Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon to 146 months in prison for attempting to rob a cabdriver at gunpoint after a drunk driving crash and trying to carjack a good Samaritan who stopped to help.

Judge Divine also fined Cornell Woolfolk $3,000. Woolfolk, 29, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that early on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, officers from the Berkeley Police Department and the Woodson Terrace Police Department were dispatched to a crash on Natural Bridge Road near Interstate 70. A 2008 Pontiac had struck a 2017 Dodge Journet taxicab, causing the cab to roll over onto its roof. Officers spotted Woolfolk removing a large bag from the Pontiac and getting into the rear seat of a 2011 Nissan Altima driven by a good Samaritan who stopped to help after the crash. Woolfolk initially ignored officer’s requests to get out of the car. When the car’s driver got out, Woolfolk began chasing him before Woolfolk was caught and arrested by police, the plea says. Officers found a stolen .380 caliber pistol in Woolfolk’s bag and several half-empty liquor bottles in the Pontiac. Woolfolk’s blood alcohol level was 0.14 percent.

Following the introduction of evidence and sentencing testimony from a Berkeley police officer, Judge Divine ruled that Woolfolk attempted to rob the cab driver at gunpoint. Judge Divine also ruled that Woolfolk then attempted to carjack the good Samaritan to escape the scene of the crash. Police intervened before Woolfolk made his escape.

The Berkeley Police Department, the Woodson Terrace Police Department, and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj 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 Jefferson County, Missouri businessman on Wednesday admitted failing to pay 10 years of employment taxes totaling $774,081.

Danny L. Nickelson Jr., 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of failure to pay over trust fund taxes.

Employers are required to withhold Social Security and Medicare taxes and federal income taxes. These “trust fund taxes” are held in trust by employers until paid over to the United States on a quarterly basis. Employers are also required to match the Social Security and Medicare taxes and pay that to the IRS. Nickelson owned General Physiotherapy, a manufacturer and distributor of massage and percussion devices used in medicine and physical therapy. For tax years 2013 through 2022, Nickelson withheld money from employees’ pay but did not pay that to the IRS. He also did not pay the employer’s share. Instead, he used the money for the business’ operational expenses and personal expenditures including food, travel, retail purchases and credit card bills.

Nickelson did the same thing for tax years 2013-2015 for Tomichi Industries, a small plastic distributor and supplier for General Physiotherapy. Nickelson was sole shareholder of Tomichi.

Nickelson admitted failing to pay 40 quarterly employment tax payments, resulting in a tax loss of $774,081. He has agreed to repay the money to the IRS.

Nickelson is scheduled to be sentenced May 12. The charges carry a penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both prison and a fine.   

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man to 210 months in prison for child pornography offenses involving three teens.

Dylan James, 26, recorded a sexual act with a 13-year-old in 2024 and then distributed that recording. He also provided alcohol and “possibly some vapes” in exchange for sexually explicit images from a 15-year-old, James’ plea agreement says. James paid a 16-year-old for sexually explicit videos in 2023.

James pleaded guilty in August to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

“Dylan James preyed on vulnerable children, using gifts to manipulate and sexually exploit them -- a tactic all too common among predators,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “In these cases, there is no ambiguity: the children are the victims, and we will hold accountable those who are responsible.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes 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 man from St. Francois County, Missouri on Monday admitted producing child sexual abuse material involving two underage girls.

Richard James Miller, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of production of child pornography. On more than five occasions, Miller recorded his sexual abuse of the two juveniles. One victim told investigators that Miller began engaging in sex acts with her when she was 15. The other said she began spending time in his apartment when she was 8 or 9 years old.

Homeland Security Investigations learned of Miller in 2024, when the court-approved search of a New Jersey man’s home uncovered Kik messenger chats with Miller that included images constituting child sexual abuse material. Investigators then spoke with Miller, who admitted engaging in sex acts with young girls at his home in the past, including the older victim. He also admitted exchanging sexually explicit photos with that victim.

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4. The production of child pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years, with a maximum of 30 years.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Monday sentenced a convicted sex offender to 200 years in prison for a new crime against children.

Judge Autrey also ordered Jason Levi Meyrand, 31, of Jefferson County, Missouri, to pay $6,000 in restitution to his victims.

Meyrand pleaded guilty in August to four counts of production of child pornography. He admitted sexually abusing two children in 2022 and sharing images of that abuse in a group devoted to child sexual abuse material on the social media application Kik. A detective with the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force spotted a posting by Meyrand in the Kik group in January 2023, sparking the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang pointed out in court that Meyrand’s criminal conduct happened about six months after he finished his state sentence for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl. In 2014, Meyrand was convicted in Bates County, Missouri of child molestation and endangering the welfare of a child.

The FBI, the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

ST. LOUIS – A former high school basketball coach on Monday admitted sending sexually explicit photos to students and engaging in sexually explicit conversations with them.

Lee Anthony Bogan Jr., 29, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of attempting to receive child pornography. He admitted using a social media application to contact high school students beginning in the spring of 2024. In these messages, Bogan expressed romantic and sexual interest in the students, seeking to gauge their responses. He also sent photos of his genitals, believing that the app would cause the messages to disappear shortly after they were received, his plea agreement says. Bogan, who worked at a St. Louis area high school and was known as “Coach Teejay,” was unaware that the minors took screen shots of the explicit photos before they disappeared.

Bogan, of Jennings, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6. The charge carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20.

The Ladue Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a former mail carrier who aided a check stealing and bank fraud conspiracy to a year and a day in prison and ordered her to repay $21,635.

Cambria M. Hopkins, a postal carrier based in Clayton, sold her “arrow key,” which allows access to U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, to Malik A. Jones on March 20, 2022. She also told Jones which boxes the key would open. Jones then paid others to steal mail using Hopkins’ key. Hopkins also sold checks multiple times to Jones that she’d stolen from mail at the Post Office and from mail while on her route. Jones paid her in cash, via CashApp or in groceries. Jones then recruited others who allowed him to use their bank accounts to deposit forged and fraudulent checks.

“The relatively small amount of money for which (Hopkins) was willing to abuse her position, undermine the public’s trust, and harm those whose mail she stole speaks to the selfishness of her actions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow wrote in a sentencing memo. When confronted, Hopkins “lied to investigators… and attempted to cover up her crimes by then deleting her messages with Jones,” Clow wrote.

Hopkins, 30, of Florissant, Missouri, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy and one count of unlawful use of a mail key.

Jones, now 28, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

“The sentencing in this case illustrates that individuals who steal mail will be held accountable for their actions,” stated Acting Inspector in Charge, Mary Johnson, who leads the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which includes St. Louis. “The Postal Inspection Service is proud to work with our local, state, and federal partners to bring mail theft perpetrators to justice and prevent financial crimes targeting local citizens, postal customers, and financial institutions.”

“This sentencing represents the hard work and dedication by USPS OIG Special Agents working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring charges on this significant mail theft investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office. “The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service, along with our law enforcement partners, remain committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees.”

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A Washington County, Missouri man on Friday admitted sexually abusing a girl and soliciting child sexual abuse material from her.

William R. Murphy, 41, of Washington County, pleaded guilty U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted engaging in sexual contact with a juvenile when she was between the ages of 13 and 17. Sometimes Murphy threatened the victim to obtain images from her that constitute child sexual abuse material, his plea agreement says.

Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced April 29. Both the U.S. Attorney’s office and Murphy’s lawyer have agreed to recommend 27 years in prison.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a man caught with child sexual abuse material, including material that he had produced or solicited, to 170 months in prison.

Patrick Neistat, 24, of Florissant, Missouri, pleaded guilty in October to one count of receipt of child pornography. He admitted possessing images and videos containing child sexual abuse material on multiple cellular phones.

The investigation began on Sept. 8, 2022, when St. Louis County Police Department detectives received an exigent Cyber Tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) indicating that the user of a Skout social media account had uploaded multiple images depicting the sexual abuse of a  minor. Detectives traced the account to Neistat’s home. Neistat initially denied having a cellular phone. Detectives learned that he did, and seized the phone. 
    
Neistat had 123 images and 4 videos of child pornography on one phone, as well as 187 images and 18 videos of “age difficult” pornography and 634 CGI/animated images depicting children in sexual acts, his plea agreement says. He also had videos of himself touching a 5-year-old. On a second phone, investigators found 12 images containing CSAM as well as sexually explicit conversations and explicit photos that Neistat had received from a 12-year-old girl and an apparent 14-year-old girl.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes 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.

The Justice Department announced today that the Housing Authority of the City of Bloomfield, Missouri, and its former executive director, Eddie Joe Hankins, have agreed to pay $35,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging that Hankins sexually harassed a female housing applicant in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in September 2025, alleges that in 2021, Hankins subjected a female housing applicant to unwelcome sexual comments and touching without her consent, and offered to place her on the wait list for housing in exchange for sex. The lawsuit also alleges that the Housing Authority is vicariously liable for Hankins’ unlawful conduct.

“No one should have to endure harassment and discrimination, especially when seeking housing,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will hold housing providers accountable when they target and exploit vulnerable tenants.”

“This settlement contains very important protections for both the woman who alleged that she was asked for sex in exchange for a place to live and current or prospective housing authority tenants in the city of Bloomfield,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus for the Eastern District of Missouri. “Housing discrimination will not be tolerated in Missouri.”

“The Trump Administration will not permit housing providers to prey on vulnerable women and engage in immoral and illegal sexual harassment in violation of the Fair Housing Act,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig W. Trainor of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “The Department is dedicated to vigorous fair housing enforcement and ensuring the right of everyone to feel safe and secure in their homes. This settlement reflects that commitment.”

Under the settlement agreement, the Defendants must pay $35,000 to the housing applicant. The settlement agreement permanently bars Hankins from managing residential rental properties and requires employees of the Housing Authority to complete Fair Housing Act training.

The case was referred to the Division after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received a complaint, conducted an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination.

If you are a victim of sexual harassment by another landlord or property manager or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. This settlement is part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative. The initiative, which the Department launched in October 2017, seeks to address and raise awareness about sexual harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, loan officers and other people who have control over housing. Since launching the initiative, the department has filed 52 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment in housing and recovered more than $17 million for victims of such harassment.

ST. LOUIS – A church official from Illinois was arrested on a child pornography charge Wednesday and appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Thursday.

Michael William Mohr, 54, of Springfield, was charged by complaint Wednesday in St. Louis with one count of producing child pornography. He will be held in jail until trial after waiving his right to a detention hearing.

The affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that a court-approved search of Mohr’s home in Springfield found storage devices that contained videos of three juveniles in the bathroom. A search of a residence used by Mohr in Vandalia uncovered a hidden camera disguised as a wall clock and one disguised as a Bluetooth speaker, the affidavit says. The investigation began after one of the juveniles told the Vandalia Police Department that he discovered a camera disguised as an electronic device charger in a hotel bathroom. The discovery happened the morning after the juvenile awoke to discover Mohr standing above him and masturbating, believing the victim was asleep, the affidavit says. The juvenile was in shock and acted like he was still asleep, the affidavit says.

Mohr is the president of the Central Illinois District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

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

Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI. Submit information via tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).

FBI St. Louis and St. Louis County Police investigated the case with assistance from FBI Springfield (Illinois) and the Vandalia Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

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

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A former Farmington, Missouri kindergarten teacher on Wednesday admitted possessing and sharing child sexual abuse material.

Erika L. Morton, 37, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of possession of child pornography. She admitted sending child sexual abuse material (CSAM) via the Kik Messenger app.

In February 2025, the Missouri State Highway Patrol received a cybertip reporting that a Kik user had uploaded several video files containing images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  Investigators traced the account to Morton and interviewed her on June 17, 2025. Morton admitted that she was the Kik user responsible for sending the CSAM and admitted that she used her cell phone to obtain the material while at her home in Ste. Genevieve County, her plea agreement says.    

Morton is scheduled to be sentenced in April. The charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both prison and a fine.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A former official with a St. Louis-based non-profit circus on Wednesday admitted embezzling over $123,000 from December 2022 through at least September 2023.

George S. Pace, 63, of Ladue, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four counts of wire fraud. He admitted using a credit card that he’d obtained without the knowledge or approval of the circus to pay thousands of dollars of personal expenses, including payments to nail salons, restaurants, and for skin care treatments. He used a second card for thousands of dollars more in unapproved expenses, including horseback riding related expenses and payments to restaurants. When another circus official reviewed the second card’s expenses, Pace lied and claimed the card had been stolen. Pace presented the official with forged account statements falsely showing that he had resolved the charges.

Pace also diverted checks drawn on the circus’ bank account to himself instead of using them to pay down a line of credit. Pace’s diversion of the line of credit payments caused thousands of dollars in interest to be accrued by the circus. Finally, Pace deposited thousands of dollars of donor checks made out to the circus into his personal account. In the plea agreement, Pace admitted defrauding the circus out of over $123,015.94. Pace was on the board of directors beginning in 2020 and later became board president.

In his plea agreement, Pace also admitted fraudulently applying for two U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Assistance Loans totaling $29,400. The SBA denied the loans.

Pace is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4. Each wire fraud charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and a fine.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a Romanian national who has repeatedly entered the United States illegally to 27 months in prison for stealing $161,000 from stores across the country with a sleight-of-hand fraud.

Judge Ross also ordered Adrian Stoica, 47, to repay the money.

Stoica conducted at least 170 transactions in stores in 20 states between November 2021 and March 2025. After cashiers scanned merchandise, prepaid gift cards, and electronic money transfers, Stoica would count cash into piles to trick cashiers into believing that he was paying the full price. He collected the piles and then slipped bills from the bottom of the stack into his pocket, short-changing the stores by hundreds of dollars or more in each transaction. Stoica would then move on and victimize a different store. On Feb. 17, 2023, he shortchanged the cashier of a Chesterfield store by approximately $860. On Sept. 7, 2023, his scheme cost a store in O’Fallon, Missouri about $690. The next day, he cost a Fenton store about $660.

Stoica has illegally entered the country three times since 2016. He was ordered removed from the country in May of 2018 and deported in February of 2020. Stoica has used the names Boeri Kvec, Borri Kvec, Boeri Stoica and Adrian Anghel.

Stoica pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud and one count of illegal entry into the United States.

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

ST. LOUIS – A Slovakian man on Tuesday admitted involvement in a darknet market that sold drugs and stolen personal information.

Alan Bill, 33, of Bratislava, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He admitted involvement in the operation of Kingdom Market, a darknet marketplace that operated between March 2021 and December 2023. Kingdom users sold and bought illegal goods and services, including fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs, stolen financial information and identification documents, via cryptocurrency and anonymous or semi-anonymous accounts. Bill admitted assisting others in maintaining or operating Kingdom by providing or procuring web-administration services. He also admitted receiving cryptocurrency from a wallet associated with Kingdom, assisting with the creation of Kingdom’s forum pages on websites such as Reddit and Dread, having access to Kingdom usernames that made postings on behalf of Kingdom on social media accounts and communicating with others regarding certain Kingdom transactions.

Beginning around July 2022, undercover federal investigators made purchases from Kingdom market, including fentanyl, meth and a United States passport, that were shipped to the Eastern District of Missouri. Bill was arrested Dec. 15, 2023, at Newark Liberty International Airport after a customs inspection found two cellular telephones, a laptop, a thumb drive and a hardware wallet used to store cryptocurrency private keys. The electronics contained evidence of his involvement with Kingdom.

As part of his plea agreement, Bill also agreed to forfeit five different types of coins in a cryptocurrency wallet, as well as the Kingdommarket.live and Kingdommarket.so domains, which have been shut down by authorities.

Bill is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5. The drug trafficking conspiracy charge carries a penalty of at least five years in prison, with a maximum of 40, and the possibility of a fine of up to $5 million.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Missouri Department of Revenue investigated the case. The investigation also involved numerous foreign law enforcement agencies, including the German Federal Criminal Police, or Bundeskriminalamt, the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office - Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) as well as law enforcement agencies from Switzerland, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a sex offender who was caught again with child sexual abuse material to 15 years in prison followed by a life term of supervised release.

Paul Lewis Sanders, 41, of Warren County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court to one count of receiving child pornography. He admitted that after an investigation triggered by a complaint to the Warren County Sheriff’s Department in February of 2023, child sexual abuse material was discovered on Sanders’ cellular phone.

In 2004, Sanders was convicted of the felony offense of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Macoupin County, Illinois.

The Warren County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations handled the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Drake 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. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Missouri collected $16,070,376 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2025. Of this amount, $14,077,382 was collected in criminal actions and $1,992,993 was collected in civil actions.  

Additionally, the Eastern District of Missouri worked with other U.S. Attorney’s offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $76,319,861 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $274,366 was collected in criminal actions and $76,045,494 was collected in civil actions.          

“Last year, we recovered more than one million dollars for Medicare and Medicaid in one case alone, and millions of dollars more that were fraudulently obtained by faking disabilities,” said U.S. Attorney Albus. “Those contemplating fraud in the Eastern District of Missouri should know that the U.S. Attorney’s office will aggressively pursue the recovery of ill-gotten gains and do our best, even years later, to recover assets due to victims.”

Among the collections in criminal actions in the Eastern District of Missouri was a total of $1,323,318 recovered from Michael McCormac to reimburse Medicare, the Missouri Medicaid program and the Ohio Medicaid program. McCormac is the former owner of a mail order pharmacy who pleaded guilty to two counts of violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and admitted paying kickbacks to marketing companies to generate prescriptions for expensive medications. The office has also continued to recover funds from a disability fraud case involving two Jefferson County chiropractors and more than two dozen patients. About $2.9 million was collected last year in those cases.

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

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $5,420,367 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2025. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes. The office also obtained the forfeiture of 334 firearms involved in criminal offenses.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles County on Friday admitted being caught with 2.7 kilograms of methamphetamine after selling meth twice to someone working with law enforcement.

Christopher P. Decker, 47, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

After learning that Decker was involved in drug trafficking, the Multi-County Narcotics Violent Crime Enforcement Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration bought meth twice from Decker in June of 2021. Each time, Decker sold two ounces of meth for $1,400 from his home. Following the purchases, DEA investigators applied for and obtained a search warrant for Decker’s home and found a large amount of meth in a safe in his bedroom and in his washing machine, totaling 2.7 kilograms. They also found a handgun. Decker was convicted in 2005 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis of conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine, having reasonable cause to believe that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Decker’s sentencing has been set for April 22.

Franklin County's Multi-County Narcotics and Violent Crime Enforcement Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Voss is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A federal jury on Friday convicted former St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley of charges related to insurance fraud and lying to the FBI.

Jurors in U.S. District Court in St. Louis found Bosley, 38, guilty of three felony wire fraud charges and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

Bosley’s 2010 Toyota Prius was hit by another vehicle in September of 2021. The Prius was parked at the time and there was initially confusion over whether the driver was insured. The drivers’ insurance company contacted Bosley in February of 2022 and told him that they would pay for the damage. By the next day, Bosley had hatched a scheme to defraud the insurance company by falsely inflating the cost of needed repairs, evidence and trial testimony showed. He first contacted the auto repair shop owner who had sold him the used Prius in March of 2021 for the steeply discounted price of $500. Bosley then asked the business owner to prepare and submit an inflated repair estimate to the insurance company, hoping that the car would be totaled and the insurance company would pay Bosley its current value, evidence and testimony showed. “Mark that (expletive) all the way up,” Bosley told the business owner during the conversation, which was captured on audio and video. In return, Bosley said that he would pay a bribe to the business owner. Bosley also discussed buying the car back if it was totaled, and then paying for the actual estimated repair costs of $2,000 to $2,200, thus retaining the car while fraudulently netting thousands of dollars.

After the insurance company balked at the initial repair estimate of about $6,800, Bosley caused a second estimate of $4,333 to be submitted. The insurance company did agree to total the car and paid Bosley $7,978.90.

In March of 2023, Bosley was interviewed by FBI agents with his lawyer present. Jurors on Friday found that that he repeatedly lied. He falsely stated to agents that he never saw the two false repair bills that were prepared after the accident. He falsely claimed the repair estimates were not inflated. He also denied asking the repair estimates to be inflated.

The trial began with jury selection Tuesday.

Bosley is scheduled to be sentenced April 28. Each wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The making false statement charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hal Goldsmith and Matthew Martin are prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former Texas-based investment adviser on Wednesday admitted running a Ponzi scheme that cost investors in Missouri and elsewhere more than $25 million.

Siddharth Jawahar, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud.

Jawahar ran a Texas-based investment company called Swiftarc Capital LLC. He initially invested in a diverse array of securities, but in 2015, began investing client funds in a single investment, Philip Morris Pakistan (PMP). Eventually, 99% of client funds were consolidated into PMP. When the value of PMP declined, Jawahar did not tell investors, instead claiming that shares were trading at a much higher price and that they were making profits. Jawahar used money from new investors to repay older investors and to fuel an extravagant lifestyle that included flights on private planes, stays at luxury hotels and expensive outings at fancy restaurants.

Jawahar on Wednesday also admitted misleading investors by falsely entering into agreements in which he agreed to invest their money in a specific company or companies, including one Missouri investor who gave him $175,000, another Missouri investor who gave him $75,000, a New York investor who handed over $350,000 and an Ohio investor who gave him $250,000. Jawahar never made the promised investments.

From about July 2016 through December 2023, Jawahar took in more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors but invested only about $10 million.

Jawahar also managed additional entities that he utilized during his scheme, including Swiftarc Fund LP, Swiftarc LLC, Swiftarc Holdings, SJ Investment Holdings LLC, Order of Magnitude Ventures LLC, Extra Sensory Perception Inc., Swiftarc Growth Fund LP, Swiftarc Opportunities Fund LP, SJ Investment Holdings LLC, SV Labs SPV 1 LP, Swiftarc Venture Labs Fund GP LLC, SJDB Ventures LLC, Swiftarc Ventures LLC, Swiftarc Venture Labs Fund LP, Swiftarc Telehealth Labs Fund LP, NI Stubbs LLC and Swiftarc Beauty Fund LP.  

Jawahar is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21. The wire fraud charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or both. He will also be ordered to repay investors.

The FBI and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a man who in 2023 broke into 24 vehicles in Scott County and New Madrid County to steal and stole firearms to 137 months in prison.

Corterian L. Wright, now 42, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in April to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted stealing five handguns from vehicles on Oct. 24, 2023. The thefts were among 24 vehicle break-ins in a 3½ hour span at multiple businesses in those counties, according to court documents. Wright is a felon and is thus barred from possessing firearms.

The Matthews Police Department, the New Madrid County Sheriff’s Office, the New Madrid Police Department, the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a convicted felon caught twice with drugs to 170 months in prison.

Quentin Simms, 54, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty in September to five counts: possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, possession with the intent to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm in connection with drug trafficking crimes and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He admitted that St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detectives conducting a court-approved search of a home in the 4000 block of Labadie Avenue on May 31, 2024, spotted Simms nearby, trying to hide in a red Dodge Ram. Officers saw a large baggie of capsules containing fentanyl, $3,668 in cash and a loaded Ruger 5.7 model 5.7x28mm caliber semi-automatic pistol in the truck. They found a bag containing heroin, cocaine and cocaine base and a stolen Smith & Wesson 10mm pistol in a subsequent search. After Simms was indicted on drug and gun charges, Deputy U.S. Marshals arrested him on Oct. 9, 2024, and found about $1,000 in cash and a baggie that contained 27.95 grams of cocaine base, Simms’ plea says.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Christian Goeke prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A man from Butler County, Missouri faces at least 10 years in prison after being caught with child sexual abuse material at a halfway house.

Leslie Bryan Clark, 59, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted being caught with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on June 13, 2025, the day he was to be released from a halfway house in Butler County. A Cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had alerted investigators that Clark had uploaded CSAM via the Kik app. When confronted by a probation officer, Clark handed over his phone, which contained video clips of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

In 2017, Clark pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release.

Clark is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20. The charge carries a penalty of at least 10 years in prison, due to his prior conviction, with a maximum of 20 years. Clark also admitted violating his supervised release in the prior case and faces sentencing for that.

The U.S. Probation Office of the Eastern District of Missouri and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester is prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS – A man from Jefferson County, Missouri has been accused of supplying the fentanyl that killed a man in 2024.

Daryn Joshua Odell Karnes, 21, was indicted December 10 with one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. The indictment accuses Karnes of supplying a mixture containing fentanyl that resulted in the death of a man in Jefferson County, Missouri on Jan. 5, 2024.

A motion seeking to hold Karnes in jail until trial says the victim and his girlfriend bought capsules containing a mix of fentanyl, xylazine and heroin from someone known as “Luh Daryn.” An investigation led to Karnes, the motion 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 Drug Enforcement Administration and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohsen Pasha is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri who sold fentanyl and other drugs to 15 years in prison.

Dennis M. Davis, 48, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl. He admitted buying drugs from a Mexican source of supply and then returning some of the drug proceeds to a courier.

On Oct. 6, 2023, investigators conducted a court-approved search of Davis’ home in St. Louis County and found fentanyl, three handguns and $6,679 in cash. At a stash house in St. Louis used by Davis, they found a money counter, scales, kilograms of fentanyl and other drugs, four rifles and a handgun.

“Dennis Davis had enough fentanyl in his stash house to kill every single resident in the city of St. Louis,” Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Field Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis said. “He was a threat to our city, pushing poisons, destroying lives and all the while lining his pockets with proceeds. Today’s sentencing demonstrates that this type of behavior will not be tolerated in our city, our state or our nation.”

“This case is another example of good task force work fueled by cooperation between both local and federal law enforcement agencies,” said IRS-CI St. Louis Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “IRS-CI’s role in narcotics investigations is to follow the money so we can disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations. We’re proud to provide our financial expertise as we work alongside our law enforcement partners to bring criminals to justice.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS – Criminal Investigations, the St. Louis County Police Department and the U.S. Marshals investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Delworth prosecuted the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles, Missouri on Thursday admitted embezzling more than $400,000 from his employer.

Talon Lewis, 33, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of mail fraud. He admitted that from Oct. 21, 2019, to at least Feb. 19, 2025, he hatched the scheme while working as an accounts payable specialist at a medical business. Lewis routinely received lists of patients who were owed refunds and was supposed to upload that information so the company could generate and mail refund checks. Lewis added fake patients to the refund lists and then had refunds sent to him or to the homes of friends and acquaintances. Those friends and acquaintances then kicked back 30% of the money they fraudulently received to Lewis. He admitted stealing more than $400,000 in this manner.

Lewis is scheduled to be sentenced on April 16. Mail fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both prison and a fine.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A former bartender from St. Charles County, Missouri on Thursday admitted possessing child sexual abuse material and installing hidden cameras in the bedroom and bathroom of a former residence.

Anthony Thomas, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. He admitted possessing thousands of media files that contain child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that he had downloaded and thousands more containing pornography where the age of those depicted is difficult to discern.

Thomas also admitted installing hidden cameras in a bathroom and bedroom of a former residence. The bedroom camera was disguised as a smoke detector. The bathroom camera was disguised as an outlet extension plug. Both captured images of a 14-year-old girl.

The investigation began in December 2024, when agents with Homeland Security Investigations learned that someone in St. Charles County was making CSAM available for download via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. They then conducted a court-approved search of Thomas’ home and seized multiple electronic devices that contained CSAM.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Charles County Regional SWAT Team 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 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 Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a woman who fraudulently sought more than $1.1 million in loans during the COVID-19 pandemic to 24 months in prison and ordered her to pay a $75,000 fine.

Judge Divine also ordered Bridgette Johnson, 61, of Berkeley, Missouri, to repay the $129,000 that she stole. Johnson fraudulently applied for and received $120,000 from the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program by falsely claiming that one of the numerous businesses that she registered in Missouri, Compassion at Home, would use PPP loan money to retain employees and pay business expenses. She later sought loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that she’d used the money for permitted purposes. Johnson instead made tens of thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals from the account that had received the loan money.

Johnson also admitted fraudulently applying for $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration by falsely inflating profit and personnel count in eight applications in 2020 and 2021 filed in her name and in the name of five of her companies. Although the SBA rejected most of the applications after flagging them as fraudulent, Johnson did receive $9,000 in advances.

“Johnson used a global pandemic as an opportunity to enrich herself of approximately $130,000 at the expense of small businesses that desperately needed that money to pay their employees and keep their operations from shuttering,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf wrote in a sentencing memo.

Johnson pleaded guilty in October to one count of wire fraud.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.

Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Maplewood, Missouri on Wednesday admitted selling nine machine gun conversion devices to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Tanario Darden, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two felony counts: transporting prohibited weapons without a license and transferring machine guns. He admitted using his Instagram account to offer machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) for sale. MCDs, also known as switches or auto sears, convert a semi-automatic firearm into fully automatic weapon. MCDs are defined as a machine gun under federal law.

ATF agents learned of the Instagram account in the spring of 2024 and an undercover agent contacted Darden. After arranging the sale via Darden, an intermediary delivered two MCDs on April 29, 2024. A different man delivered seven more on May 29, 2024.

Darden is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15.The transporting prohibited weapons charge carries a potential penalty of up to five years in prison. The machine gun charge carries a penalty of 10 years in prison.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a woman who aided scammers pretending to be law enforcement officers to 24 months in prison.

Ariel Burden, 33, was part of a group that called victims from phone numbers that appeared to be associated with local law enforcement. The “spoofers” claimed to be law enforcement officers or affiliated with law enforcement and told victims that they had outstanding warrants for missing court appearances. They threatened to arrest the victims if they didn’t pay thousands of dollars to a bondswoman. The scammers stayed in contact with the victims until they met with the supposed bondswoman, Burden. Burden was calling herself “Jennifer Davis.” She collected the money and provided victims with a receipt that contained fake citation numbers and other false information.

One Jefferson County, Missouri resident paid $12,000 to avoid arrest when the scammers claimed to be with the Crystal City police. In all, Burden admitted defrauding three victims out of a total of $28,000. Judge Autrey on Wednesday ordered her to repay the money.

Burden, from the Atlanta area, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in September to one count of wire fraud. She will now be transferred to Georgia to face potential revocation of her probation in an aggravated battery case there.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, in conjunction with the Jefferson County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office and the McPherson, Kansas Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from Crawford County, Missouri on Wednesday admitted grooming and engaging in illegal sexual contact with a minor.

Nathaniel Rod Gibson, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted giving the victim a phone and grooming her via more than 18,996 text messages from March 10, 2023, to Sept. 6, 2023. Gibson told the victim to delete the flirtatious and inappropriate messages so that her mother would not find them. In June of 2023, Gibson drove the victim from Missouri to a campground in Arkansas, where he engaged in an illegal sex act with her. He also did so at his home in Crawford County.

Gibson is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15. The travel with the intent charge carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison. The coercion and enticement of a minor carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, the Diamond City (Arkansas) Police Department and the FBI 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 Zachary M. Bluestone on Tuesday sentenced a man who recorded his sexual abuse of two girls to 35 years in prison.

One victim told authorities that Benjamin F. Sexton Jr., of Jefferson County, Missouri, sexually abused her between the ages of 7 and 14 and recorded the abuse. She said he restrained her at times and supplied her with methamphetamine. The second victim said Sexton abused her when she was 15. Investigators found child sexual abuse material that documented the abuse of both girls.

In 2023, the grandfather of one victim discovered explicit communications between that victim and Sexton and notified authorities.

Sexton, now 49, pleaded guilty in August to one count of production of child pornography, one count of coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of receipt of child pornography.

As part of his plea agreement, Sexton agreed to forfeit items that had been seized by law enforcement, including computers, cameras and other electronic devices, two handguns, cell phones, night vision goggles and fraudulent $100 bills.

The St. Louis County Special Investigations Unit and 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, Missouri woman on Thursday admitted fraudulently obtaining $177,000 by falsely claiming tax credits for retaining employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayana J. Brown, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two felony counts of theft of government property. Brown admitted filing two fraudulent quarterly employment tax returns (IRS Form 941s) with the IRS on behalf of Yaya Flowtiques LLC on Dec. 22, 2022. The filings falsely claimed that the company had 5 employees and paid $177,321.77 and $145,098.88 in wages for the first and second quarters of 2021, respectively. The forms sought Employee Retention Tax Credits, which were designed to encourage businesses to retain employees during the pandemic. Generally, businesses qualified for the ERC if they paid qualifies wages to employees during the pandemic and were shut down by a government order, experienced a 50% decline in gross receipts or qualified as a recovery startup business.

Brown did not have employees or pay wages during this period and the company had little or no operations. Brown had never reported income from Yaya Flowtiques and knew that the forms 941 were false. Based on these fraudulent IRS Forms 941, the IRS issued two U.S. Treasury checks for $97,645.53 and $79,901.40 to Yaya Flowtiques. Brown deposited the checks before making multiple large cash withdrawals and spending the remaining proceeds on personal expenses, food, and shopping.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6. Each theft of government property charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and fine.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County man on Thursday admitted shooting four teens in St. Louis in 2023, killing two and causing the death a month later of one woman’s baby.

Eddie Marcus Love, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four felony counts: conspiracy to distribute marijuana, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of ammunition and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Love admitted shooting the four women after failing to buy marijuana for them.

On the evening of May 6, 2023, one of the victims contacted Love and arranged for herself and her friends to be picked up so they could obtain marijuana and visit a bar. Love’s co-defendant, Charles Webster, was driving and Love was in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Passat. The victims shared the back seat.

Webster and Love tried and failed to buy marijuana twice. When the victims expressed their frustration, Love told them to get out of the car near the 1900 block of Agnes Street in St. Louis. Love shoved one victim, who told him to stop because she was pregnant. Love was armed with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and began shooting at the women as they walked away, killing the two 18-year-olds and wounding the two 17-year-olds, he admitted Thursday. Love told Webster to circle the block, and he then shot one of the wounded victims twice more in the head. She was 10 weeks pregnant but her child was not injured. The child of the other wounded victim, who was 30 weeks pregnant, was delivered by emergency C-section and died about a month later as a result of gunshot wounds.

On May 12, 2023, investigators conducted a court-approved search of Love’s home in Bellefontaine Neighbors and found the Passat, a cell phone that contained Love’s messages with one of the victims, clothing worn by Webster and Love at the time of the shooting, one spent nine-millimeter cartridge casing that matched the casings from the crime scene, three guns and various magazines and ammunition. Love is a convicted felon and is thus barred from possessing firearms or ammunition. Investigators also found a pair of shoes with multiple apparent blood stains containing DNA matching one of the victims.

Webster pleaded guilty in December to three counts: conspiracy to knowingly and intentionally possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is scheduled to be sentenced in May.

Love is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will recommend 50 years in prison.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Thursday sentenced a man to 156 months in prison for neglecting his uncle, a U.S. Army veteran with quadriplegia, for years and concealing his corpse to fraudulently obtain $1.8 million in his uncle’s disability benefits.

Brian K. Ditch, now 45, of Salem, Missouri, became solely responsible for his uncle’s care in 2008. At some point, instead of properly caring for his uncle, Ditch kept him locked away and subjected him to insufficient care and verbal abuse. Ditch fraudulently gained access to his uncle’s financial accounts and regularly wired himself money. After his uncle’s death around 2019, Ditch concealed his death from relatives, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Social Security Administration so that he could continue to steal his uncle’s money. Ditch hid the body in a shed behind his house, telling relatives that he had moved his uncle into a nursing home and police that his uncle was living with someone else.

Since 2008, the VA’s Disability Compensation program deposited approximately $1.6 million into the victim’s account. Ditch’s uncle also received a total of $235,210 in benefits from the Social Security Administration. Ditch used the money for personal purchases, including exotic reptiles and firearms. As a convicted felon, Ditch is barred from possessing firearms. On Thursday, Judge Bluestone ordered Ditch to repay the money.

“Our veterans, particularly those who were wounded while serving our country, deserve our profound respect and admiration, not a life afflicted by neglect, abuse, and exploitation,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “I hope that this sentence sends a message that we will not tolerate this conduct, or the defrauding of programs intended to support veterans and those with disabilities.”

“This sentencing sends a clear message that the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General will vigorously investigate and hold accountable those who exploit veterans,” said Special Agent in Charge Gregory Billingsley with the VA OIG’s Central Field Office. “Egregious crimes against those who served our nation will not be tolerated, and the VA OIG extends its gratitude to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their unwavering commitment to achieving justice in this case.”

"For over a decade, Brian Ditch was entrusted as the sole caregiver for his uncle, a vulnerable Army veteran; yet he betrayed that trust in the most egregious way. Once his uncle passed away, Ditch then concealed his uncle’s death, hiding his body in a shed, all to keep siphoning Social Security benefits," said Michelle L. Anderson, Assistant Inspector General for Audit as First Assistant, Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of the Inspector General.  “This was not just theft; it was a calculated scheme to defraud SSA of over $235,000, carried out with shocking deception and disregard for human dignity. We will continue to pursue those who abuse Social Security for personal gain.”

Ditch pleaded guilty in October to four felony counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Salem Police Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a former paramedic / firefighter from St. Louis County to 151 months in prison on child sex-related charges.

Judge Pitlyk also ordered David S. Becker, 70, to pay $17,000 to victims who have appeared in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and ordered him to be placed on supervised release for life after his release from prison.
    
In August, jurors in U.S. District Court in St. Louis found Becker guilty of one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography. Trial evidence and testimony showed that Becker began corresponding with a person on a nudist website. That person claimed to be the mother of an 11-year-old girl in France. Becker and the person discussed having sex with each other and the child. He also sent her an image of child sexual abuse material in October of 2022. Becker bought plane tickets for France and obtained an extended-stay visa, planning to travel there in June of 2023, evidence and testimony showed.

At the time, investigators were already working on a cyber tipline report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about someone uploading child sexual abuse material (CSAM). On May 22, 2023, investigators conducted a court-approved search of Becker’s home. Becker admitted planning the trip to France to meet the mother and her daughter. Investigators found CSAM on Becker’s electronic devices, as well as years of communications about Becker’s plans to sexually abuse the child, evidence and testimony showed.

After the trial, additional electronic devices were discovered that showed Becker corresponding with someone else who claimed to be the mother of a young girl, according to court testimony.

Judge Pitlyk told Becker near the end of Tuesday’s hearing that the evidence at trial showed both that he “fully intended” to sexually abuse a child in France and the danger he poses to the community.

The St. Louis County Police Dept. Special Investigations Unit, the FBI and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jillian Anderson and Michael Hayes are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by 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 a Georgia man who committed sex crimes with a 15-year-old Missouri girl to 200 months in prison.

Carlan Travis Penney Jr., now 46, pleaded guilty in October to coercion and enticement of a minor and transportation of a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. He admitted meeting the 15-year-old online and exchanging nude photos with her. Penney then rented a car, drove to Missouri and picked the girl up. Penney tried to destroy her laptop and phone to conceal his crime and brought the victim to Georgia, where he engaged in sexual activity with her.

The teen’s family alerted the local sheriff’s office when she went missing, and the sheriff’s office enlisted the assistance of the FBI. FBI special agents learned that the teen had been in contact with Penney, and investigators rescued her from a home belonging to Penney’s family.

After his release from prison, Penney will be on supervised release for life.

“Carlan Penney Jr. attempted to conceal his identity and cover his tracks, including destroying and discarding the victim’s mobile devices. Still, the FBI found the victim’s location in Georgia within 24 hours,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “We want to thank again the Worth County and Crisp County Sheriff’s Offices for recovering the girl safely after Penney refused to comply with orders for more than half an hour.”

The FBI’s St. Louis Division, FBI Atlanta’s Albany Resident Agency, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Worth County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office and the Crisp County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office 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 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 Zachary M. Bluestone on Monday sentenced a former doctor who sought medical employment using a stolen identity to 10 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Angela K. Boston sought employment on the medical staff of the Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority in Oklahoma in April of 2023 by stealing the identity of a St. Louis doctor. Boston submitted forged diplomas with the doctor’s name and a forged State of Missouri medical license with her application. The victim then discovered that Boston had sought employment elsewhere using her name and personal information.

Boston was indicted as Angela Williams but has since married.

In a sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll wrote that the doctor victimized by Boston was the same doctor whose identity she had previously misused to illegally obtain controlled substances. Carroll said Boston spent years victimizing someone who has done nothing wrong.

Boston, now 40 and living in Kansas, pleaded guilty in 2020 to a charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery. She admitted using her own prescription pad to write and sign numerous prescriptions for controlled substances using other persons’ names, including prescriptions for the painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone.  Williams then posed as a patient to fill the prescriptions. She also fraudulently used another doctor’s prescription pad, name, and Drug Enforcement Administration number to write herself additional controlled substance prescriptions.

“When a fraudster steals the identity of a physician to secure medical employment, the integrity of our health care system and the safety and well-being of patients are put at risk,” stated Special Agent in Charge Linda T. Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to thoroughly investigate health care fraud to protect taxpayer-funded health care programs and the many millions of Americans who depend on them.”

Williams pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in October to one count of identity theft.

The HHS-OIG investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – Two Missouri men have been indicted and accused of the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy who they met online.

The cases against Brent L. Stephens and Yashpreet, who does not use a first name, are among the 293 arrests nationwide during Operation Relentless Justice, a coordinated effort to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators. The nationwide crackdown also resulted in over 205 child victims being located. The operation was executed over the course of two weeks by all 56 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country. A total of six cases were charged in the Eastern District of Missouri, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Wednesday.

Those arrested are alleged to have committed various crimes, including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material; online enticement and transportation of minors; and child sex trafficking.

“We will not allow evil criminals who prey on children to evade justice,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Our federal agents have worked tirelessly alongside our state and local partners to track down these vile predators, and now our prosecutors will ensure they receive severe punishments to match their horrific crimes."

“Operation Relentless Justice shows no child will be forgotten and that all predators targeting the most vulnerable amongst us will be held accountable,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This year, the FBI has led multiple nationwide surges across the U.S. to find and arrest hundreds of child predators. We will not stop until every child can live a life free of exploitation. We will utilize the strength of all our field offices and our federal, state, and local partners to protect communities across the nation from such horrific crimes.”

“We are honored to participate in Operation Relentless Justice – it is a sign of our commitment to protect Missouri’s children,” said U.S. Attorney Albus.

Yashpreet, 22, of St. Ann, Missouri, and Stephens, 44, of St. Charles County, Missouri, were each indicted separately in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on December 17 on one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. Stephens was also indicted on one count of receiving child pornography. The indictments accuse them of using internet and cellular-based communications between June 17, 2025, and Sept. 24, 2025, to coerce the victim into engaging in sexual activity. Stephens’ indictment also accuses him of receiving child pornography during the same time but featuring different children. Yashpreet is also known as Yashpreet Ramamandi.

Greyson S. Ashenbremer, 31, of Troy, Missouri, was also indicted December 17 on one count of production of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography. The indictment accuses him of coercing a minor into sexually explicit activity for the purpose of recording it between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025. It also accuses him of receiving child pornography via the internet.

All three men appeared in court and pleaded not guilty; Stephens on Monday and Yashpreet and Ashenbremer Tuesday. In court Monday and in a motion seeking Stephens’ detention, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said Stephens, an accountant, groomed the victim online and then coordinated with Yashpreet to bring the boy to Stephens’ office in St. Charles.

The coercion charge carries a potential penalty of 10 years to life in prison. The receiving child pornography carries a potential penalty of five to 20 years in prison. Production of child pornography carries a penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison.

The FBI, the St. Charles Police Department and the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the Stephens and Yashpreet cases. The FBI, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force investigated the Ashenbremer case.

This effort follows two other successful operations, Operation Restore Justice in May, which resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sex abuse offenders, and Operation Enduring Justice in August, which resulted in the rescue of 133 children and the arrests of 234 offenders.

The FBI's Victim Services Division (VSD) assisted victims during this operation and provided services, to include forensic interviews, referrals for medical and mental health resources, and coordination with partners. VSD's mission is to inform, support, and assist victims in navigating the aftermath of crime and the criminal justice process with dignity and resilience.

These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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, visit justice.gov/psc.

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

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

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

ST. LOUIS – An undocumented immigrant living in St. Charles County, Missouri has admitted being caught in possession of child sexual abuse material when he was arrested for another offense, U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus announced Monday.

Francisco J. Ocana-Talamantes, 47, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted that after he was arrested on March 8, 2024, for abusing a child for years, a court-approved search of his phone uncovered 338 images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.

Ocana-Talamantes is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18, 2026. The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Ocana-Talamantes 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 – An illegal immigrant from Romania on Friday admitted targeting stores across the country with a sleight-of-hand fraud that netted about $211,000.

Ica Munteanu, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal reentry and one count of wire fraud.

Munteanu admitted unlawfully entering the U.S. around September of 2016. She was deported back to Romania on Sept. 11, 2017, and re-entered unlawfully around March of 2019. Munteanu was found in Florida on June 24, 2025, and originally charged in the Middle District of Florida with that crime.

Munteanu also admitted stealing a total of $211,000 from two national retailers in at least 20 states during at least 70 different transactions. Munteanu would bring merchandise or gift cards to cashiers and then count money into piles that added up to at least the full amount of the transaction. She would then take the cash back, gather it into a pile and slip some bills from the bottom of the stack into her pocket before handing the cash back to the cashier. Munteanu would then go to a different store and return the merchandise. In one example described in her plea agreement, Munteanu shortchanged a store in Rolla out of $2,800, and then returned the merchandise at three different stores in Illinois for a refund.

Munteanu is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23, 2026. The wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both prison and a fine. The illegal reentry charge is punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Friday sentenced a woman to 66 months in prison for using the stolen identities of others to attempt to deposit $2.7 million in fraudulent and stolen checks.

Gabrielle Borthwick, 23, opened, or tried to open, accounts at a series of banks and credit unions in Missouri and elsewhere by depositing bogus cashier’s checks ranging in value from $121,260 to $1.4 million. Borthwick admitted fraudulently using the names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of multiple people, as well as counterfeit out-of-state driver’s licenses, to open the accounts.

To dispel concerns about the out-of-state licenses, Borthwick falsely claimed to have recently moved to Missouri. She supplied fake utility and phone bills to support her claims. She sometimes claimed to run a wedding planning business to allay bank officials’ suspicions about the size of the checks. She also tried to cover up tattoos and distinguishing characteristics by wearing clothing and bandages, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf wrote in a sentencing memo. Borthwick then tried to withdraw cash or electronically transfer funds before the financial institutions realized that the checks were fraudulent.

In total, Borthwick admitted depositing checks at multiple Missouri banks and credit unions and at one bank in Illinois totaling $2.7 million. Bank officials thwarted her attempts to open some accounts or deposit some of the bogus checks. She fraudulently obtained $271,667. One of those checks, in the amount of $30,000, had been stolen from the mail. Judge Schelp ordered her to repay the money.

Borthwick, who is a native of Australia, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in September to 12 felonies: six counts of financial institution fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and police departments in Eureka, O’Fallon and Union in Missouri and Edwardsville in Illinois investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday sentenced a man who recorded his criminal sex act with a child and possessed drugs to 33 years in prison.

Rayshaun Reed, 37, pleaded guilty in July to three felonies: possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. He admitted recording a sex act with the teen, possessing drugs and possessing other images containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The victim’s parents triggered the investigation by contacting the Hayti Police Department with concerns about Reed. Officers conducted a court-approved search of Reed’s motel room and found six bags of meth totaling about 25 grams in weight, three bags of marijuana totaling about 22 grams, a bag of "K2" synthetic marijuana and clothing belonging to the victim. His phone contained at least 16 videos depicting CSAM that had been downloaded from the internet.

Reed was on supervised release at the time of his crimes, having previously been convicted of distribution of methamphetamine. Judge Limbaugh sentenced Reed to 36 months for violating his supervised release and a total of 30 years for his new crimes. Reed will be on supervised release for 20 years after his release from prison and will receive sex offender treatment while in custody.

The Hayti Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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 Wednesday sentenced a man who shot and wounded his girlfriend in 2024 to 54 months in prison.

Demetrius D. Vaughn, 31, pleaded guilty in August to being a felon in possession of firearms. He admitted that on May 6, 2024, his then-girlfriend told Saint Louis County Police Department officers that she’d been shot after a dispute with Vaughn. Vaughn fired six to seven shots from the balcony of his apartment at his girlfriend and her friends, striking his girlfriend in both legs. Officers arrested Vaughn later that day and found two handguns. One had been stolen. As a prior felon, Vaughn is prohibited from possessing firearms.

The Saint Louis County Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a woman who used stolen mail in a bid to steal nearly $80,000 from an elderly woman to 39 months in prison, fined her $6,500 and ordered her to repay her victim.

Miranda Burgess, 30, was caught with stolen mail belonging to more than 70 individuals and entities in May of 2022. Investigators soon discovered that she’d used mail belonging to an 89-year-old woman to create counterfeit checks and establish multiple online financial accounts to steal $27,470 from her. Burgess tried to transfer another $50,000 to herself, but the money was later returned to the victim.

Burgess was aware that her victim was nearly 90, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf wrote in a sentencing memo. Her crimes not only affected that victim, but also 73 others who did not receive their mail or had to resend mail that they sent to others, reducing public confidence in the U.S. Mail.

Burgess, of Franklin County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in August to 13 counts: one count of aggravated identity theft, three counts of possession of stolen mail and nine counts of bank fraud.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Arnold Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case. 

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a man who committed bank fraud for years with checks stolen from the mail to 72 months in prison.

Judge Pitlyk also ordered Terron T. Brown, 23, to repay $51,932 to victims.

Brown pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud. He admitted that between November 2021 and September 2024, he conspired with others to deposit forged and fraudulent checks that had been stolen from the U.S. Mail. Brown used his social media accounts and other methods to recruit people who would provide him with their debit cards and banking information and allow him to deposit fraudulent checks into their accounts. He also recruited his co-defendants, Justyn M. Boyd, Aaliyah A. Jones, Haiden Williams, and Jalen Wright, to recruit account holders. Together, they found dozens of people willing to participate in the scheme in exchange for some of the money.

Brown then used personal and business checks stolen from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes to create forged and fraudulent checks payable to the account holders. Brown altered the payee and amount payable on stolen checks or used stolen checks to create counterfeit checks. He then deposited those checks into the bank accounts that he had co-opted and withdrew the money himself or had the account holders do it.

After learning in January of 2024 that he had been indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Brown fled to Los Angeles in a Greyhound bus and began living under the fake name "Amiri Leonard." He relocated his scheme there in an attempt to avoid arrest and evade law enforcement. On Sept. 10, 2024, federal law enforcement agents conducted a court-approved search of Brown's California residence and found multiple stolen and counterfeit checks with a value of $1.2 million, blank check stock, multiple debit cards in various names and electronic devices with images of at least $4.7 million worth of counterfeit checks dated between March 2022 and August of 2024. They also found $5,260 in cash and 19 USPS money orders totaling $10,551, proceeds from Brown's check fraud scheme.

Brown admitted obtaining and possessing at least $6 million worth of counterfeit checks and checks stolen from the mail and intending to cause a loss of at least this amount. Brown and his co-conspirators deposited at least $116,834 worth of fraudulent checks and obtained at least $29,562 from the scheme.

Brown directly harmed the victims who had checks stolen, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow wrote in a sentencing memo, but also undermined public confidence in the mail at a time when mail theft was on the rise. He then assumed a fake name and fled St. Louis to avoid the consequences of crimes while thumbing his nose at law enforcement, Clow wrote.

“This sentencing represents the hard work and dedication by USPS OIG Special Agents working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring charges on this significant mail theft investigation,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Central Area Field Office. “The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service, along with our law enforcement partners, remain committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees.”

“The sentencing in this case illustrates that individuals who engage in mail theft will be held accountable for their actions,” stated Inspector in Charge, Ruth Mendonça, who leads the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which includes the St. Louis Domicile. “The Inspection Service is proud to work with our local, state, and federal partners to bring mail theft perpetrators to justice and prevent financial crimes targeting local citizens, postal customers, and financial institutions.”

Boyd, of Northwoods, Jones, of St. Louis County, Williams, of St. Louis, and Wright, of St. Louis, have all pleaded guilty. All are 24 years old. Boyd was ordered to repay $9,354, Jones $6,000 and Williams $13,015. Wright is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9, 2026.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the University City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a woman to 100 months in prison for fraudulently taking over the finances of a 74-year-old widower in a nursing home to steal $453,000.

Judge Schelp also ordered Shanita Gray, 52, to repay the money and had her immediately taken into custody.

Judge Schelp compared Gray to a shark that sensed a vulnerable victim and took full advantage “with the relentless desire to fulfill your greed.” He said she continued to lie even after pleading guilty to her crime by falsely claiming that a bogus power of attorney was legitimate. She has also filed complaints and lawsuits against those who tried to stop the fraud. “You’ll say and do whatever it takes to benefit yourself,” he told Gray.

In her August plea agreement, Gray admitted approaching a licensed notary public in Georgia to notarize a document seeking guardianship of the victim and altering it to appear as if the victim was present at the time. She appended that altered page to the first twelve pages of a durable financial power of attorney form to give the appearance that she had the authority to conduct financial transactions on his behalf. She admitted using that counterfeit power of attorney form to access his medical records and cause him “substantial financial hardship.”

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry wrote that less than 48 hours after receiving notice of the death of the victim’s eldest son, Gray traveled to St. Louis from Georgia and began pillaging the victim’s home to compile the personal identifying information and account information of the victim and his deceased wife and mother. During the scheme, she used the victim’s assets to pay for first-class travel to the Dominican Republic and Hawaii and made direct transfers of cash to herself and relatives and purchases from Queen’s Jewelry, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Versace, the memo says.

The nursing home’s former director testified Tuesday that the victim did not want contact with Gray, did not want her in his home and did not want her to have access to his finances, which he wanted to preserve for his youngest son.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry prosecuted the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – A former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper on Tuesday admitted unlawfully searching women’s cell phones during traffic stops to find nude pictures.

David McKnight, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to nine counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, namely the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. He admitted unlawfully searching and seizing photographs from the cell phones of seven women and unlawfully searching the phones of two more women from Sept. 12, 2023, to July 30, 2024, while on duty, in uniform and traveling in a marked Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) vehicle. During separate traffic stops of five of the victims, McKnight took their cell phones away from them and to his patrol car, claiming that he needed to confirm their identification or insurance coverage. He arrested another woman and took possession of her cellular phone incident to her arrest. He encountered another after an accident, one after a breakdown and one when she reported a careless driver. McKnight searched their phones without a warrant or probable cause to find nude images of the victims or their loved ones and then used his own cell phone to take photographs of some of the images he found.

After two victims became suspicious of his actions, they reported him to the MSHP. Forensic analysis revealed that McKnight had searched through their phones going into folders that contained nude photographs of them. Subsequent investigation revealed evidence of the other victims.

McKnight is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2026.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug is prosecuting the case.

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a former employee of the National Park Service to five years of probation and ordered her to repay $249,000 in campsite and tour fees that she stole from 2019 to 2023. 
    
Lisa Figge was a supervisory visitor use assistant at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways at the time. Figge’s job duties included collecting fees for guided tours of Round Spring Cave and collecting cash in envelopes placed in metal drop boxes at campsites known as “Iron Rangers.” From 2019-2023, Figge stole some of the cash and deposited it into her own account.

On Aug. 28, 2023, Figge was caught on video counting cash and stealing $1,200. Figge was then spotted stopping at her own bank before traveling to the bank that the Park Service used. In an interview with investigators later that day, Figge admitted stealing money from the cave tour program and the fee collection program, including directly from Iron Rangers. Figge said she altered records and created a false deposit report to hide her crime. Figge told investigators that she did not keep records of how much money she had stolen, but the parties agreed that the amount of provable loss to the Park Service exceeded $200,000.

Figge has already repaid $100,000 of the money.

Figge, 45, pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of theft of government property.

"The extent of this theft from the National Park Service is alarming," said Katie Balestra, Special Agent in Charge for the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General (DOI-OIG). "We are committed to identifying and investigating this type of unlawful behavior that erodes the public’s trust.”

The DOI-OIG investigated the case with the assistance of the National Park Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hahn is prosecuting the case.

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Friday admitted possessing images containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his mobile phone and discussing CSAM with others online for years.

Brayden M. Swathwood, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. He also admitted exchanging CSAM with someone in Georgia and claiming in discussions with that person that he was sexually abusing a 4-year-old minor and planned to record that abuse. There is no evidence that Swathwood’s claims about the minor are true.

On Dec. 17, 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in St. Louis conducted a court-approved search of Swathwood’s apartment in St. Louis County and his vehicle. They seized his cellphone and other electronic devices and interviewed Swathwood, who admitted viewing and discussing CSAM online.

Swathwood is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12, 2026. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both prison and fine.

HSI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

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