Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Friday sentenced a man to 28 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in Gateway Arch National Park in 2023.

Judge Clark ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the 84 months Monte Derrell Boatman, 37, is currently serving for violating his supervised release in a 2009 armed robbery case.

On Dec. 6, 2023, Boatman, of Fairview Heights, Ill., arrived at the Laclede’s Landing MetroLink station at about 5:15 p.m. He was captured on video passing the victim near 4th Street and Washington Avenue at about 5:19 p.m. Roughly one minute later, Boatman turned and began following the victim.

At about 5:30 p.m., Boatman grabbed the victim from behind, wrapped his arms around her and forced her into the bushes with a razor to her neck. Boatman assaulted the victim while threatening her life multiple times.

Boatman was arrested two days later by rangers with the National Park Service after a struggle that resulted in one ranger needing medical treatment.

Boatman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in May of 2025 to one felony count of aggravated sexual abuse.

In court Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said Boatman’s 2023 crime followed a “largely unabated history of criminality since the age of 13.”

Included in that history is the 2009 robbery case in the Southern District of Illinois. Boatman and others robbed a drug dealer, which sparked a vehicle chase and multistate gun battle with the dealer. He was sentenced in 2010 to 171 months in prison.

The case was investigated by the National Park Service and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Toledo, Ohio on Thursday admitted engaging in sex acts with a Missouri minor.

Andrew Raymond Crum, 33, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of coercion or enticement of a minor. Crum admitted meeting the girl via social media in 2021, when she was 14. Crum began driving to Missouri to have sex with the girl in February of 2024, when she was 16. He also exchanged sexually explicit images and videos with the victim via Snapchat, where he used the name “Sassy Man.”

The FBI was alerted in October of 2024 about Crum’s plans to return to Missouri and then located and contacted the victim and her mother.

Crum is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29. The charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards 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 man from Farmington, Missouri on Thursday admitted supplying fentanyl to a man shortly before the victim's overdose death.

James B. Link, 31, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of distribution of fentanyl. He admitted that in messages with the victim on June 14, 2025, he discussed bringing fentanyl pills to the victim. Link’s vehicle was spotted leaving the victim’s home shortly before the death. The next day, investigators interviewed Link, who admitted delivering blue and yellow pills containing fentanyl to the victim shortly before he died. Investigators found those same blue and yellow pills in Link’s house.

Link is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and fine.

The Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office, the Mineral Area Drug Task Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Shelton is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Five people have been indicted and accused of stealing $511,692 from a Missouri childcare expansion program and using some of the money for kickbacks, travel and luxury goods.

LaDonna P. Smith, 43, pleaded not guilty Monday to five counts of wire fraud and two counts of identity theft. Dennis L. Douglas, 40, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to five counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Deaun A. Flowers, 61, Princess T. Jones, 47, and Toi P. Jones, 65, were each indicted with one count wire fraud and one count of theft of government property. All three appeared in court last week.

The March 18, 2026, indictment says that between August 2021 and February 2023, the five took advantage of a Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education program to award Child-Care Relief Funds for the opening of new childcare facilities or the expansion of existing facilities. The CCRF funds came from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRSSA).

The indictment says Smith submitted fraudulent CCRF applications on behalf of “Little Precious Angels Childcare 2” that resulted in a total of $100,000 in payments and another application on behalf of “Little Precious Angels Childcare 3” that resulted in $127,066. Douglas fraudulently received $79,927 on behalf of “Above and Beyond Playmate Center,” the indictment says.

Smith, Flowers and Toi Jones submitted a fraudulent application on behalf of “Totta Tots Daycare” that resulted in $129,699, the indictment says, $30,000 of which went towards a kickback for Smith. After DESE demanded repayment of $100,000 for failing to spend the funds on allowable expenses within four months, Flowers wrote Toi Jones a check for $15,000 and wrote herself a $11,000 check, the indictment says. Douglas and Princess Jones fraudulently obtained about $75,000 on behalf of “Childhood Memories Daycare and Learning Center,” $20,000 of which was paid as a kickback to Douglas, the indictment says.

The defendants submitted fraudulent receipts and documentation showing that they had paid for furniture, equipment, materials, salaries and benefits, lease or rent payments, supplies and/or remodeling for a daycare, to verify that the requested CCRF money had been spent on allowable expenses related to opening or expanding a childcare facility, the indictment says. In some cases, the receipts, invoices or lease agreements were false. In others, the documents had been altered to make purchases occurring outside allowable dates eligible for reimbursement.

Smith and another person also attempted to fraudulently obtain $125,000 on behalf of “Bright Star Academy,” the indictment says.

“We take allegations of fraud involving programs meant to help Missouri’s children and families very seriously,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “We’d like anyone with concerns about public benefit programs to contact investigators so that we can ensure the integrity of these programs.”

“The federal relief funds at the center of this case are intended to support families and strengthen childcare services across Missouri, and any attempt to divert such resources through fraud is taken seriously,” said Linda T. Hanley, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect taxpayer-funded programs and pursue accountability whenever federal funds are put at risk.”

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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – Three people accused of involvement in a conspiracy that stole $8 million from elderly victims have been federally charged in St. Louis and arrested.

Raj Chauhan, 33, Monarch Sachdev, 28, and Elon Harper, 27, were each indicted on Feb. 4, 2026, with one count of wire fraud. Chauhan was the final defendant to appear in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, where he pleaded not guilty Friday. All three were arrested in February outside Missouri: Harper was arrested in Maine, Sachdev in Texas and Chauhan in northern Illinois.

The indictment says co-conspirators outside of the U.S. contacted elderly victims via telephone calls and electronic messages and claimed that the victims’ financial accounts had been compromised. Victims were told to liquidate their savings and retirements funds, purchase gold bars and gold coins, and hand the gold over to “government” couriers. The indictment says Chauhan, Sachdev and Harper were couriers and Sachdev also managed the pickups of other couriers, including his co-defendants.

In one example in the indictment, Sachdev instructed Chauhan to pick up gold from an elderly resident of Cedar Hill, Missouri, who had been told that she had erroneously been sent money via PayPal and would have to pay income taxes unless she bought $200,000 in gold. Chauhan also worked as a courier in St. Louis and elsewhere, the indictment says. Harper worked as a courier in locations including Dallas and Lindale, Texas; Orrick, Mo.; Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Bonita Springs, Fla.; and Norman, Okla., the indictment says. Sachdev managed pickups in Houston; Canon City, Colo.; Quincy, Ill. and St. Louis.

Detention motions say Sachdev was personally responsible for retrieving fraud proceeds on at least 65 different occasions, resulting in losses of at least $5.4 million. He also facilitated the pickup of at least $4.2 million in fraud proceeds by others, the motion says. Harper was responsible for at least 20 pickups, it says. The call center where the scam originated is in India, the motion says.

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Restitution is mandatory.

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 FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

If you or someone you know is 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, contact the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting and provide resources and referrals. Reporting frauds can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish, and other languages are available. The Federal Trade Commission can also be contacted at 877-FTC-HELP and at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.

ST. LOUIS – An illegal immigrant from Honduras on Friday admitted being caught with guns and cocaine after nearly hitting a family in a crosswalk in St. Ann, Missouri.

Esmin Guzman-Euceda, 21, of Woodson Terrace, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possessing a firearm as an illegal alien. He admitted that on July 7, 2024, St. Ann Police officers spotted him speeding and driving through a pedestrian crossing zone, nearly striking a family pushing a stroller with an infant inside. After officers stopped Guzman-Euceda, they discovered that he did not have a valid drivers license and arrested him. They found $1,208 on Guzman-Euceda and two baggies of cocaine, a rifle and a pistol in the vehicle. The guns had been reported stolen, but Guzman-Euceda told officers that he did not know they were stolen when he bought them. He also admitted that he knew he could not lawfully possess firearms due to his immigration status.

The charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Guzman-Euceda is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2.

The St. Ann Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Voss is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man caught three times with firearms equipped with devices that convert them into machine guns pleaded guilty Wednesday to gun charges.

Deverin Myers, 22, of University City, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a machine gun and one count of receiving a firearm while under indictment.

On Aug. 21, 2024, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detectives spotted Myers, who had a pistol equipped with a red machinegun conversion device (MCD) sticking out of his pocket, and other armed men in the 2900 block of James “Cool Papa” Bell Avenue. Myers was arrested and police recovered a Shadow Systems MR920 .40 S&W caliber pistol, loaded with 24 rounds of ammunition. Myers knew that he had an MCD, as he had arrested in possession of an MCD in 2023 and was charged in St. Louis Circuit Court with possession of an illegal weapon in 2024. An MCD converts a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm.

On Aug. 18, 2025, SLMPD officers observed a blue Audi parked in front of a vacant property in the same block of James “Cool Papa” Bell Avenue. When officers approached, the vehicle sped off, violating stop signs and traffic signals. The Audi became disabled in the 3400 block of North 22nd Street and the driver and Myers ran away. Myers discarded a micro-Draco pistol as he ran, and officers later found a Glock 19 pistol equipped with an MCD and loaded with 35 rounds of ammunition in the same location. The Draco pistol had been bought five days earlier, after Myers was indicted and arraigned on the 2024 charge.

At sentencing, Myers faces up to 10 years in prison for the machine gun charges and up to five years in prison on the other gun charge.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A Missouri woman on Wednesday admitted acting as a money mule and receiving more than $2 million from elderly fraud victims around the country, despite repeatedly being warned by investigators and bank officials.

Sharon Dolisi, 79, of Phelps County near St. James, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. She admitted depositing cashier’s checks and personal checks from 28 victims into her personal bank accounts from about April 21, 2023, to June 11, 2025. Less than a week after her first deposit, one bank closed her account. On Oct. 28, 2024, Dolisi lied when she told law enforcement officials that she was not receiving money from or sending money to other people. Four days later, in response to an inquiry by bank representatives about three large cash withdrawals totaling $64,500, Dolisi falsely claimed that she buys and sells gold. On June 27, 2025, Dolisi told a bank representative that she immediately needed $54,000 in cash to buy gold and collectibles.

All the while, Dolisi was opening bank accounts and supplying debit cards to co-conspirators in Jamaica, who used those debit cards to withdraw money obtained through lottery frauds. Victims were contacted by phone or text and told that they had won a lottery but needed to prepay “taxes” and “fees” to “intermediates” and “merchant bankers.” If victims didn’t have enough liquid assets to pay the taxes and fees, conspirators told them to obtain reverse mortgages and home equity loans.

Dolisi admitted receiving more than $2 million from victims and moving more than $1.9 million in fraud proceeds through her account.

Dolisi is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both. She will also be ordered to pay restitution.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuersday sentenced a former St. Louis County, Missouri pediatrician to 20 years in prison for prescribing pain pills and other controlled substances in exchange for sex acts, nude photos or cash.

From at least 2014 through May of 2023, Craig A. Spiegel, now 70, exploited his position to obtain cash, sexual acts or sexual photographs from at least 19 patients, many of whom he began treating as children. Spiegel illegally distributed an “astronomical amount of drugs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric said in court. Rather than referring patients with a substance use disorder to treatment, Spiegel exploited their disease for his own gratification and prescribed dangerous combinations of addictive drugs to those vulnerable victims. Spiegel pressured and harassed reluctant patients via text messages and became sexually violent with at least one victim, Sestric said. Spiegel met one of his victims when she was only about seven or eight years old and initiated sexual contact years later by preying on her vulnerability when she was going through a divorce, a sentencing memo filed by Sestric said.

Spiegel admitted prescribing controlled substances to his co-defendant, April Bingham, in exchange for sexual favors. He knew that she was selling some of the drugs, and that she was addicted. He prescribed drugs to Bingham using the names of friends and relatives in part to take advantage of their insurance benefits. Bingham then introduced Spiegel to others who paid him or performed sex acts in exchange for controlled substances.

Spiegel’s crimes were only thwarted by an investigation that began with the Bridgeton Police Department. After his indictment, Spiegel lied in an April 2025 hearing in U.S. District Court in St. Louis while accusing police officers of illegally searching his cellular phone. Spiegel falsely claimed, in court and under oath, that he had not signed a consent form authorizing the search of his cellular phone until after the cellular phone data had been extracted by investigators.

The Bridgeton Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the FBI, and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Sestric and Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.

“Dr. Craig Spiegel is no better than a street-level drug dealer. He knowingly exploited individuals struggling with addiction, not to treat them, but to keep them dependent,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “For years, he fueled that addiction to ensure a steady stream of victims for his own sexual gratification. Spiegel didn’t just violate his oath as a physician, he preyed on vulnerable women and put their lives at serious risk of overdose.”

“Today’s sentencing marks an important step toward justice for the individuals harmed by Craig Spiegel’s criminal conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda T. Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “This doctor – a pediatrician – deliberately and callously abused his medical position to abuse and exploit his vulnerable patients and manipulate federal health care programs. The outcome in this case underscores HHS-OIG’s strong, longstanding commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to hold such fraudsters responsible for their crimes.”

“Acts such as those performed by this individual cannot and will not be tolerated,” DEA St. Louis Field Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis said. “This man took advantage of his position and in the process, harmed countless individuals who filled prescriptions that he wrote, for a medical condition they didn’t have. Spiegel not only hurt those who trusted him, he destroyed his reputation and because of his actions now faces a significant time in federal prison.”  

Spiegel pleaded guilty in December to one count each of illegal distribution of controlled substances, making false statements related to health care matters and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The Medicare, Missouri Medicaid and Illinois Medicaid programs suffered losses totaling $114,480 because of Spiegel’s illegal prescription practices and Judge Ross ordered Spiegel to repay that amount.

Bingham, 48, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced in 2024 to 21 months in prison.

Individuals with concerns about Dr. Spiegel should call the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) at 800-447-8477.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Jefferson County, Missouri on Thursday admitted engaging in sex acts with a 13-year-old.

Anthony A. Moore, 49, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receipt of child pornography. He admitted engaging in sex acts with the victim in 2023 and 2024, beginning when she was 13 and he was 46. The victim’s father discovered Moore’s crimes when he went through her cell phone and discovered communications between Moore and his daughter, including Moore’s requests for nude photos of her. Investigators also recovered images of her on Moore’s phone.

At Moore’s sentencing on June 24, both sides have agreed to recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the 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 St. Louis County woman on Thursday admitted defrauding Missouri Medicaid via false claims of having provided home health care.

Camille S. Childress, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud. Childress admitted submitting fraudulent documents to enroll her home health care company, Inspiring Angels LLC, with Missouri Medicaid. The paperwork falsely claimed that someone else owned the company, concealing Childress’ ownership and role due to a 2012 criminal conviction.

Childress also admitted submitting fraudulent claims to Missouri Medicaid seeking reimbursement for home healthcare services that were never provided. On numerous occasions, clients were in the hospital and could not have received any health care services at home. On other occasions, Childress submitted claims when the company did not have any timesheet records or documentation of the services. Missouri Medicaid paid at least $174,496 for claims submitted in 2021 and 2022.

Childress is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and a fine. She will be ordered to repay the money.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Thursday sentenced a man from the Turks and Caicos to 240 months in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for the sextortion of a Missouri teen.

Alexander Gardiner, 25, of Providenciales, pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in November. Gardiner, who is a citizen of both the United States and the Turks and Caicos, met a 15-year-old Missouri boy via Snapchat. After multiple requests by Gardiner, the teen sent photos of his genitals to Gardiner, believing he would be left alone after doing so. Gardiner instead repeatedly harassed the minor via iMessage, Facebook and WhatsApp, and threatened to send those images to the victim’s family and friends if the victim did not continue to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM) for Gardiner. Gardiner also admitted possessing multiple videos of teenage boys masturbating that he’d obtained via Snapchat. While pretending to be female, he directed an as-yet-unidentified 14-year-old to produce CSAM in 2021. Gardiner posted CSAM on Twitter and exchanged CSAM in Telegram group that targeted minors.

Gardiner has used usernames that contain the words “noahmonn” and “jewelsbaits.” Anyone who believes they may have been targets of a sextortion attempt by Gardiner or others should contact local law enforcement or the FBI by calling Call 1-800-CALL-FBI, contacting your local FBI office, or reporting it online at tips.fbi.gov or cybertipline.org.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has detailed information on resources for sextortion victims, including videos and discussion guides to help explain the problem to children and adults. They also have a step-by-step guide on how to report pictures or videos of children to social media companies and flag pictures so that the companies will seek out and remove the images.

The FBI investigated the case with the assistance of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. 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 – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced an undocumented immigrant living in St. Charles County, Missouri to 10 years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse material.

Francisco J. Ocana-Talamantes, now 48, was arrested on March 8, 2024, for abusing a child. A subsequent court-approved search of his phone uncovered 338 images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.

Ocana-Talamantes pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in December to one count of possession of child pornography.

He will be deported after his release from prison, as he is in the United States illegally.

The FBI, the St. Charles Police Department and the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the 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 – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a former nonprofit executive who stole $19.7 million from a program meant to feed Missouri children to 16 years in prison and ordered her to repay the money.

Connie Bobo, 46, was executive director of New Heights Community Resource Center at the time, which accepted money to provide meals to low-income, school-age children after school and during the summer.

“Connie Bobo’s trial clearly showed that this was the largest public assistance and pandemic fraud in state history,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “Hungry children were turned away when Bobo’s distribution events ran out of food, all because she was spending public money on luxury goods, real estate and an extravagant vehicle.”

“Connie Bobo’s greed is beyond reprehensible. She stole millions of dollars meant to feed low-income children in our community,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Instead of helping hungry kids, she used that money to buy a $1 million home, a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, and four additional properties—all of which the FBI has now seized. Those stolen funds from a taxpayer- funded program could have provided meals for children across Missouri.”

“This fraudster egregiously purloined American taxpayer dollars administered by USDA that she spent on personal luxuries including a new home,” said Inspector General John Walk for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. “This sentencing reflects the seriousness of stealing millions of dollars from a public program intended to provide meals to children in need. I commend Special Agent in Charge Matthew Wilkins and the dedicated USDA OIG special agents who worked on this investigation, as well as our partners at the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office for their efforts to hold the defendant accountable.”

Bobo set out to defraud the state from the very outset of her participation in the state’s meal program for children, a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman says. In 2018, she submitted fraudulent state program enrollment documents and created fake board members, fake trainings and fake bylaws designed to induce Missouri to provide her with meal money, the memo says. Bobo submitted hundreds of fraudulent meal reimbursement claims from 2019-2022 and spent millions of dollars in public meal funds on luxury goods, homes for relatives, a new home for herself, a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz G550 Wagon for a romantic partner and a $2.2 million commercial real estate investment, evidence and testimony showed.

Bobo received a total of $19.7 million in state reimbursement funds and spent just $6.8 million on food and milk, evidence showed. The entire $19.7 million was fraudulently obtained because of Bobo’s fraud in enrolling in the program.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Bobo drastically ramped up her scheme, and her receipt of state meal reimbursement money, the trial showed. Many of the children that should have been fed by Bobo were out of school during Covid-19 and were not receiving regular meals.

The memo points out that Bobo produced fictitious food invoices when she learned of the FBI investigation and attendance logs listing fake children, and lied when she testified at trial.

Bobo, 46, of St. Charles, Missouri, was convicted by a jury of three counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and two counts of obstruction of an official proceeding after a three-day trial in October.

Anyone with information about COVID-19 related fraud should contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud at 866-720-5721.”

This case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced Kendal “KD” White, one of the men who kidnapped a toddler in St. Louis County, Missouri in a bid to recover missing guns, to 20 years in prison.

Cam’Ron Henderson, 21, of St. Louis, was sentenced in January to 130 months in prison. Both men previously pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping.

White, 21, of St. Charles, believed that the father of the 2-year-old kidnapping victim had taken items from him, including firearms. On Aug. 10. 2023, White, Henderson and others began looking for the man and eventually found their way to the victim’s mother’s apartment in St. Louis County. When she did not answer the door, White and Henderson kicked it in. Both men were armed. After learning that their quarry was not in the apartment, White demanded that the mother turn over her daughter. When she refused, White struck her in the head with his gun repeatedly before grabbing the toddler and fleeing. The toddler’s mother called police.

When White and Henderson learned that an Amber Alert had been issued and included a description of the Hyundai Elantra they were driving, White paid three women to return the toddler to her uncle’s home.

“This was an incredibly violent offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski said during Thursday’s hearing.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon from St. Louis County on Thursday admitted lying about the accidental shooting of a toddler last year.

As part of a plea agreement, Rodrick Miller, 36, admitted that on March 6, 2025, he and his girlfriend, the toddler’s mother, cleaned an Anderson Manufacturing, AM-15 semiautomatic pistol and left it on a couch in the girlfriend’s Wellston home. Miller’s plea says he is unaware of how the toddler was shot, but afterwards, Miller and his girlfriend took the boy to the hospital with severe injuries to his calf. On the way, Miller stopped in a wooded area and hid the gun behind a tree. They then told North County Police Cooperative officers that the boy had been shot by a stray bullet during a gun battle between two vehicles, while Miller’s girlfriend was walking home. Miller told officers that he left work to take his girlfriend and her son to the hospital. Police later recovered the gun.

Miller, of Pine Lawn, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, he is barred from possessing firearms.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in June and faces up to 15 years in prison.

The North County Police Cooperative, the St. Ann Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Franks is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A former building inspector with the City of St. Louis has been indicted and accused of steering $1.67 million meant for the repair of decrepit buildings in St. Louis to himself and relatives.

Adebanjo “Banjo” Popoola was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday with three counts of wire fraud. He is in custody and will be in court Friday for his initial appearance.

The indictment says that while a building division inspector with the City of St. Louis, Popoola steered money that was meant to renovate and rehabilitate privately-owned buildings into companies owned by his sister and his wife.

Popoola had his sister, who lives in Texas and has no construction background, register a company in Missouri in October of 2022 called Farst Construction LLC. Popoola’s longtime paramour (and later wife) incorporated a Missouri business called Premier Finish Contractors LLC in February of 2021.

The indictment says Popoola steered about $1.4 million to Farst from the city’s Stable Communities STL program and about $339,500 from the city’s Prop NS program for purported rehabilitation and stabilization work.  Popoola caused about $1.3 million from the Stable Communities STL program and about $1 million from the Prop NS program to be awarded to Premier, the indictment says.

Of the 59 contracts awarded through the Stable Communities STL program, Popoola caused 13 to be awarded to Farst and 10 to be issued to Premier, the indictment says, for a combined total of about 42% of the $7.99 million awarded. Of the 144 contracts awarded through the Prop NS program, Popoola caused 8 to be awarded to Farst and 23 to be awarded to Premier, the indictment says, for about 24% of the $5.6 million total. Stable Communities was funded through federal American Rescue Plan Act funds received by the city. Prop NS was funded through city-issued general obligation bonds.

Farst and Premier did not perform the contracted work on multiple properties, but Popoola falsely certified to the city’s Comptroller that the work had been performed completely and properly, the indictment says.

Popoola and his wife had one or more joint bank accounts where the city funds were deposited. He had the same arrangement with his sister. In one example provided in the indictment, when Farst received a $29,500 check from the Prop NS program in February of 2023, Popoola’s sister immediately issued herself a $15,000 check from the Farst business account and deposited it into her personal bank account, then immediately wrote a $10,000 check to Popoola.

Popoola, his sister and his wife obtained about $1.67 million after paying subcontractors for purported work on the stabilization projects, the indictment says. Popoola used the money for residential mortgage payments, multiple vehicle purchases and repairs, travel expenses, his September 2023 Hawaii wedding, casino gambling, and other dining and entertainment expenses, the indictment says.

Popoola lied on city documents when he falsely stated that he had no personal interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract with the City of St. Louis and that he had no interest in any business, the indictment says. His sister and wife lied on contract documents when they falsely claimed that “No officer, employee, or member of the governing body of the City of St. Louis, Missouri who exercises any functions or responsibilities in connection with the carrying out of the Project to which this Contract pertains shall have any private interest, direct or indirect, in this contract,” the indictment says.

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 FBI investigated the case, with substantial cooperation from the City of St. Louis Comptroller’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a man who participated in a scheme that stole millions of dollars from elderly victims in ten states to four years in prison.

Judge Schelp also ordered Sital Singh, 43, to pay $6.6 million in restitution to victims.

Singh, Dariona Lambert, 24, Zhamoniq Stevens, 24, Chintankumar Parekh, 52, and Mehulkumar Darji, 42, all pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Lambert and Stevens were couriers who picked up gold bars or coins from scam victims. Darji, Parekh and Singh were the “handlers” who collected the gold and paid the couriers in cash.

Overseas scammers contacted elderly victims via telephone calls and electronic messages, falsely claiming that the victims’ savings and retirement accounts had been compromised. They told their victims that they needed to transfer their funds to keep their accounts secure, often via the purchase of gold bars or coins. The government believes that the overseas scammers netted $9.3 million from victims.

One of the victims, an 82-year-old St. Louis woman, was contacted by someone claiming to represent a computer software support team and told that her financial accounts had been compromised. Among other things, they told her to buy about $250,000 worth of gold bars. They sent Lambert to pick up the gold. On May 1, 2024, she flew from Gainesville, Florida to St. Louis. Parekh rented a car and drove Lambert to a parking lot near the victim’s home. She then took a rideshare to the victim’s home, where she was intercepted by law enforcement agents. After Parekh was alerted by Lambert that she had been apprehended, he fled to Pittsburgh.

Singh worked as a handler in gold bar pickups from victims in Collierville, Tenn.; Universal City, Texas; and Greendale, Wis. Parekh worked as a handler in pickups from victims in Yuma and Scottsdale in Arizona; Placentia and La Jolla in California; Largo, Florida; Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Pittsburgh, Penn. Darji worked as a handler in pickups from Scottsdale, Largo and La Jolla. Lambert worked as a courier in Scottsdale; Placentia; La Jolla; Largo; Universal City; Hanover, Mass.; and Erie, Penn. Stevens worked as a courier in gold bar pickups from victims in Yuma; La Jolla; Collierville; Largo; Greendale; Oxnard, Calif.; Long Island, N.Y.; and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Darji and Parekh have been sentenced to four years in prison. Lambert was sentenced to two years in prison and Stevens was sentenced to 18 months. All were also ordered to pay restitution

Parekh and Darji are in the United States unlawfully and will be deported upon their release from prison. Parekh overstayed his work visa and Darji was removed from the country in 2014.

“Sital Singh and his co-conspirators in the U.S. and overseas are parasites. Their crimes devastated their elderly victims by robbing them of their life savings. In one example, an elderly couple in their 90s lost all the money they had saved to ensure their disabled adult child would be taken care of for life,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “The FBI will continue to aggressively dismantle these types of organized networks operating in the U.S., while working with our international law enforcement partners to go after the ringleaders overseas.”

This case was investigated by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa, Florida. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

If someone you know is a victim of a cyber scam, report it to the FBI. You can file the complaint online with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or use 1-800-CALL-FBI.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a man caught twice with guns and drugs on the same block in St. Louis to 200 months in prison.

At Irven L. White’s trial in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in October, evidence and testimony showed that on Nov. 1, 2023, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer saw White conducting what appeared to be a hand-to-hand drug transaction in the 4400 block of Farlin Avenue.  When other officers approached, White fled, discarding a firearm, but he was immediately detained. Officers found fentanyl, cocaine and cocaine base.  On August 26, 2024, officers were notified that White, who had an outstanding warrant for the November 1 incident, was again conducting a hand-to-hand drug transaction in the same block.  He fled officers again, leaving behind a bag containing two guns. He was arrested in a nearby home, where officers found fentanyl and cocaine base.

White has multiple prior felony convictions and is thus barred from possessing firearms. Among his prior convictions is one for second degree murder involving a drug-linked shooting in the 4400 block of Farlin Avenue on Aug. 4, 1997. At the time of the Nov. 1, 2023, incident, he was on supervised release from a 2009 federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm – an offense that occurred in the same block of Farlin.

White, 47, of St. Louis, was found guilty at trial of six felonies: two counts each of possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with the intent to distribute cocaine base and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Goeke prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – A sex offender from Farmington, Missouri on Tuesday admitted failing to register the social media accounts that he used to promote AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Joel Kerbrat, 70, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of failing to update his registration as a sex offender. Kerbrat was convicted of possession of child pornography in a 2010 case. After his release from prison, he was placed on supervised release for life and required to register as a sex offender. Registration includes a requirement to also register “internet identifiers,” including any social media accounts.

On July 18, 2024, Kerbrat’s federal probation officer visited him at his home in Farmington. The officer spotted a laptop and cell phone in plain view. The officer found a program to generate AI images on the laptop, as well as a profile for an AI-generated teenage girl. Kerbrat admitted that he had used the AI program to create images depicting child pornography. A forensic examination of the devices revealed that Kerbrat had an unregistered account on Discord, another on LiveChat and an unregistered email address.

Kerbrat was a member of a Discord group where members discussed and promoted the production of AI-generated pornographic images. Kerbrat also utilized a website, which he visited hundreds of times, to create AI images of child pornography. One of the website pages he visited was titled “build a preteen.”

Kerbrat admitted as part of his plea agreement that he utilized the AI program to create 52 images containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) involving depictions of prepubescent girls, 251 images of “potential CSAM” involving depictions of teenage girls, hundreds of images depicting nude children and thousands of depictions of adult pornography.

Kerbrat is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15 for the current offense and for violating his supervised release. The failure to register charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The U.S. Probation Office of the Eastern District of Missouri investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes 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. 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 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Wednesday convicted a former Northwoods, Missouri police officer of charges related to the assault of a handcuffed man in 2023.

Jurors found Samuel Davis, 28, guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, one count of witness tampering by way of misleading conduct for making a misleading statement to a police dispatcher and one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation for turning off his body-worn camera. He was found not guilty of one count of conspiracy.

Jurors acquitted another former officer, Michael Hill, 54, of all charges.

Evidence and testimony at the trial, which began March 2, showed that Northwoods police were called to a Walgreens store on the evening of July 4, 2023, about a shoplifter, C.G. C.G. had shoplifted from the store before and was known to Davis. Davis handcuffed C.G., who was compliant and cooperative, and then placed him in Davis’ police vehicle. Instead of taking him to jail, Davis drove him to an empty field in a desolate area of Kinloch. C.G. testified during the trial that Davis pepper-sprayed him, beat him with a baton while he was still handcuffed, breaking his jaw, and then tased him. A passerby interrupted the attack, causing Davis to flee, evidence and testimony showed. She returned and found C.G., bloodied and crying out for help. C.G. told responding St. Louis County Police Department officers and medical personnel that he had been beaten by a Northwoods officer. Medical records documented the broken jaw. Davis’ TASER records indicated that it had been used around the time of the attack.

Davis did not file a report about the arrest of C.G., the trip to Kinloch or any use of force. He also turned off his body-worn camera.

Davis faces up to 10 years in prison for the deprivation of rights under color of law charge and 20 years in prison for the other charges.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug of the Eastern District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a former Florissant, Missouri police officer to 24 months in prison for illegally searching the phones of 20 women for nude photos and ordered him to pay $2,681 in restitution to his victims.

Julian Alcala, 31, pulled the women over while on duty, in uniform and in a marked police vehicle between Feb. 6, 2024, and May 18, 2024. Alcala took mobile phones from 19 of the victims by claiming that he needed to go back to his patrol car and use their phone to confirm insurance coverage. He told the 20th that he was confirming her vehicle registration. Alcala then searched through the phones without a warrant, probable cause or a lawful reason. When he found images that portrayed either the victim or a loved one or both in a partial or full state of nudity, he used his own cell phone to take photographs. Alcala also found and forwarded a video of one victim to his cell phone. When that victim discovered the forwarding of the video and reported it to the FBI, court-approved search warrants of Alcala’s cell phone and his cloud storage uncovered the other victims.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug said Alcala had violated his oath to protect and serve. Victims, she said, had previously trusted police officers, but Alcala’s actions had replaced that trust with “mistrust and disgust and fear of law enforcement.” She pointed out that Alcala victimized five women in just one shift. In another, he victimized three women and in a third he victimized two.

Alcala, 30, pleaded guilty in December to 20 counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, namely the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

“When Julian Alcala abused his authority, the damage extended far beyond his immediate victims,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “His actions dishonored the badge and undermined the public trust that every officer is sworn to uphold. I appreciate the leadership of the Florissant Police Department for working closely with the FBI to hold Alcala accountable and ensure he could no longer victimize members of this community.”

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man has been accused of robbing someone in the parking lot of the John J. Cochran Veterans Hospital in St. Louis.

Lafayette Hutchins, 68, was indicted in U.S. District Court on February 18 with one count of robbery within the special territorial jurisdiction of the United States, namely the parking lot of the John J. Cochran Veterans Hospital. Hutchins was arrested Tuesday, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.

A motion seeking to have Hutchins held in jail until trial accuses Hutchins of robbing a Vietnam veteran at gunpoint.

A charge set forth in an indictment is merely an accusation and does not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a felon to 13 1/2 years in prison for carjacking a woman in St. Louis in 2024.

On Jan. 5, 2024, Deionte Grice approached the woman, who had just parked her 2020 Kia Optima in the 5300 block of Devonshire Avenue in St. Louis. Grice pointed a gun at her, demanded her belongings and took her car, phone and purse. Grice later struck a curb as he drove into Forest Park, disabling the vehicle. He abandoned it and got on a MetroBus.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers stopped the bus and found Grice with the stolen purse and two handguns.

Grice, 31, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in October to one count of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He also admitted violating his supervised release in a 2020 case in which he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Henry E. Autrey on Monday sentenced a man involved in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl in the St. Louis area to 19 years in prison.

Neil Phifer, 40, was one of 13 defendants charged with drug conspiracy in 2023. All have pleaded guilty. Phifer was the last to be sentenced.

Phifer pleaded guilty on August 5, 2025, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. He admitted receiving multiple kilograms of meth and fentanyl from his supplier in California and distributing those drugs in the St. Louis area through his network. Investigators repeatedly conducted controlled purchases of fentanyl from Phifer and seized cocaine, meth and fentanyl from someone who bought it from Phifer. Investigators also intercepted a total of $40,300 in proceeds of drug sales being mailed back to California and 5.8 kilograms of meth that were being shipped to St. Louis.

During an August 2022 court-approved search of an apartment in St. Louis, investigators found 5.4 kilos of fentanyl, 1.4 kilos of meth and other drugs as well as Phifer’s handgun and $16,850 in drug proceeds. After Phifer moved apartments, he was caught with cocaine base, fentanyl, drug paraphernalia, drug proceeds and 1.6 kilos of meth, his plea agreement says. At his next apartment, investigators found cocaine base, 1.5 kilos of fentanyl and another pistol.

California-based drug supplier Stanley Harris, 51, is serving a 200-month sentence and another supplier, Victor Medina, 43, of Los Angeles, is serving a sentence of 120 months. During the investigation, packages mailed by Harris containing more than 14 kilos of meth and two kilos of fentanyl were seized and more than $90,000 in cash from drug sales heading to Harris were intercepted.

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is charged with defending the nation’s mail system from illegal use.  With the collaborative efforts of our federal law enforcement partners, Postal Inspectors investigate those utilizing the U.S. Mail for illicit activities, including the distribution of narcotics.  Today’s sentencing reflects the diligent investigative work by Postal Inspectors, and our law enforcement partners,” said Acting Inspector in Charge, Mary Johnson, who leads the Chicago Division, which includes the St. Louis Domicile Office.

“The exceptional work of the DEA’s agents and partners broke down a criminal drug trafficking network stretching from California to Missouri,” DEA St. Louis Field Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis said. "Our investigation led to the removal of kilogram quantities of poisonous drugs and firearms from an organization known for inciting fear. Now, Neil Phifer is staring down a 19-year sentence in federal prison for his role pushing fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine into our communities. Our agents work tirelessly to save American lives and reduce violent crime fueled by drug trafficking and this sentencing is a testament to our resolve.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case with assistance from officers with the North County Police Cooperative and police departments in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Shrewsbury, Ballwin and St. Charles City. 

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Monday sentenced a Romanian national to 21 months in prison and ordered him to repay the almost $200,000 he stole from a nationwide retailer via “sleight-of-hand” schemes.

Bobi Covaciu, 39, tricked store cashiers in at least 22 states into believing that he had paid the full amount of cash for a purchase. Covaciu counted out cash matching the purchase price and then took the cash back from cashiers and secretly pocketed bills, shortchanging the retailer by hundreds of dollars or more per transaction. Covaciu would then return the merchandise to a different store for a full cash refund. In at least 90 fraudulent transactions from February 2022 to September 2024, Covaciu stole about $196,220 in money and property.

Covaciu will be deported after his release from prison.

Covaciu’s criminal history shows that he became involved in the fraud scheme as early as December 2016, just one month after he illegally entered the U.S., a sentencing memo filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf says.

Covaciu pleaded guilty in December in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and a Missouri psychiatrist have reached a $360,000 civil settlement that will resolve False Claims Act (FCA) allegations, U.S. Attorney Thomas C Albus announced Monday.

The settlement resolves allegations that from Jan. 1, 2019, through May 31, 2024, Dr. Shazia Malik falsely indicated to both Medicare and Missouri Medicaid that she provided face-to-face psychotherapy to patients, including by submitting false claims for payment for services when she was out of town and for services that were provided by other practitioners. Dr. Malik was employed at Behavioral Health Services LLC which was owned and operated Psych Care Consultants in St. Louis, Missouri.

The settlement with Dr. Malik consists of $155,000 in restitution to Medicare and $25,000 to Missouri Medicaid. The restitution amount is doubled under the FCA. 

The civil settlement contains no admission of liability. In December of 2025, Dr. Shazia Malik pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements related to health care matters.  

“Health care professionals who knowingly submit false claims to federal health care programs undermine the financial integrity of those taxpayer-funded programs,” stated Special Agent in Charge Linda T. Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Today’s settlement reflects HHS-OIG’s commitment to ensuring Medicare and Medicaid are billed only for services actually provided and to continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to protect the well-being of patients and to safeguard public funds.”

Dr. Malik’s brother, Modh Azfar Malik, was part-owner of Behavioral Health Services.  In July of 2025, he entered a civil settlement resolving similar conduct and paid $501,556. In April of 2025, he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a federal health care program. In January, his medical license was revoked for four years as part of a settlement with the Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts.

This investigation was a result of the combined work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, HHS-OIG Office of Investigations, the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the FBI.  

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Monday sentenced a former St. Louis lawyer who committed $379,900 in pandemic fraud to 21 months in prison and fined him $50,000.

John J. Diehl Jr., 60, has already repaid the loan money.

Diehl applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) on behalf of his law firm, the Diehl Law Group, on March 30, 2020, and obtained $94,900. In March of 2022, Diehl requested an EIDL loan modification. In both applications Diehl pledged that Diehl Law Group would use the funds “to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster.” He received $285,000 from the second loan, for a total of $379,900. The EIDL program was designed to help struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing deferred, low interest loans for working capital, payroll and other fixed debts of businesses caused by the pandemic.

“This defendant’s law practice didn’t suffer at all during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said in court, adding that Diehl did not use any of the loan for the firm. Diehl, he said, “saw a way to make some easy and cheap money.” Diehl transferred a total of about $200,000 of the EIDL proceeds to the Diehl Law Group’s retirement plan. He was the only participant in the plan. Diehl used loan proceeds for personal Tesla, Audi and Jeep vehicle payments, personal credit card bills, residential mortgage payments, fees paid to a St. Louis law firm for a personal legal matter, a family member’s college tuition, pool maintenance, country club expenses and cash withdrawals for personal expenses.  

Diehl pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in September to one count of wire fraud.

“Although he legitimately obtained pandemic relief loans for his law practice, Diehl diverted those funds for personal use rather than the purposes Congress intended,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Relief programs like these were created to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic—not to line someone’s pockets.”

Diehl formerly served as an alderman for Town and Country, Missouri, the Chairman of the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners and the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives. He resigned as speaker in 2015.

In 2023, Diehl entered into a consent order with the Missouri Ethics Commission after improperly using $6,762.70 of campaign committee funds to pay for personal expenses unrelated to any political campaign and failing to report additional expenditures of campaign committee funds, including at least $28,700 of personal expenses. Diehl was fined $47,392.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – The addition of a specially-funded prosecutor has resulted in the indictment of 14 people in the Eastern District of Missouri accused of defrauding the government out of $1 million via disability fraud, pandemic fraud and the theft of Social Security and other benefits.

Those charged include a home health aide accused of stealing a client’s Social Security retirement and Veterans Administration benefits, the owner of a pest control business who has been accused of fraudulently receiving disability benefits and others who stole benefits being paid to people who died.

“This new position is allowing us to expand our prosecutions of Social Security and other frauds and will mean that we can recover hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in the short term alone,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “These programs are designed to aid those who desperately need the money, and fraud and abuse will not be tolerated.”

“SSA OIG special agents work closely with prosecutors and our federal law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of Social Security fraud and hold offenders accountable,” said Michelle L. Anderson, SSA OIG, Assistant Inspector General for Audit as First Assistant. “These cases demonstrate the value of dedicated resources focused on identifying fraud schemes and ensuring that those responsible face justice.”

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolene Taaffe’s position is being funded by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and is one of nearly two dozen new positions across the country, bringing the total to 47 in 43 offices. More hires are expected. On April 15, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum entitled Preventing Illegal Aliens from Obtaining Social Security Act Benefits. That memorandum authorized the expansion of a longstanding partnership with the Justice Department in which attorneys are detailed to U.S. Attorney Offices throughout the country. SAUSAs typically receive investigative referrals from SSA Office of Inspector General special agents and work with the agents to develop the referrals into prosecutable cases.

The memorandum has expanded SSA’s full-time fraud prosecution program to at least 50 U.S. Attorney Offices. It also requires SSA to “prioritize assigning new detailees to the 10 U.S. Attorney Offices whose jurisdictions encompass the largest known populations of illegal aliens, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.”

The memorandum also established a new fraud-prosecutor program between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “with regard to programs administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.” HHS provides direct funding for these positions, enabling dedicated prosecution of beneficiary fraud within CMS programs.

March 5 was National “Slam the Scam” Day, meant to raise awareness of fraudsters who pretend to represent the SSA or other government agencies, and part of the Federal Trade Commission’s National Consumer Protection Week. More information on protecting yourself from imposter fraud is available at ssa.gov/scam/. Information on how to avoid, report and recover from scams is available at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.

Please help investigators, and other scam victims, by reporting Social Security-related scams to oig.ssa.gov or 1-800-269-0271. Report other scams to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

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

The cases were investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry on Friday sentenced a Kansas anesthesiologist to three years in prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to order medically unnecessary health care for thousands of patients.

She also ordered Dr. Scott Taggart Roethle, 48, to pay restitution of $8.3 million.

From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Roethle played a central role in a massive telemarketing scheme that billed Medicare for medically unnecessary orthotic braces. Overseas call centers collected Medicare information from unsuspecting elderly patients. Doctors, including Dr. Roethle, signed fraudulent orthotic brace prescriptions without evaluating patients or their actual medical needs and while falsely claiming to be their treating physician and having examined and diagnosed them. The brace suppliers mailed out the braces and billing companies then submitted the fraudulent claims to Medicare. Dr. Roethle admitted providing no follow-up care after signing the orders.

Dr. Roethle was typically paid about $30 for each of his fraudulent orders and received a total of $674,000 from five companies for thousands of prescriptions. Medicare paid out at least $8 million while relying on his fraudulent orders.

“Dr. Roethle used his medical license to facilitate a scheme that exploited vulnerable Medicare patients and drained millions from a program meant to provide medically necessary care,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ashley L. Collins of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “By ordering expensive medical equipment without ever examining patients, he betrayed his professional responsibilities and violated the trust of his patients. Today’s sentence demonstrates HHS-OIG’s commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who put personal profit above patient safety and the integrity of federal health care programs.”

Roethle, of the Kansas City area, pleaded guilty in April of 2025 to one count of health care fraud.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced the former parish secretary and bookkeeper who embezzled from a DeSoto, Missouri church to 33 months in prison and ordered her to repay $581,337.

Corie M. Boyer, 50, of Jefferson County, Missouri, stole the funds from the parish in multiple ways from 2017 to 2024, while she was responsible for maintaining the parish's books and records, organizing certain parish fundraisers and assisting in the collection and counting of the weekly offertory. She misused parish credit cards that were intended for fundraising expenses, wrote parish checks to herself and cashed them, used parish bank accounts to pay down the balance on her personal credit cards and stole parishioners’ cash donations from the weekly offertory. She gambled some of the money away and used more to pay for a family vacation, go shopping, pay her taxes and rent and fund a relative’s college tuition. Boyer covered up the theft by falsifying parish records.

“Corie Boyer betrayed her parish when she abused her position of trust for personal gain. She stole funds from the church, spent the money on herself and others, and took steps to cover up the theft,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation St. Louis Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “IRS-CI remains deeply committed to investigating such abuses of trust and will work with our law enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue justice on behalf of the victims.”

Boyer pleaded guilty in October in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of wire fraud.

The FBI and IRS - Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A tax preparer from St. Louis on Thursday admitted stealing at least $52,000 in clients’ tax refunds and COVID-19 stimulus payments.

Mark A. Murphy, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property. Between 2016 and 2020, Murphy prepared tax returns for clients but did not list himself as the paid return preparer, instead making it appear that the taxpayers themselves had submitted the returns. He also signed the taxpayers’ names and opened bank accounts for clients without their knowledge or authorization. Murphy then used these unauthorized bank accounts to collect his tax preparation fees from clients’ tax refunds.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Murphy stole Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) that were issued by the IRS to his clients. The EIPs were issued directly to taxpayers and deposited into the bank accounts designated on the 2018 or 2019 federal income tax returns. Murphy withdrew the EIP funds in cash from the bank accounts he had secretly set up and used debit cards linked to the accounts to make personal purchases. During this period, Murphy also kept some clients’ entire tax refunds for himself. Murphy stole a total of at least $52,080 in EIPs and refunds from clients from April 2020 to March 2021.

Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. The theft charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He will also be ordered to repay the money.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and IRS – Criminal Investigation handled the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Thursday sentenced a woman who secretly took out insurance on her fiancé before having him killed to 225 months in prison.

Victoria Rena Williams, 67, pleaded guilty in September to one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Michael Grady, 70, was convicted by a jury on Monday of the same three counts.

Charles Harris III, who worked for an alarm company, was described in court as a churchgoing man who was about to open his own clothing store when he was killed.

According to Williams’ plea and the evidence and testimony at Grady’s trial, the conspiracy began in 2010. It was at that time that Grady suggested obtaining a $250,000 accidental death policy. Williams did so in 2010 without Harris’ knowledge and after confirming that it would pay out if he was killed during a robbery.

In October of 2011, she arranged a meeting between Harris, who sold suits out of his home on the side, and two potential customers. She told jurors at Grady’s trial that she backed out twice, but Grady told her it could be “bad for you,” when she tried to back out again.

Harris was fatally shot in his home on Langford Drive on Oct. 5, 2011. After a dispute with the insurance company, Williams eventually received $224,444 and then obtained a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. Williams also received $175,762 from another insurance policy.

The shooter or shooters, who were hired by Grady, have not been identified, according to trial testimony.

Grady is scheduled to be sentenced on June 4 and faces life in prison without parole. He is already serving a 226-month federal prison sentence for aiding a large-scale, violent drug conspiracy by trying to determine who was cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen, Nino Przulj and Donald Boyce are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A tax preparer from St. Louis County on Thursday admitted fraudulently obtaining a total of least $1.2 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans for herself and others from 2020 to 2021.

Nacole M. Taylor, 43, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and one count of engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction.

Taylor submitted at least 15 fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of eight corporations registered with Missouri for which she was the registered agent. Only two, Accurate Tax LLC and 4th Generation Home Care Services LLC, had any income. Taylor created the other businesses and opened bank accounts for them for the sole purpose of applying for PPP loans. She submitted fraudulent applications with inflated payroll and income figures and fraudulent tax forms purporting to have been prepared by Accurate Tax. Taylor obtained approximately $255,114 in PPP loans. Taylor then submitted applications for loan forgiveness for many of the loans, falsely claiming that she’d spent the loan money on payroll. Taylor spent the PPP loan proceeds on personal expenses, including luxury items from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Vincent’s Jewelers, Fendi and Nordstrom.

Taylor also recruited others, including clients of Accurate Tax, to allow her to submit fraudulent applications for PPP and EIDL loans in their names in exchange for kickbacks. Taylor and her co-conspirators either used a pre-existing business or created a fictitious business to apply for the loans. She fabricated payroll and income information and supplied fraudulent tax forms to bolster the applications. In all, Taylor submitted at least 24 fraudulent applications and obtained at least $986,659 in loans for coconspirators. She was paid at least $152,205 in kickbacks.

Taylor, of Breckenridge Hills, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and the unlawful monetary transaction charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. She will be ordered to repay the money.

IRS – Criminal Investigation and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – Jurors on Thursday convicted Lorenzo A. Marquez, 32, and Adam A. Marquez, 27, for their role in a large-scale conspiracy to distribute significant quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine to a drug-trafficking organization in Southeast Missouri.  The verdict was reached following a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.  

Evidence presented during the trial showed that the Marquez brothers were California-based suppliers of illegal drugs that were shipped to Southeast Missouri via couriers using checked baggage on commercial airlines. Drugs and cash were seized by law enforcement officers at airports in Detroit, Memphis, and Nashville, as well as during a traffic stop in Perry County, Missouri.  

During an airport seizure on March 3, 2022, three drug couriers were intercepted in Detroit on their way to Southeast Missouri with approximately 60 pounds of methamphetamine and almost three pounds of cocaine.  Lorenzo Marquez had provided the couriers with suitcases containing the drugs in Los Angeles.  Evidence at trial showed that the couriers had made several flights between Southeast Missouri and Los Angeles, California, transporting drugs and cash.  

The trial began on February 23. The Marquez brothers are scheduled to be sentenced on June 11, 2026.   They both face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office, the Perry County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Department of Public Safety, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Memphis (Tennessee) Airport Police, the Nashville (Tennessee) Airport Police, the Detroit (Michigan) Airport Police, and Cobb County (Georgia) Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chris Shelton and Paul Hahn are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A Maryland man has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to repay $5.45 million to victims of a series of frauds, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Wednesday.

James Marcus Dyett, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy in November. He admitted conspiring with at least seven other people to conceal the source of funds obtained via fraud and transfer that money into cryptocurrency accounts or other accounts. The conspirators received at least 34 wire transfers totaling $8.3 million from at least 36 victims of business email compromise (BEC) wire fraud schemes or romance fraud.

Dyett began communicating with “Victoria” via WhatsApp in October of 2022. Victoria hired Dyett for a job at Coins2Trade, which she described as a cryptocurrency transaction processor, in exchange for a 3.5% commission on transactions he processed. Victoria provided paperwork to the defendant to form JMD Consultant Services LLC in Maryland and then introduced him to Richard Charles Appelbaum and “E.S.” They trained him via WhatsApp messages and phone calls, telling him to create business entities and open numerous business and personal bank accounts and accounts at various cryptocurrency exchanges under his own name. They told Dyett to provide the account information to Victoria and E.S. and move funds from the bank accounts into cryptocurrency accounts as soon as possible. Dyett and his conspirators falsely claimed on the corporate organization documents that the businesses would be involved in auto purchasing consulting, boating supplies, real estate management and life skills consulting when their real purpose was attempting to appear legitimate and receive large wire transfers. Between February 2022 and April 2023, the conspirators opened at least 24 business bank accounts at various institutions.

Dyett’s co-defendant, Lisa Mae Burnett, was listed on the corporate documents of JMD and met him at a bank in April of 2023, where they tried to arrange for a fraudulent $2 million wire transfer.

Burnett, 64, is serving a five-year prison sentence. She was also ordered to repay $5.45 million.

Appelbaum, 41, is serving a three-year sentence. He was ordered to repay $2.3 million.

The FBI and the Baltimore County (Maryland) Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.

Report fraud to ic3.gov, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.

ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Monday found a man guilty of conspiring with a woman to have her fiancé killed at his St. Louis County home in 2011.

Jurors convicted Michael Grady, 70, of one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Evidence and testimony at the trial, which began last Monday, showed that Grady hatched the idea to kill Charles Harris III so that he and Harris’ financially struggling fiancée, Victoria Rena Williams, would receive an insurance payout. Grady also hired the person or persons who shot Harris in his home on Langford Drive on Oct. 5, 2011, telling Williams, “I have two young shooters,” the trial showed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Grady was at the center of this,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj told jurors Monday.

Williams, 67, pleaded guilty in September to the same three counts and is awaiting sentencing.

Wiliams said that Grady witnessed an argument over money between her and Harris in the summer of 2010 and told her she “shouldn’t be going through that.” Prompted by Grady, Williams called an insurance company that he recommended and asked if an accidental death policy would pay out in the event of a fatal robbery. On Aug. 27, 2010, Williams started the application process for a $250,000 policy for Harris.

The murder occurred after the pair knew the policy was in effect and after Grady learned a different insurance scheme was not likely to pay out. Harris worked for an alarm company and sold suits out of his home to people he knew or through trusted referrals. Williams told Harris that the shooters were interested in buying suits. She told jurors that after backing out twice, when she tried to back out again, Grady told her that they were too far along, and it could be “bad for you” if she did.

Williams eventually received $224,444 from one life insurance company and then obtained a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. Williams also received $175,762 from another insurance policy.

A trail of electronic evidence detailed the communications between Williams and Grady while they planned the murder and between Williams and Grady and one of the shooters before and after the murder was carried out, as well as the movements of the shooters and Grady. The shooter or shooters have not been identified. Only Grady knows their identity, Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Boyce told jurors in his opening statement.

Grady is scheduled to be sentenced on June 4 and faces life in prison. He is already serving a 226-month federal prison sentence for aiding a large-scale, violent drug conspiracy by trying to determine who was cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Donald Boyce, Nino Przulj and Ryan Finlen are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a man who stole nearly $300,000 worth of online merchandise from Kohl’s to 87 months in prison.

Judge Autrey also ordered Marshall Lampkin, 36, to pay the retailer $301,713 and forfeit the stolen items that have been recovered. 

According to evidence and testimony at Lampkin’s trial in August, Lampkin carried out his scheme by first using Kohl’s Cash to purchase merchandise in a Kohl’s store, generally for more than $1,000. He would then immediately use the same Kohl’s Cash to order merchandise online, knowing that the in-person transaction had not yet registered. Lampkin returned the items he bought in the store for Kohl’s Cash so he could repeat his scam. Lampkin used the scheme hundreds of times at dozens of stores in more than a dozen states, evidence and testimony showed. Kohl’s asked Lampkin to stop, deactivated his online account and alerted stores, but Lampkin continued by recruiting multiple accomplices, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf said during Thursday’s hearing.

Lampkin had $293,000 in online purchases, which included flooring, furniture, small appliances and other items, shipped to storage units in St. Louis and a relative’s house in Illinois. He then sold or tried to sell those items by advertising them on Facebook.

The Kohl’s Cash scam was part of a series of escalating scams lasting nearly 20 years, Ladendorf said. Lampkin began by illegally selling MetroLink tickets in 2007. He shoplifted from big box stores from 2010-2011 and then targeted a national pharmacy chain’s rewards program beginning in 2013 and continuing through 2023, Ladendorf said. When confronted by store staff, Lampkin would become violent, he said.

The U.S. Secret Service and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Ladendorf and Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a woman who embezzled more than $160,000 from her employer to 18 months in prison and ordered her to repay the money.

Victoria Isgriggs, formerly known as Victoria Denise Missey, worked at a Franklin County nursery and florist as an office manager and accountant from approximately Nov. 26, 2023, through April 29, 2024.  Isgriggs embezzled $34,934 from the company’s bank account. She applied for and received a company credit card without authorization and used it to make $76,095 in personal purchases and charged another $46,125 using five co-workers’ cards. She fraudulently increased her salary, stealing another $4,635. Finally, she added herself to the company’s Lowe’s credit card and made $2,666 in fraudulent charges there.

Investigators were able to recover $11,850 in cash, as well as jewelry, Christian Louboutin footwear and Louis Vuitton bags and accessories. Isgriggs has agreed to forfeit the cash and other valuables.

Isgriggs, 45, of Washington, Missouri, pleaded guilty in October in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of wire fraud.

The U.S. Secret Service and the Washington Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Roy prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a Mexican national to 18 years in prison for sexually abusing a minor.

Giovanni Falcon, 41, began messaging a 15-year-old girl on Instagram in 2024 using an alias. In July and August of that year, Falcon sent the victim images of his genitals. Falcon then repeatedly engaged in sexual contact with the victim. On Aug. 13, 2024, the victim’s father contacted the St. Ann Police Department after discovering the explicit Instagram messages. St. Ann police arrested Falcon the next day, and he admitted sexually abusing the victim.

Another juvenile alleged sexual abuse by Falcon several years ago, according to statements at Wednesday’s hearing.

Falcon is not in the country legally and will be deported upon his release from prison.

Falcon pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in September to transfer of obscene material to a minor and coercion and enticement of a minor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the St. Ann Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the 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. 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 Cristian M. Stevens on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis area contractor who fraudulently obtained $1.7 million in pandemic loans to three years in prison and ordered her to repay the money.

Coretta “Cory” Elliott, 53, owned and operated CMT LLC, a contractor that provided commercial construction, demolition, roofing, landscaping and remediation services. CMT also did business as CMT Roofing LLC. Elliott fraudulently obtained a first draw Paycheck Protection Program loan of $875,000 for CMT Roofing in 2020 and a second draw loan of $833,333 in 2021 by falsely certifying that the loans would be used for business-related purposes. She also inflated her company’s monthly payroll to get larger loans. She later received forgiveness of the loans by falsely claiming in two applications that she used the money for payroll and other legitimate business expenses.

PPP loans were intended to help save businesses and the jobs of their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic by funding payroll, lease payments, utility payments and other business expenses. Elliott saw the loans as a way to “save herself financially,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said during Tuesday’s hearing. Elliott diverted $200,000 into her investment account and used a total of  $559,455 to pay dues owed by her companies to various construction unions. Those union dues pay for health insurance, sick pay and vacation pay. She used more of the PPP loan money for other personal purposes.

"We will never know whether Coretta Elliott’s business would have legitimately qualified for disaster relief funds. However, by submitting substantial false information across multiple applications, she fraudulently secured $1.7 million in funds," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Her deceit not only led to her unlawfully obtaining far more than she may have otherwise been entitled to, but it also gave her an unfair competitive advantage over other local contractors. This type of criminal conduct, driven by greed, undermines the integrity of the disaster relief system and harms those who play by the rules."

Elliott pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court to two counts of wire fraud.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Thursday sentenced a man who stole about 100 firearms to 100 months in prison.

Jeremy Lorenz, 31, of St. Charles, pleaded guilty in October to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted stealing the guns from a federal firearms licensee’s storage site in St. Louis County on Nov. 15, 2024. Lorenz was arrested four days later and officers found him with a pistol and a shotgun that had been reported stolen. Investigators caught him with a stolen pistol the next day. They found six stolen guns in the car he was driving and 13 more in his girlfriend’s home. In an interview with investigators, Lorenz admitted being a convicted felon and stealing the guns. He also told agents that he’d sold some of the guns, and agents have been able to recover about 75 of the stolen firearms so far.

“Stealing 100 firearms is a brazen act that puts communities at immediate risk,” said Bernard “Butch” Hansen, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Kansas City Field Division. “We recovered most of the stolen firearms, but every weapon taken in this theft had the potential to fuel violent crime. Stolen guns routinely end up in the hands of people who are prohibited from possessing them. We are grateful for the successful prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the partnership from St. Louis County Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol that ensured justice was served. This case demonstrates that those who traffic in stolen guns will be held accountable.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, St. Louis County Police Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a man to 90 months in prison and fined him $3,000 for carjacking a 72-year-old in 2023.

Kirk Hall, now 25, was one of two men who stole a BMW X5 on July 7, 2023, from a St. Louis County apartment complex. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., the victim parked at the complex. Hall and the other gunman ordered the driver and passenger out. The other gunman then stole the vehicle, taking the driver’s cell phone and other personal items. Hall followed in another vehicle. The unoccupied BMW was found a few hours later.

Hall pleaded guilty in November to one count of carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – An Illinois man on Wednesday admitted strangling and assaulting a woman on the grounds of Gateway Arch National Park.

Darrion Lamont Evans, 20, of Belleville, Illinois, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of assault by strangulation and two counts of interstate domestic violence.

In the plea agreement, Evans admitted strangling the victim, who he had been dating, on April 28, 2025. National Park Service Rangers encountered the victim near a vehicle that was parked on a service road. She had red marks on her face, neck, arms, legs and feet and injuries to her fingers. The victim told Rangers that the couple began arguing in the car in Belleville, Illinois. During that part of the argument, Evans grabbed the victim by the neck and shoved her head into the driver’s side door, breaking her glasses. A bystander called 911.

Evans then agreed to drive the victim to her mother’s house in Dupo and take a rideshare to his grandfather’s home in St. Louis. He instead began driving directly to his grandfather’s residence. Once the victim realized that Evans was not taking her to Dupo, she began pulling on the emergency brake and grabbing the steering wheel to make Evans exit the highway. After they stopped on the service road, the argument continued and became physical. Evans admitted choking the victim, slapping her and spitting on her. Part of assault was captured on video.

Evans is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3. Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine.

The National Park Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – The owner of a home healthcare company based in Bridgeton, Missouri and her associates have been accused of fraudulently billing the Missouri Medicaid Program $1.46 million.

Daniell Green, 48, of St. Charles; Dejuan Bingham, 51, of Florissant; Kimberly Diazascencio, 51; and Thomas Keith, 34, of East Prairie, Missouri; were indicted Feb. 11, 2026, in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud. Green turned herself in Tuesday, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.

From July 2020 through February of 2026, Green, the owner and operator of A&L Angels Home Healthcare Services LLC, and Bingham directed Missouri Medicaid patients, including Diazascencio and Keith, to create false timesheet records showing home health care services that were never provided, the indictment says. Diazascencio is Keith’s mother. Green was in a romantic relationship with Bingham.

A&L Angels billed Medicaid for services on dates when the patients were in the hospital and could not have received home health care services, the indictment says. On other occasions, the company billed for services provided on dates and times when the health care workers were working at a different location for another company, it says. Green and Bingham created fake timesheet records by listing people as health care providers who did not provide the reported services and recruiting Missouri Medicaid patients willing to allow their names to be used to submit fraudulent claims for services that were never provided, the indictment says.

The indictment also says Green submitted a fraudulent participation agreement to Missouri Medicaid, falsely claiming that her company’s health care providers were registered with the Family Care Safety Registry and that their criminal background checks were run through the State of Missouri, as is required to receive reimbursement. Green concealed Bingham’s prior felony drug conviction from Missouri Medicaid, the indictment says.

The defendants spent fraudulently obtained public funds on personal expenses, including Green’s use of stolen Missouri Medicaid dollars to fund vacations and to purchase home furniture and luxury items from Gucci and Nordstrom, the indictment says.
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.

“Medicaid is designed to provide essential care for those who need it most—not to finance personal luxuries,” said Linda T. Hanley, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “These charges underscore HHS-OIG’s commitment to working with our state partners to aggressively pursue those suspected of defrauding health care programs to protect public trust and taxpayer resources."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – The owner of a home healthcare company on Tuesday admitted defrauding the Missouri Medicaid Program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $209,000.

Natavia Boyd-Wells, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud. She admitted that while owner of Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, she submitted hundreds of fraudulent reimbursement claims to the Missouri Medicaid Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Care Network. Missouri Medicaid and the VA fund home healthcare services to enable patients to remain in their homes instead of long-term inpatient stays in hospitals and nursing homes.

Boyd-Wells admitted submitting claims for services on dates when the veteran patients were in the hospital and could not possibly have received home healthcare services. She also submitted claims knowing both that the services were not provided and that she did not have any necessary documentation of the services.

In February of 2022, Missouri Medicaid officials conducting an audit requested documentation reflecting services that Boyd-Wells claimed were provided to a Medicaid patient. No documentation existed. Boyd-Wells on Tuesday admitted submitting and causing to be submitted fraudulent documentation to Medicaid in response to their request.

From about June 2020 through November 2024, Boyd-Well’s fraud cost Missouri Medicaid at least $109,751 and the VA at least $100,563.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens on Tuesday sentenced a Chilean national who went on a cross-country crime spree involving stolen credit cards to 75 months in prison.

During the spree, Rene Arviso Velasquez, 51, stole purses or bags containing credit cards and then quickly used the cards to buy gift cards or other items. On Aug. 25, 2024, Velasquez stole one victim’s Lululemon belt bag, which was hanging from her seat at a Cottleville, Missouri restaurant. Less than an hour later, Velasquez used her credit card to purchase five Visa gift cards and a pack of salted nuts for $1,031. Later that day, Velasquez stole a different victim’s purse at a Brentwood restaurant and used her credit card to buy $1,445 worth of gift cards. On Nov. 3, 2024, Velasquez stole a woman’s wallet at a St. Peters restaurant and charge five Visa gift cards and a Pepsi for $1,035.

Velasquez stole at least $40,000 from victims in the St. Louis area and across the country.

Velasquez, who has used the names Miguel Antonio Carrasco-Gomez and Henry Diaz, was living in Tarzana, Calif., but is a Chilean national.

Velasquez pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A Cape Girardeau man on Friday admitted stealing identities to fraudulently apply for pandemic loans, file tax returns and seek state benefits.

Myles Benjamin Depew, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He admitted using the name of one person to fraudulently apply for and receive an $11,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in June of 2020. The next month, Depew used someone else’s name to fraudulently apply for and receive a $14,000 EIDL loan. Finally, he used a third person’s identity to open a checking account with a West Virginia-based bank. Depew prepared two fraudulent Missouri state tax returns, triggering a refund deposit of $2,060 into the account in February of 2022 and $8,668.49 in April of 2023.

U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration agents interviewed Depew, who said he stole the identities of 10 to 15 people and used those to fraudulently apply for about $50,000 in benefits from the state of Missouri. Depew estimated that he had spent about $40,000 on gambling at the casino, $5,000 on food and another $5,000 on methamphetamine. Depew worked as a tax preparer and had access to names, birthdates and Social Security numbers.

Depew is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26. Wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to other charges, and a fine of up to $250,000.

The U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Maria A. Lanahan on Thursday sentenced a convicted felon who chased three teens through a Webster Groves neighborhood while armed to eight years in prison.

Leon Joseph Reitz, 54, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in October to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on March 7, 2025, he began walking toward a car containing two juvenile males and one 18-year-old male that was parked on Greeley Avenue in Webster Groves. The juvenile males were picking up their friend, who lived on that block.  Reitz had one hand behind his back. He then accelerated to a jog before pulling a handgun. The terrified teens fled and Reitz pursued them in a Toyota Camry through neighborhood streets at an estimated speed of 85 to 90 miles per hour. Reitz passed the teens and both cars skidded to a stop within sight of a Webster Groves Police Department officer who happened to be in the area. The teens ran to the officer, who arrested Reitz. Police found a loaded handgun under the front seat of the Camry and a spare magazine for the pistol in Reitz’s pocket.

At the scene, Reitz claimed he believed the teens were going to rob him. In his plea agreement, Reitz admitted that there was no evidence to support his robbery claim. As a convicted felon, Reitz is barred from possession of a firearm.

The Webster Groves Police Department and St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man has been accused in an indictment of a robbery on the grounds of Gateway Arch National Park.

Thomas Durgins, 19, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on one count of robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The indictment accuses Durgins of stealing money and shoes from someone on the Arch grounds on Feb. 1, 2026, at gunpoint. Durgins was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty.

A motion seeking to have Durgins held in jail until trial says he had arranged online to buy shoes, but instead produced a firearm and robbed the seller.

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 St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski is prosecuting the case.

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