that Norman was upset and frustrated by his inability to locate Montgomery and knowing that Norman was going to take some form of action, but she did not know Montgomery would be shot. Norman paid her $10,000 for finding his nephew and told her to dispose of her burner phone after the murder. 

Yaghnam, an insurance agent, admitted conspiring with Norman to fraudulently obtain a life insurance policy on Montgomery.  Beginning in October of 2014, Norman and Yaghnam submitted five separate life insurance applications, all containing numerous false statements regarding Montgomery’s income, net worth, medical history, employment and family background.  The $200,000 policy that was ultimately issued had a $200,000 accidental death rider that would pay out if Montgomery died of something other than natural causes and a $50,000 rider that would pay out if Montgomery died within 10 years of the policy’s issuance.

Following Montgomery’s murder, Yaghnam helped Norman file a claim on Montgomery’s life insurance policy. 

Elis was charged by complaint on July 8, 2020. Norman was charged Aug. 11, 2020. Norman, Ellis and Yaghnam were indicted Aug. 20, 2020. Hill was charged Nov. 3, 2020.

Norman is scheduled to be sentenced December 15.

U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming said, “I’d like to thank the prosecution team that worked with a tremendous amount of evidence to earn this guilty verdict, as well as the cooperation and diligence of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.”

The FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angie Danis and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Waterloo, Illinois on Thursday admitted embezzling $339,844 from his former employer. 

Ronald Scott Miller, 54, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark to one count of wire fraud and admitted using several schemes between March 27, 2014 and Sept. 29, 2020, to steal the money.

Miller was the warehouse and labor supervisor for a small floor covering business in St. Louis County, responsible for supervising the company’s installers, scheduling their weekly shifts and drafting their timesheets. He also had the authority to hire flooring installers. 

Miller submitted false timesheets for himself, his partner and his son. His partner did not work for the company, but Miller submitted timesheets anyway, then collected the paycheck and forged his partner’s signature to deposit it in his own account.

Miller falsely inflated the hours worked by his son without his son's knowledge and did the same for himself by claiming he was working on installation projects when he was not. 

Miller also submitted fraudulent invoices in the name of two fake companies, claiming he had made purchases there. Miller created accounts with Square Inc. in the names of those companies so he could pay himself with company credit cards or caused the company to issue checks to pay the fake invoices. 

Finally, Miller altered and inflated receipts for legitimate purchases that he made and then sought reimbursement from his company. 

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced December 28. The wire fraud charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The FBI and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A bank branch manager from Florissant, Missouri appeared in court Thursday to answer charges accusing her of stealing $175,000 from elderly customers.

Andrea Nicole Hopkins, 28, was indicted September 7 on four felony counts of bank fraud. She pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Hopkins’ indictment alleges that from Feb. 20, 2020 to May 25, 2021, while manager of the Commerce Bank branch on Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, she devised a scheme to divert money from numerous customer accounts for her own use. 

Hopkins targeted elderly customers, including two 80-year-olds, one 95-year-old and one 82-year-old, the indictment says. She logged into customer accounts and transferred funds out, the indictment says, sometimes obtaining cashier’s checks or prepaid cards. She changed the address on some account statements, forged customer signatures and transferred funds among customers to try and hide the thefts, the indictment says.

In all, Hopkins fraudulently diverted $328,273 from customer accounts, but $152,431 of that she transferred internally among customers to hide her theft, the indictment says.

Each bank fraud count is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.   

ST. LOUIS – A man from Hawaii appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday to face charges accusing him of stalking teens online and distributing child pornography.

Gerardo Javier Montes, 31, was indicted July 27 on one count of distribution of child pornography, one count of attempted production of child pornography and one count of cyberstalking. He was arrested in Hawaii July 29 and arrived in St. Louis on Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that Montes distributed child pornography online on Dec. 8, 2021. It also says between Dec. 6, 2021 and Jan. 15, 2022, Montes tried to persuade a 14-year-old girl to send him nude pictures of herself by threatening to post nude photos of her that he had already obtained, and then did so when she refused.

In a detention motion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman said that in addition to the Missouri teen, Montes targeted a 17-year-old in Oklahoma, a 16-year-old in Texas, a 13-year-old in Hawaii, a 26-year-old in California and other, as-yet-unidentified minors.

Montes found some of his targets online, in chat rooms or messaging boards discussing suicide or depression, the motion says. He also pretended to be a young girl to get other young girls to send him child sex abuse material, the motion says.

The case was investigated by the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.   

Officials say the number of cases of sextortion have been rising. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has more information, including tools to protect children and others from becoming victims.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Georgia appeared in court Wednesday on a felon in possession of ammunition charge connected to a fatal St. Louis shooting in July.

Darius T. Griffin, 31, was indicted August 3 on the charge and arrested August 10 in Georgia. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday in St. Louis. 

The indictment alleges that Griffin was in possession of ammunition on July 21, 2022. A detention motion alleges that Griffin was in town that day from Georgia to ambush a man identified in court documents as “V.J.,” a suspect in a shooting of a Griffin relative.

Griffin waited outside a market in the 1000 block of North Kingshighway Boulevard, then chased the victim down an alley, firing a semi-automatic rifle, the detention motions says. The chase and shooting were captured on surveillance video.

The ammunition charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the FBI and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a man from St. Louis County who robbed two stores while wearing a GPS ankle bracelet placed on him after other robbery charges to 14 years in prison.

On Dec. 5, 2020, Darrion Gardner and a co-defendant robbed a T-Mobile store on Lackland Road in Overland while armed. They forced an employee to the ground, stole money from the cash registers and one employee and then forced an employee at gunpoint to take them to a storage area, where they stole phones, Gardner admitted in a plea agreement.

Two days later, the pair robbed the Universal Accessories store on St. Charles Rock Road in Breckenridge Hills. The men took phones from the store and an employee at gunpoint.

Gardner was arrested on Dec. 10, 2020.

After his arrest, Gardner tried to get his father to destroy evidence of the robberies located in his bedroom.

A sentencing memo called the series of events “violent and aggressive crimes which were brazenly repeated.”

Before the cell phone store robberies, Gardner had been released on bond after being arrested and accused of the robbery or attempted robbery of people walking on or near the grounds of Concordia Seminary and Washington University, court records show. Gardner still faces pending charges related to those robberies in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Gardner, now 22, pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court to two felony counts of robbery and two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Each gun charge carries a mandatory minimum five-year term consecutive to other charges. 

Federal charges are pending against Gardner’s alleged co-defendant, Malik Dorsey, who was shot by a clerk while allegedly robbing a cell phone store in Maplewood on Dec. 9, 2020.

The FBI and police departments in Overland Hills, Breckenridge and Maplewood investigated this case.

ST. LOUIS – A doctor from Ohio pleaded guilty Monday to three felony charges and admitted accepting $291,000 in kickbacks from telemedicine companies involved in a nationwide fraud scheme. 

Despite knowing it was illegal to solicit or accept any payments in return for referrals, Dr. Amy E. Swegan, 47, of Aurora, Ohio, was paid $30 for each “consult” she performed on behalf of a series of companies from July 25, 2017 to February 28, 2019. She then approved prescriptions for pain cremes, genetic tests for cancer and orthotic braces and other durable medical equipment for thousands of patients, her plea agreement says.

Medicare, Medicaid and other insurers will reimburse for durable medical equipment only if a qualified health professional determines that the brace is medically necessary. Swegan simply accepted the statements of the telemedicine companies that the intake workers employed by them were qualified to assess patients. She made no further inquiry or investigation, and simply ordered orthotic braces that patients did not request or need, her plea agreement says.

Swegan admitted ignoring numerous red flags and deliberately chose not to inquire as to whether the agreements and practices were improper, unethical or illegal.

Medicare and Medicaid were billed over $18 million by the companies and paid out $7.2 million, Swegan’s plea says. 

Swegan pleaded guilty Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one count of conspiracy and two counts of health care fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced December 14. The conspiracy charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine and the fraud counts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She will be ordered to pay $7.2 million in restitution.

"Doctors engaging in kickback schemes corrupt the provider-patient relationship and impose hidden costs on the health care system," said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Alongside our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG is committed to safeguarding the integrity of federal health care programs by, in part, holding individuals who unlawfully bill the programs accountable for their actions."

HHS-OIG, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dorothy McMurtry and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Friday sentenced a couple from St. Louis County for falsely claiming to have provided home care to elderly Medicaid recipients.

Qais Meraj, 33, was sentenced to two months in prison, two years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine and was ordered to repay $45,871. Judge Fleissig sentenced Aziza Meraj, 41, to three years of probation including two months of house arrest, a $5,000 fine and ordered her to repay $33,241. She was also ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

During Aziza Meraj’s sentencing Judge Fleissig called the case “very disturbing,” and cited allegations in court documents of other fraudulent activity by the Merajs, adding, “This is just really inexcusable behavior.” 

Qais and Aziza Meraj each pleaded guilty June 8 to one count of making false statements to the Medicaid program. They admitted defrauding the Missouri Medicaid program MO HealthNet by falsely claiming to have provided personal care services for multiple Medicaid clients from February 2019 to March 2021. As a result, Medicaid was billed for services that were never provided.

Qais Meraj admitted being paid $45,871 for services that he had not provided. Aziza Meraj admitted being paid $33,241.

The Merajs worked for different companies during that time as personal care attendants, and were supposed to help clients with meal preparation, grooming, cleaning and managing their medications as a way of keeping those clients out of a nursing home or hospital.

The Merajs forged clients' initials and submitted time sheets that falsely represented that they provided personal care services to one couple when the Merajs were out of the country, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric said in a sentencing memo.

In court, Sestric said, “This crime was motivated by pure greed.” She said the couple has a comfortable net worth, owns a host of investment properties and a gas station and convenience store, but chose to defraud a program intended to help vulnerable, low-income Missouri residents, and to deprive elderly, non-English-speaking Medicaid recipients of necessary services.

When the couple’s failure to help one couple was reported to the Missouri Medicaid Audit and Compliance Office, Aziza Meraj retaliated by impersonating the couple’s daughter and canceling their Medicaid eligibility and food stamps by falsely claiming that they were leaving the country, Sestric said in court. It took several months to get the benefits restored, she said.

"The Merajs were more motivated by personal greed than their duty to provide appropriate and necessary care to vulnerable patients," said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Alongside our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG is committed to protecting the integrity of the Medicaid program and to ensuring the appropriate use of U.S. taxpayer dollars."

The HHS-OIG and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Friday sentenced a woman from St. Charles who fraudulently obtained prescription drugs for herself and her children and then sold them to others, including an undercover agent, to two years of probation, including four months of home detention, and 20 hours of community service.

Katie Diana Rooney, 39, pleaded guilty at the start of Friday’s hearing to a health care fraud charge and a charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

Rooney admitted that on numerous occasions from July 11, 2018 to October 2018, she visited a doctor and falsely claimed to need prescription medications for medical conditions that she or her children had. She had already decided to sell some or all of the drugs, including the ADHD drug Adderall, oxycodone and the antianxiety drug alprazolam, to other people, and did so. 

During the investigation, Rooney had an undercover law enforcement agent drive her to a pharmacy so she could obtain and then immediately sell the drugs to the agent, Rooney’s plea says. 

Rooney and her children were enrolled in Missouri’s Medicaid program, MO HealthNet, and Rooney knew that pharmacies would request and receive reimbursement from Medicaid for the drugs she received, her plea says.

“As the fight against the opioid crisis continues, we remain committed to investigating fraudsters who seek to profit from prescription drug fraud, especially scams involving powerful controlled substance medications,” said Special Agent in Charge Curt L. Muller of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold bad actors accountable.”

The HHS-OIG, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the St. Charles Regional Drug Task force, and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri whose girlfriend told police about a hidden gun was convicted Thursday by a jury of one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Rodrick Mitchell, 34, of Breckenridge Hills, Missouri, is scheduled to be sentenced December 13 and could face up to 10 years in prison.

On July 9, 2020, Mitchell’s girlfriend went to the Wentzville Police Department and said that she’d just left Mitchell at a hotel after becoming upset with him. Mitchell’s girlfriend said she was afraid of him because he has a temper and was violent. She also told police she wanted to return their rental car but could not because there was a gun under the car’s hood. She told police he had hidden guns there in the past. 

Under the hood, officers found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun near the driver’s side fender and a drum magazine loaded with 38 rounds near the air filter. Mitchell’s DNA was found on the gun.

Mitchell was indicted on March 10, 2021 on the gun charge.

The Wentzville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley M. Walker and Catherine Hoag are prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The United States Attorney's Office announced that David A. Rodgers, 41, of Sikeston, Missouri, was sentenced to serve 240 months (20 years) in federal prison for firearm and methamphetamine-trafficking offenses. Rodgers appeared for his sentencing hearing today before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

After receiving information that Rodgers was distributing large quantities of methamphetamine, law enforcement officials obtained and executed a search warrant at his Sikeston home in August 2020. They found a safe in Rodgers’ bedroom that contained over 800 grams of methamphetamine, several semi-automatic pistols and approximately $6,000 in cash. Rodgers admitted in his guilty plea earlier this year that he intended to sell the methamphetamine and that he possessed the firearms to facilitate his drug-trafficking. Rodgers has an extensive criminal history, including state felony convictions for various crimes. He was also on parole at the time the search warrant was executed. After serving his sentence, Rodgers will be placed on supervised release for a period of five years.

This case was investigated by the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Jack Koester handled the prosecution for the government.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Wednesday sentenced a man involved in the theft and sale of 39 catalytic converters to nine months in prison and ordered him to pay restitution of $46,001.

D’Ante Carter, 38, acted as lookout as another man stole the catalytic converters, which contain trace amounts of precious metals. From January to September of 2020, the pair cut the converters free from vehicles, primarily targeting trucks and vans parked at landscaping companies, other commercial businesses and an organization that helps those with disabilities. The men sold the converters to a recycling company in Illinois, Carter admitted in his plea agreement.

Carter pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in February.

Another man, Matthew Jennings, 31, was indicted in April on the same charge and has pleaded not guilty. His case is pending.

The FBI and the St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Creve Coeur, Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, O’Fallon, Missouri and Webster Groves police departments investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday sentenced an osteopathic physician from Collinsville, Illinois to a year in prison for illegally prescribing an anti-anxiety drug.

Matthew Steven Miller, 43, wrote prescriptions for the drug Xanax for six people who were not his patients between 2016 and 2018. Miller had not examined them, knew they didn’t have a legitimate medical need for the drug and knew the drug would be sold or abused, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry wrote in a sentencing memorandum. Miller also did not document the prescriptions and didn’t determine if the Xanax was contraindicated due to existing medical conditions or possible adverse interactions with other medications. 

Miller wrote the prescriptions despite not being licensed by Missouri’s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and lacked a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number necessary to do so.

Miller pleaded guilty in June to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of making a false statement concerning a health care matter.

He was taken into custody immediately after Wednesday’s hearing.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General and the South Central Drug Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis pleaded guilty Tuesday and admitted carjacking two people, including a grandmother who struggled to free her granddaughter as her car was stolen.

Darius Eubanks, 28, pleaded guilty via Zoom in front of U.S. District Stephen R. Clark to two carjacking charges and a charge of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

As part of his plea, he admitted that on the afternoon of June 27, 2021, he ordered a man out of a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu at gunpoint at a north St. Louis grocery store, and then drove off in the car.

Later in the day, Eubanks crashed into another vehicle at Labadie Avenue and North Sarah Street in north St. Louis. He walked to a nearby market and pistol-whipped a woman who was placing her granddaughter into a 2005 Hyundai Sonata, knocking the woman to the ground. As the woman struggled to get her granddaughter out of the car, Eubanks began driving off.

Less than 30 minutes later, Eubanks was caught by police near his home in the 5000 block of Palm Avenue with a gun and the grandmother’s car keys.

Eubanks is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.  

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a man who has been living under an assumed name since he used it to enlist in the U.S. Army 37 years ago to 100 hours of community service and the time he’s already served in jail.

DeLeo Antonio Barner, 60, will also be on supervised release for three years. 

Barner had already served in the Army under his own name, but was discharged with no opportunity to reenlist, court records show. 

Instead, in April of 1985, he enlisted using the name of a fellow St. Louis resident, identified in court documents as “J.S.” As J.S., Barner served in the United States Army until he was honorably discharged. Barner was stationed in Berlin, Germany, for several years while in the Army and stayed there after his honorable discharge. 

Barner, using the victim’s name, then began working for security firms in Germany and did so for 33 years, according to court filings. He had six children there, all now living under his assumed name, according to filings. 

In his plea agreement, Barner admitted applying for a U.S. passport using the victim’s name, and admitted using that name in at least three renewals of that passport.

In June of 2018, Barner’s victim applied for health insurance but was told that as a veteran, he had to access healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs. The victim had never served in the military, however. He told the Veterans Administration police about the use of his identify, triggering the involvement of the Veterans Administration Office of Inspector General and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.

In July of 2019, DSS special agents at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin interviewed Barner, who admitted using the identity of J.S. to obtain five U.S. passports, as well as Veterans Administration benefits. 

Barner was indicted in March of 2020, and DSS coordinated with German officials and Barner for his surrender at the airport in Berlin on Aug. 27, 2021. Agents from the U.S. Marshals Service then escorted Barner to St. Louis. In total, Barner spent about a week in jail.

Barner pleaded guilty in May to a charge of making a false statement in a passport application

“The Diplomatic Security Service is firmly committed to working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations of crimes related to passport and visa fraud, and protecting the integrity of U.S. passports and visas, the most sought after travel documents in the world,” said Gregory Batman, Chief of DSS’ Criminal Investigations Division. “DSS’ global presence was instrumental in facilitating the return of this individual from Germany.

The Veterans Administration Office of Inspector General and the Diplomatic Security Service Criminal Investigation Division investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A Mexican national stopped on Interstate 70 in St. Peters was transporting 10 undocumented immigrants to Ohio in his minivan, a criminal complaint says. 

Francisco Ibarra-Hernandez, 35, was heading east on the highway in a 2011 Toyota Sienna on August 24 when the vehicle was stopped by officers with the St. Peters Police Department. 

Police found 11 people inside the minivan. The front-seat passenger, Ibarra-Hernandez, is suspected of being paid to take Illegal immigrants from Phoenix to job sites around the country, the criminal complaint says. 

Several of the passengers told police that they did not know where they were being taken.

Ibarra-Hernandez was charged by complaint that same day with transporting illegal aliens and illegal reentry of an alien. Ibarra-Hernandez was removed from the country more than 15 years ago, when he was using another name, the complaint says. 

Ibarra-Hernandez was indicted August 31 on one count of illegal reentry of an alien and 10 counts of transporting illegal aliens. He is scheduled to plead not guilty to those charges on Wednesday. 

Charges set forth in a criminal complaint or an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Peters Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Drake is prosecuting the case.   

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Thursday sentenced a man from Florissant, Missouri to 14 years and three months in prison on drug and gun charges.

The investigation into Deandre J. White began with the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy in St. Louis on Feb. 22, 2020, during which White was identified as a suspect, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in court. The boy’s 9-year-old sister was also shot and wounded. The investigation revealed that White was heavily involved in selling fentanyl and guns, the memo says.

Over the course of approximately five months, undercover investigators bought over 30 grams of fentanyl and three firearms, including two high-powered, large capacity rifles and one pistol with an extended magazine. The defendant was also spotted driving at least two stolen vehicles during the drug transactions.

On social media, White boasted about selling drugs and being a shooter and posted pictures of himself with cash and firearms.

White also faces a pending charge in St. Louis County Circuit Court, where he is accused of shooting two people and three vehicles at his former girlfriend’s apartment complex, the sentencing memo says.

“Investigators were unable to recover the murder weapon, but followed the evidence and were able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Deandre White was selling a highly dangerous drug on the streets of St. Louis and equally dangerous firearms,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming. “The investigation resulted in a significant prison sentence, and while state and federal investigators are eager for additional information about the shooting of a kindergartner and his sister, the community will be safer because of the joint efforts of investigators,” she said.

White, now 26, was originally charged by complaint on Aug. 12, 2020 and indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 27, 2020. He pleaded guilty in May to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag prosecuted the case. 

Anyone with information about White or the shooting should contact the police homicide division at 314-444-5371, or report information anonymously via CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.  

ST. LOUIS – A grand jury on Wednesday indicted a woman from St. Peters, Missouri on charges accusing her of committing a $204,095 fraud involving a loan program intended for small businesses to continue to pay their employees during the pandemic.

The indictment says that from June 2020 through April 2021, Trashunda M. Harrison, 36, submitted multiple applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans in the names of three businesses: The Quiet Space LLC, Blow LLC and StrutN 80s LLC, as well as in her own name as a sole proprietor. On the application, Harrison made false representations about the payroll and income of the businesses and submitted fraudulent tax forms to support her false claims. On applications for additional loans, she falsely claimed to have used the first loan for payroll and other business expenses.

Harrison spent the PPP money on unapproved purposes, including shopping, dining, rent and payments to individuals who had no affiliation with the companies, the indictment says. 

Harrison was indicted on two counts of bank fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. Each bank fraud charge carries a potential penalty of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both. The wire fraud charges carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.   

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Thursday sentenced the owner of a company who withheld taxes from employee paychecks but didn’t turn them over to the IRS to five years of probation and ordered him to pay more than $700,000 in restitution.

Blue 2.0 LLC owner Jonathan Michaelson, 46, of University City, will have to pay $1,000 per month, or 10% of his monthly income, until the money is paid off.

Michaelson withheld a total of $767,367 in income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from employee paychecks from tax years 2014-2017, but didn’t turn that money over to the IRS.

Michaelson was indicted in September 2021. He pleaded guilty in May to one count of willful failure to pay over tax.

Charles Miller, acting Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s St. Louis Field Office, said, “IRS: CI takes employment tax crimes very seriously because of the impact these offenses have on employee benefits. Mr. Michaelson withheld taxes from his employees’ income and instead of paying the taxes to the IRS as he was required to do, he used the money to enrich his personal lifestyle. Today’s sentence serves as a warning for any employers considering defrauding their employees and honest taxpayers in this way.”   

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll prosecuted the case.   

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Wednesday sentenced a man who robbed a liquor store in St. Peters, Missouri to 12 years in prison.

Bobby Andre, of Northwoods, robbed the Cool Spot Liquor store in St. Peters of about $143 on July 31, 2018 at gunpoint, using a blue cloth rag to hide his face. Andre dropped the rag before leaving the store. 

DNA from the rag matched Andre’s DNA profile, which was in both Missouri and federal databases due to Andre’s prior criminal convictions. 

Andre, now 44, of Northwoods, pleaded guilty in January to a robbery charge and a charge of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the St. Peters Police Department.