Eastern District of Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Maryland political consultant pleaded guilty today to conspiring to funnel more than $15,000 through straw donors into a campaign for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

According to court documents, Charles O’Neil, 33, was the Vice President of Strategic Campaign Group, Inc., a political consulting company located in Arlington from January to October 2015.

O’Neil and his co-conspirators, including Kelley Rogers, Scott Mackenzie, and another co-conspirator, facilitated unlawful campaign contributions from a company, through eleven straw donors, to a campaign. The campaign was for a candidate running for an Indiana seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The co-conspirator was the vice president and general counsel of a company; a gaming corporation based in Indianapolis, IN. The co-conspirator transferred funds from their company to bank accounts that were associated with Strategic Campaign Group, Inc. O’Neil and his co-conspirators used more than $15,000 of the transferred funds to reimburse straw donors who, at the direction of O’Neil, Rogers, and other conspirators, contributed more than $15,000 to the campaign.

O’Neil and his co-conspirators made these transfers to evade the restrictions of corporate contributions to campaigns, to evade the limits placed on money that individuals could contribution to a campaign, and to disguise the fact that the gaming corporation was the true source of the funds.

O’Neil pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make conduit contributions and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly R. Pedersen and Trial Attorneys Bill Gullotta and John Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) are prosecuting the case.

Former PIN attorney Molly Gaston provided significant assistance in the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-010.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – DynCorp International, LLC (DynCorp), located in McLean, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle civil fraud allegations involving two former DynCorp officials, Wesley Aaron Struble and Jose Rivera, who solicited and accepted kickbacks from an Iraqi subcontractor in connection with DynCorp’s lease of property for its operations in Baghdad, Iraq on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

Struble and Rivera previously pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to violating the Anti-Kickback Act for their role in soliciting and accepting at least $390,000 in cash kickbacks from the Al-Qarat Company in exchange for influencing DynCorp’s lease of property in Baghdad at a lease amount higher than the previous lease. The lease costs were included with services for international civilian policing that DynCorp billed under a U.S. Department of State contract in 2011 and 2012.

The settlement resolves the alleged liability of DynCorp for violation of civil penalties under the Anti-Kickback Act and the civil False Claims Act arising out of Struble’s and Rivera’s fraudulent conduct while employed by DynCorp.

The resolutions obtained in this matter were the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Department of State Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The matter was investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Roushdy. The civil claims settled by this False Claims Act agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of civil liability.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

WASHINGTON – A Maryland political consultant was sentenced to three years in prison today followed by three years of supervised release for fraudulently soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions through several scam political action committees (PACs) that he founded and advertised as supporting candidates for office and other political causes.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Kelley Rogers, 56, of Annapolis, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia.  In addition to the prison sentence, Rogers was ordered to pay $491,299 in restitution and to forfeit at least $208,954 in proceeds obtained from his offense.

According to admissions Rogers made in connection with his guilty plea, from August 2012 through 2018, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the defendant operated multiple PACs, including Conservative StrikeForce (CSF), Conservative Majority Fund and Tea Party Majority Fund.  In that role, the defendant engaged vendors to send e-mail solicitations and make telemarketing phone calls to prospective donors seeking political contributions to his PACs.  Rogers approved the text and other content of all solicitations, and determined how CSF spent the contributions individual donors gave in response to the solicitations.

During the course of his scheme, Rogers solicited contributions from the general public for his PACs based on materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.  For example, in or around 2013, Rogers, working with an email vendor, represented through CSF that money contributed by donors would be used to support the campaigns of a candidate for governor and a candidate for attorney general of Virginia through, among other things, get-out-the-vote efforts and the hiring of attorneys to ensure the integrity of the elections.  In or around 2014, Rogers represented that donations to the PAC would be spent on assistance and support for military veterans.  In truth and in fact, the defendant never intended to spend, and never actually spent, any of the money raised by Rogers’s PACs on get-out-the-vote efforts or lawyers to protect the integrity of the 2013 Virginia and Attorney General elections, or on assistance and support for military veterans.  Instead, the defendant spent nearly all of the money raised from donors to benefit himself, his associates, and his PACs, including by pouring the majority of donor money into the solicitation of more donations.

In addition to the misrepresentations that Rogers made to donors, Rogers and others fraudulently billed his PACs for services that were not performed, thereby misappropriating donor money that had been contributed to the PACs by individuals across the country.  Rogers and his associates also made false statements to the Federal Election Commission about how they were spending PAC money. 

Finally, Rogers admitted that he and several others also participated in a scheme to use conduits (straw donors) to make contributions to a candidate running to represent a district in the United States House of Representatives that exceeded the limits placed on individual campaign contributions under federal law.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case.  Trial Attorneys Bill Gullotta and John Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Pedersen of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.  Former PIN attorney Molly Gaston provided significant assistance in the case.

A Maryland political consultant was sentenced to three years in prison today followed by three years of supervised release for fraudulently soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions through several scam political action committees (PACs) that he founded and advertised as supporting candidates for office and other political causes. 

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Kelley Rogers, 56, of Annapolis, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia.  In addition to the prison sentence, Rogers was ordered to pay $491,299 in restitution and to forfeit at least $208,954 in proceeds obtained from his offense. 

According to admissions Rogers made in connection with his guilty plea, from August 2012 through 2018, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the defendant operated multiple PACs, including Conservative StrikeForce (CSF), Conservative Majority Fund and Tea Party Majority Fund.  In that role, the defendant engaged vendors to send e-mail solicitations and make telemarketing phone calls to prospective donors seeking political contributions to his PACs.  Rogers approved the text and other content of all solicitations, and determined how CSF spent the contributions individual donors gave in response to the solicitations.

During the course of his scheme, Rogers solicited contributions from the general public for his PACs based on materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.  For example, in or around 2013, Rogers, working with an email vendor, represented through CSF that money contributed by donors would be used to support the campaigns of a candidate for governor and a candidate for attorney general of Virginia through, among other things, get-out-the-vote efforts and the hiring of attorneys to ensure the integrity of the elections.  In or around 2014, Rogers represented that donations to the PAC would be spent on assistance and support for military veterans.  In truth and in fact, the defendant never intended to spend, and never actually spent, any of the money raised by Rogers’s PACs on get-out-the-vote efforts or lawyers to protect the integrity of the 2013 Virginia and Attorney General elections, or on assistance and support for military veterans.  Instead, the defendant spent nearly all of the money raised from donors to benefit himself, his associates, and his PACs, including by pouring the majority of donor money into the solicitation of more donations.

In addition to the misrepresentations that Rogers made to donors, Rogers and others fraudulently billed his PACs for services that were not performed, thereby misappropriating donor money that had been contributed to the PACs by individuals across the country.  Rogers and his associates also made false statements to the Federal Election Commission about how they were spending PAC money. 

Finally, Rogers admitted that he and several others also participated in a scheme to use conduits (straw donors) to make contributions to a candidate running to represent a district in the United States House of Representatives that exceeded the limits placed on individual campaign contributions under federal law.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case.  Trial Attorneys Bill Gullotta and John Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Pedersen of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.  Former PIN attorney Molly Gaston provided significant assistance in the case. 

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice.  Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.  

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An illegal alien from El Salvador, who recently was convicted in state court of taking indecent liberties with a child, was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for illegally reentering the United States after he previously was deported in 2004.

“Carrero Alas illegally entered the United States, was deported at taxpayer expense, then returned illegally a second time and was convicted of sexually abusing a child,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We will continue to make these cases a priority and will work closely with our local and state partners to not only promote the rule of law, but also protect the most vulnerable members of our community.”

According to court documents, Oscar Saul Carrero Alas, 37, a citizen of El Salvador, was removed from the United States in October 2004, after having illegally entered the country by crossing the Rio Grande River. Carrero Alas reentered the United States, again without permission, and he subsequently was arrested in Prince William County in January 2018 for violations of state law. In June 2019, Carrero Alas was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship, possession of cocaine, and obscene exhibition, all in violation of Virginia law.

“This individual received due process in immigration court and was removed to his home country but chose to flout that decision and return to the U.S. and victimize a child,” said Russell Hott, Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removals Operations (ERO) Washington D.C. “ICE is committed, alongside our law enforcement partners, to upholding our shared public safety mission.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Russell Hott, Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Smalky and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Grady prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-318.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach doctor was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare, and other health care benefits programs out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Additionally, Udaya K. Shetty, 64, agreed to pay over $1 million to settle related civil claims.

According to court documents, was a licensed psychiatrist practicing medicine at his own practice, Behavioral & Neuropsychiatric Group. Beginning in 2013, Shetty created a scheme by which he could overbill healthcare benefit programs by seeing patients for only five to 10 minutes, but then billing for services that were on average 41 to 63 minutes long. Shetty instructed his staff to often double, triple, or even quadruple book appointment times. The fraud became apparent when investigators discovered that on dozens of instances Shetty would need more than 24 hours a day of working to perform the services for which he billed. 

In 2017, Shetty closed his own practice and joined another psychiatric practice, Quietly Radiant Psychiatric Services. While there Shetty, and one of his former employees, Mary Otto, engaged in a similar scheme. Although other Quietly Radiant staff members were responsible for billing, Shetty directed Otto to access the billing system and change all of his billing data to a higher billing rate.  Otto complied and changed the data without the knowledge of Quietly Radiant’s staff. As a result of their actions, Shetty and Otto defrauded various healthcare benefit programs of more than $450,000. Otto pled guilty for her role in the scheme and was sentenced to 15 months in prison on January 10.

In regards to the civil settlement, Shetty agreed to pay $1,078,000 to the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia to resolve his liability under the False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act for submitting or causing the submission of false claims to the Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE programs.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Robert E. Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office; Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph L. Kosky prosecuted the criminal case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare P. Wuerker handled the civil case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-089.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Mecklenburg County man was sentenced today to more than 15 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute over 27 kilograms of cocaine. 

According to court documents, Vincent Maurice Lewis, 45, arranged for the delivery of 28 kilograms of cocaine from Texas to Virginia. On May 30, 2019, a tractor-trailer that originated in Texas and was driven by co-defendant Jorge Enrique Suarez, delivered the cocaine to Lewis in Brodnax. Lewis had received multiple shipments of cocaine from the suppliers in Texas and had distributed at least 71 kilograms of cocaine starting before January 2018 and through his arrest in May 2019.

Suarez was sentenced to 36 months in prison in December 2019. 

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Swan Song. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.  The principle mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia L. Norman prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-cr-089.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man was sentenced today to over 19 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine.

According to court documents, in September 2018, Dante Jermel Davis, 40, was the subject of a court-authorized surveillance of his telephone communications by law enforcement. Law enforcement heard a series of phone conversations concerning the imminent delivery of controlled substances by another party to Davis. The investigators detained Rawl Christopher Stennett after he was seen carrying a backpack and entering the lobby of an apartment building in downtown Norfolk, where Davis’ maintained a “stash” apartment. The investigators discovered five kilograms of cocaine inside Stennett’s backpack. The agents then detained Davis’ outside his “stash” apartment. Pursuant to a search warrant, the agents searched Davis’ apartment and discovered approximately 397 grams of heroin, 14 grams of cocaine, over $160,000 in cash, two digital scales, and a money counting machine. The investigators also searched Davis’ other residence in Virginia Beach, and discovered $100,000 in cash, a Glock 9mm pistol, ammunition, marijuana, and another money-counting machine. Davis has a previous conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute from 2010.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk; Jim O’Sullivan, Chesapeake Sheriff; and Michael A. Moore, Portsmouth Sheriff, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-158-3.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Lorton man pleaded guilty today to straw purchasing a firearm.

“Every straw purchased firearm is a gun that can wind up in the hands of a prohibited person,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We will continue to use federal firearms laws to prosecute straw purchasers and hold them accountable for their role in trafficking illegally purchased firearms. As I recently stated, the violation is our threshold—one straw purchased firearm on one occasion will be prosecuted. I want to commend the ATF for their leadership and commitment to investigating these important cases.”

According to court documents, Daquan Anthony Poindexter, 22, straw purchased a firearm from a federal firearms licensee (FFL) in Eastern Virginia for another individual. In making the purchase, Poindexter represented himself as the true buyer of the firearm, but immediately after he received the firearm he transferred it to the straw purchaser and was paid for making the purchase.

“This investigation demonstrates how criminals abuse laws governing firearm purchases,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division. “Straw purchased firearms can end up in the hands of violent offenders and prohibited persons. If you lie when you buy a firearm, you will be held accountable.”

Poindexter pleaded guilty to making false statements with respect to the purchase of a firearm and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced on April 10. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. accepted the plea. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony W. Mariano is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-004.

RICHMOND, Va. – Over 160 law enforcement, medical, education, and community services professionals gathered today at Virginia Commonwealth University for the Silent No More Overdose Symposium.

“The coming together of this highly respected and accomplished group of professionals is incredibly impressive, but there is still much more work to be done,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We must remain vigilant in our enforcement efforts, continue to raise awareness in our communities, educate our children on the dangers of illicit narcotics, and work across the entire suite of law enforcement efforts to keep these dangerous drugs from hitting the streets.”

The symposium brought together law enforcement experts from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DEA, Virginia State Police, New Jersey State Police, and Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services; and Medical and education experts from VCU Medical Center, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Virginia Poison Center, Virginia State Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Virginia Department of Forensic Science, Department of Veterans Affairs, and others.

“Today is the time to engage our individual expertise and capabilities in order to benefit the greater good of Virginia,” said Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police. “No single one of us has all the answers. We have to collectively find new solutions to the opioid crisis, and find new ways to help one another so we can save more lives, and ultimately, save our communities.”

The symposium featured expert panels focused on the development of cross-jurisdictional multi-disciplinary working groups, the impact on emergency rooms and morgues, fatal drug overdose trends and statewide epidemiology statistics, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area management coordination, opioid overdose surveillance, data sharing platforms, and several others.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Washington D.C. man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl, in addition to armed drug trafficking.

According to court documents, Phillip Thurston Mace, 38, sold heroin and fentanyl to an undercover police detective in Fairfax county during the course of several months. Mace also purchased two Glock handguns. He was arrested shortly after taking possession of the handguns.

In October 2018, an individual was arrested for shoplifting in Fairfax County. During the search, law enforcement discovered the individual to be in possession of heroin. The individual agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and provide assistance in the investigation of the Mace drug trafficking organization. Law enforcement conducted multiple controlled buys of drugs from Mace. In September 2019, an undercover detective met with Mace where 28 grams of heroin and 28 grams of fentanyl were given to the undercover detective, in return the officer gave Mace over $3,000 and a toolbox with two Glock handguns. After this transaction, Mace noticed an undercover police vehicle and fled from the scene. He was arrested shortly afterwards and officers recovered the firearms.

Mace pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. He faces a maximum penalty of 40 years to life in prison when sentenced on April 10. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, and Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-341.

NORFOLK, Va. – Two foreign nationals made court appearances today in connection with their respective charges for illegally re-entering the United States.

“Both of these defendants have shown a complete lack of respect for the laws of this country,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This case represents an all too common scenario here in the Eastern District of Virginia: A defendant illegally enters the United States and then commits additional crimes while here illegally. This criminal conduct creates serious public safety risks for our communities, and has the full attention of my office and our law enforcement partners.”

In Norfolk federal court, Jorge Sormiento-Rodriguez, 46, of Honduras, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison for illegal reentry. Sormiento-Rodriguez illegally entered the United States sometime before 2010. He was arrested and convicted in 2010 for driving under the influence (DUI) in Norfolk, and again in 2011 for possession of narcotics but was deported prior to the adjudication on that charge. Sometime prior to December 2018, Sormiento-Rodriguez again illegally entered the United States. In December 2018, he was arrested in Norfolk for another DUI and possession of narcotics. He was convicted of the DUI and both narcotic charges in June 2019.

In Richmond, Reynaldo Ostorga-Rodriguez, 42, of El Salvador, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry. According to court documents, Ostorga-Rodriguez was first apprehended by Border Patrol in December 2004 along the border and allowed to return to Mexico. He then attempted to illegally enter the United States two more times and was apprehended and returned to Mexico. He later illegally entered the United States in February 2006, and in March 2006 he was arrested by the Chesterfield County Police for DUI. He was convicted and sentenced for both offenses. In May 2006, Ostorga-Rodriguez was arrested by the Virginia State Police for the felony violation DUI, convicted, and sentenced to three years in prison. He was released following completion of the sentence. In June 2010, Ostorga-Rodriguez was again arrested by the Chesterfield County Police for another DUI and related offenses, was convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison. Following completion of his sentence, on May 22, 2012, ICE removed him to El Salvador.

On an unknown date, Ostorga-Rodriguez again illegally reentered the United States. In October 2019, Ostorga-Rodriguez was arrested by the Richmond Police for DWI. He was later released from the Richmond City Jail without notification to ICE. In November 2019, Deportation Officers apprehended Ostorga-Rodriguez in a vehicle stop. Ostorga-Rodriguez was positively identified and taken into ICE custody. On Nov. 20, 2019, a federal grand jury returned the indictment to which the defendant pleaded guilty. 

Ostorga-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after removal following a felony conviction, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced on April 14. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and S. David Schiller are prosecuting the cases.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-192 (Sormiento-Rodriguez) and 3:19-cr-166 (Ostorga-Rodriguez).

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A man with citizenship in Lebanon and the United States pleaded guilty today to a two-count criminal information charging him with child exploitation offenses.

According to court documents, George A. Nader, 60, admitted that he arranged to transport a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Dulles International Airport for purposes of illegal sexual conduct in early 2000. Nader had met the boy in Prague, Czech Republic, and later brought him to his residence in Washington, D.C. Nader also admitted that, in September 2012, he possessed or accessed with intent to view video images of child sexual abuse while he was in New York. In exchange for the plea, the government agreed to dismiss an indictment involving similar charges returned in the Eastern District of Virginia in July 2019.

Nader pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of a minor boy for purposes of illegal conduct and one count of possession of child pornography, and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 50 years when sentenced on April 10. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Nader had been previously been convicted of transporting child pornography into the Eastern District of Virginia in 1991.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay V. Prabhu is prosecuting the case.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, composed of FBI agents and local, state and federal partners. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of Columbia provided valuable assistance to the investigation.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-201.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Maryland man pleaded guilty today for conspiracy to straw purchase 31 firearms.

“The Eastern District of Virginia continues to put straw purchasers on notice: If you abuse federal firearms purchasing laws, you will be prosecuted for your felonious conduct,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Subjecting individuals who choose to straw purchase firearms to federal felony prosecution is just and necessary to ensure that convicted straw purchasers can never again purchase firearms for others.”

According to court documents, Emmanuel Ndjongo, 21, and his then-girlfriend, Alexus Jordon, conspired to straw purchase 31 firearms from Federal Firearm Licensees in Virginia. Jordon purchased six of the firearms at FFLs in Virginia. Ndjongo used Jordon’s name to order the remaining firearms online from an FFL located in North Carolina, and had these firearms shipped to various FFLs in Virginia. Once the firearms arrived in Virginia, Jordon picked up the firearm deliveries from the FFLs, and gave them to Ndjongo, who sought to sell the firearms to other individuals. Local law enforcement in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland, have recovered two of the firearms unlawfully purchased during this conspiracy; both of which had altered or destroyed serial numbers.

“People who criminally abuse the process of purchasing firearms put all of our citizens at risk,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division. “Guns obtained through straw purchasing end up in the hands of violent criminals who pose a significant threat to our communities and law enforcement officers. ATF will continue to target these offenders and the people they traffic firearms to, as well as leveraging the partnerships we have through Project Guardian to maximize our efforts.”

Ndjongo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements in connection with the purchase of firearms and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison when sentenced on March 27. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jordon pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2019, to conspiracy to straw purchase firearms. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 6.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas U. Murphy II and Philip Alito are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-343.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Gainesville man pleaded guilty today to selling synthetic cannabinoids—commonly known as “spice” or “K2”—from the gas station he owned and operated with his business partner in Fauquier County.

“Spice is a toxic mix of dangerous chemicals that can be deadly,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “These chemicals can mimic the effects of PCP, a powerful and dangerous hallucinogenic. Many people wrongly assume spice is innocuous, and it is often our young people who fall victim to these illegal drugs, obtaining them at gas stations and convenience stores without any idea how dangerous they can be.”

According to court documents, Nasser A. Latif, 70, and his business partner have sold spice from their gas station, located in Warrenton, since 2012. Latif and his partner primarily sold 5-gram packets of spice, packaged in silver pouches bearing various logos, brand names, or images; including “Scooby Doo,” “Diablo,” “Bizarro,” and “24 Monkey.” The spice cost at least $53 per packet.

“We appreciate the tremendous working relationships with our law enforcement partners that resulted in holding these perpetrators accountable,” said Sheriff Robert P. Mosier of Fauquier County. “This investigation has undoubtedly saved lives by getting these synthetic or “designer drugs” off the street, which were responsible for medical occurrences, some even requiring hospitalizations. We will always work with vigilance for the continued protection of our community from those that would exploit the weaknesses associated with addictions.”

“For years, these individuals sold their illicit products in our community, profiting from their toxic and deadly goods,” said Raymond Villanueva, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington D.C. field office. “HSI is committed to taking individuals peddling dangerous substances off our streets.”

In December 2017, law enforcement seized more than seven kilograms of spice, as well as nearly $300,000 in cash from Latif’s residence, as well as approximately $118,000 from the gas station’s business account.

Latif pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute, Schedule I controlled substances and controlled substance analogues. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on March 27. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was prosecuted as part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation Scary Spice. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Robert P. Mosier, Fauquier County Sheriff; Raymond Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C.; and Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine E. Rumbaugh and Bibeane Metsch are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-001.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Norfolk man was sentenced today to 28 years in prison for robbery affecting commerce, using, carrying, brandishing a firearm during the robbery, and three separate instances of armed drug trafficking.  

According to court documents, Tajh Rodgers, 30, previously pleaded guilty for working with an accomplice to commit a violent armed robbery of a Sprint Store in Colonial Heights in January 2019.  During the robbery, Rodgers and his co-conspirator held two employees hostage in the back of the store at gunpoint, and attempted to tie up the employees and threatened to kill them if they notified police. Due to a time-delay lock on the store’s safe, the robbers had to wait several minutes for the safe to open, and a customer entered the store. The robbers let one of the employees go to assist the customer, along with a warning that the employee would be killed if they tried to alert the customer about the crime. Soon after the customer left, the time-delay lock on the safe opened, allowing the robbers to steal a total of 72 items valued at approximately $25,000. 

The investigation led to the identification of Rodgers as a suspect, as well as his connection to another drug trafficking investigation in Norfolk where the defendant engaged in several armed drug transactions during which he sold fentanyl, crack cocaine, and firearms to cooperating sources. In December 2018, Rodgers sold cocaine base, fentanyl, and a .38 caliber revolver to cooperating sources. A month later, he sold two bundles of fentanyl and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. During both drug transactions, Rodgers was armed with the same .40 caliber Ruger semi-automatic pistol that he carried during the armed robbery of the Sprint Store.

After identifying Rodgers as the robbery suspect, investigators obtained a search warrant for his residence in Norfolk.  During the search in January 2019, officers recovered the .40 caliber pistol, a loaded semi-automatic pistol, various items connected to the Sprint Store robbery, distribution quantities of fentanyl, marijuana, crack cocaine, and a plastic safe containing a digital scale with suspected narcotics residue and packaging material.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) and Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiatives to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime. 

Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division; Colonel Jeffrey W. Faries, Chief of Colonial Heights Police; Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gill, Kenneth Simon, and William B. Jackson are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-cr-111.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Fairfax medical doctor was arrested today on charges of illegally diverting Adderall. 

According to allegations included in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bajwa, 48, of Oakton, operated a medical practice in Fairfax. During a 21-month period between January 2017 and September 2018, Bajwa allegedly issued approximately 15,000 controlled substance prescriptions to more than 1,000 patients—a total of more than 700 prescriptions per month. Several local pharmacies had flagged Bajwa and would no longer fill prescriptions from him. The Virginia Department of Health Professions had previously suspended his medical license in 2012 for issues related to his prescription practices.

Beginning in summer 2018, two undercover law enforcement officers posed as patients and made appointments to see Bajwa. At each visit, Bajwa allegedly prescribed the undercover officers a 30-day supply of Adderall—despite the undercover officers not having a need for the medication. One of the officers told Bajwa that she was a fitness model and needed Adderall for her workouts, which is not a legitimate use for the substance. The undercover officer also asked Bajwa to prescribe her extra pills that she could give to a “friend” and he readily agreed.

Bajwa is charged with illegal distribution of Adderall, a Schedule II controlled substance. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-MJ-3.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for his role in a heroin trafficking conspiracy that crossed most of South Hampton Roads.

According to court documents, Ingram Cox, 35, regularly received heroin from co-defendant Kyam Washington, which Cox then sold to local drug dealers and users. The group imported bulk amounts of heroin from out-of-state sources, and at times used a common cell phone number that buyers would call to order drugs. Narcotics, multiple firearms, a bullet-proof vest, a commercial money counter, and nearly $100,000 were seized during search warrants of houses used by members of the conspiracy.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation View Crew. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police; and Kelvin Wright, Chief of the Chesapeake Police Department, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew C. Bosse, Joseph E. DePadilla, and John F. Butler prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-006.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton man was sentenced today to life in prison for use of a firearm resulting in death, drug conspiracy, attempted possession with intent to distribute ecstasy, and felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

“Damontaze Tillery is an admitted gang member with a history of violence,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “As a previously convicted felon, Tillery was prohibited from possessing a firearm when he murdered Javon Stephenson during a drug deal. Together with our law enforcement partners we are targeting areas where firearms and the drug trade are fueling violence and endangering the safety of those communities. I want to thank the prosecutors who brought this matter to trial, the ATF and the Newport News Police Department for their outstanding work on this case.”

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Damontaze Montrell Tillery, 24, arranged a trade of a firearm for ecstasy, provided by victim Javon Stephenson. In July 2018, Stephenson travelled from Virginia Beach to downtown Newport News to conduct the transaction with Tillery. During the trade, Tillery murdered Stephenson. Stephenson was unarmed and still in possession of ecstasy when he was found in his vehicle. The victim’s foot was still on the gas pedal when he was found, causing the tires to spin until a bystander turned the vehicle off. An off-duty Newport News firefighter responded after seeing the smoke coming from the vehicle, and upon approaching the vehicle, realized Stephenson had a gunshot wound to the chest. Stephenson was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Firearms in the hands of criminals and anyone with violent intentions create a major threat to our communities,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division. “This defendant’s callous behavior not only threated the safety of citizens in Newport News, but led to a loss of life. ATF and our law enforcement partners remain committed to stopping violent crime and bringing criminals to justice.”

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

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police; made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa R. McKeel and Howard J. Zlotnick prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-031.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Prince William County man pleaded guilty yesterday to possession of a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

According to court documents, Michael Tutwiler, 38, was found in possession of numerous firearms and several firearm silencers after a conviction. ATF was conducting an investigation into the illegal importation of firearm silencers, and through that investigation determined that Tutwiler had likely received firearm silencers shipped from China through the mail. Based on their investigation, agents of the ATF and HSI executed a federal search warrant at Tutwiler’s residence in October 2019. They found several firearm silencers, over 30 firearms, and assorted ammunition at various places in Tutwiler’s home and garage.

Tutwiler pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced on March 26. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; and Raymond Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Roderick C. Young accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Duffey is prosecuting the case.

The Defense Criminal Investigative Service provided significant assistance with this investigation.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:18-cr-163.

NORFOLK, Va. – Four Cuban men from Florida have pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, Jorge Bello Fuentes, 30, Guillermo Bello Fuentes, 33, Yariel Monsibaez Ruiz, 28, and Pedro Emilio Duran, 40, among others, placed skimming devices on gas pumps located in the Eastern District of Virginia. The skimming devices were capable of recording the credit cards, bank card numbers, and PINs of the customers that used their cards at gas pumps. In April and May 2018, using the stolen card information, the codefendants traveled between various locations like Harris Teeter stores to withdraw money from the victims’ bank accounts and purchase prepaid debit cards. 

Jorge Bello Fuentes pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft and faces a mandatory minimum of two years and a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when sentenced on April 23. Co-defendant Guillermo Bello Fuentes pleaded guilty on January 7 to the same charges and is scheduled for sentencing on April 28. Co-defendant Yariel Monsibaez Ruiz pleaded guilty on January 7 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on April 28. Co-defendant Pedro Emilio Duran pleaded guilty on Dec. 13, 2019, to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on March 18. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and David L. Doughty, Jr., Northampton County Sheriff, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson accepted the pleas. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and Kevin P. Hudson are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-109.

A Norfolk man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully sell prescription drugs to consumers without valid prescriptions, the Department of Justice announced today.  

According to court documents, from October 2007 to September 2010, Lawrence B. Ryan, 48, who was then a physician, conspired with RX Limited, an internet pharmacy organization, to sell prescription drugs without valid prescriptions to consumers in the United States.  RX Limited sold these prescription drugs, including Fioricet (which contains butalbital, a barbiturate that is a controlled substance), carisoprodol (Soma), tramadol (Ultram), Viagra, Cialis, and others, using a network of its own websites and websites registered and operated by affiliates.  RX Limited sent Ryan drug orders for “approval” as a participating physician.  These drugs were sold to customers without a valid prescription, because there was no legitimate doctor-patient relationship between Ryan and the customers.  Specifically, there was no face-to-face contact, no physical examination, no taking of patient histories, and no checking of the accuracy of information provided by the customers, including qualifying medical conditions.  The drugs sold were accordingly misbranded because they were introduced into interstate commerce without valid prescriptions. 

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting consumers from unscrupulous medical professionals who assist others to unlawfully sell potentially harmful and addictive drugs to American consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.

During the time he worked as a participating physician for RX Limited, Ryan approved more than 158,000 illegal drug orders.  Ryan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller, sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia’s Norfolk Division, accepted the plea.  Ryan faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced on April 6, 2020.

Senior Litigation Counsel Linda I. Marks of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Salsbury of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are the prosecutors for the case.  The Minnesota office of the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service, and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice.  Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

NORFOLK, Va. – An Alexandria man and a Virginia Beach man were sentenced to prison today for illegally buying and possessing firearms, and for possessing firearms while involved in drug-trafficking crimes.

According to court documents, Ernest Dwayne Riley, 32, and Kaleb Raine Reiter, 22, were prohibited persons who purchased guns at different times from Julio Pino, a former U.S. Navy sailor who was sentenced in March 2019 for trafficking at least 60 firearms.

Riley was sentenced to more than four years in prison, while Reiter was sentenced to 10 years.

At the time Riley bought a gun from Pino, he had been convicted in Maryland of a misdemeanor punishable by 10 years in prison. He also purchased multiple hollow-point rounds of ammunition from Pino. Several months later, Riley attempted to purchase a gun at a federally licensed gun store and lied on the form about his prohibited status. While processing Riley’s gun application, the gun store clerk discovered Riley’s conviction and turned him down.

Riley was arrested in July 2019 during a traffic stop. His $60,000 Range Rover had a “Ghost Tag”—a license plate that does not come back on file when it is entered into DMV and police databases. Riley also provided the arresting officer with a fraudulent vehicle registration. The officer recovered from Riley’s SUV yet another handgun—this one loaded with an extended magazine—THC oil, and prescription pills inside a pill bottle with the label torn off.

Evidence recovered from Riley’s phone and subpoenaed from his financial accounts showed that for the last few years, he was making hundreds of thousands of dollars trafficking marijuana and THC oil from California into Hampton Roads—the same brand of THC oil recovered from his vehicle.

And at the time Reiter purchased a gun from Pino, he was drug user, including heroin, Xanax, and marijuana. Police later recovered that gun lying next to several MDA baggies while searching Reiter’s van during his arrest—he was wanted for assaulting and attempting to abduct someone driving next to him while both were stopped at a major Virginia Beach intersection in the middle of the day and, hours later, pointing that gun at his ex-girlfriend and her mother.

A year later, Reiter directed a teenage girl to steal a handgun from her stepfather. He then traded cocaine to the girl in exchange for the stolen gun.

Two months after that, Reiter brandished a third gun, pointing it at the victim of a vehicle accident he was involved in. A police officer later arrested him while in possession of that gun, Xanax, and a digital scale after receiving complaints that he had passed out in a booth at a local restaurant. 

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-124.

RICHMOND, Va. – A former University of Virginia football player was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for a $10 million investment fraud scheme and a separate loan fraud scheme.

According to court documents, Merrill Robertson Jr., 39, of Chesterfield, started Cavalier Union Investments, LLC, and Black Bull Wealth Management, LLC, with co-conspirator Sherman Carl Vaughn. From 2008-2016, Robertson and Vaughn solicited individuals to invest money in private investment funds that they managed, as well as distinct investment opportunities that they proposed. Robertson identified potential investors through various contacts; including contacts he developed playing football at Fork Union Military Academy, the University of Virginia, and in the National Football League, while Vaughn focused on developing investment opportunities.

Among other things, Robertson led investors to believe he was an experienced investment advisor, that his company was qualified to serve as a custodian of retirement accounts, that investor money was deposited into individual tax-deferred retirement accounts, and that investor money was secured by tangible cash-producing assets owned by his company.

As a result of this conspiracy, Robertson and Vaughn fraudulently obtained more than $10 million from over 60 investors, spending much of the money on their own personal living expenses, including mortgage and car payments, school tuitions, spa visits, restaurants, department stores, and vacations.

By 2015, Robertson and his partner had spent most of the money they collected from investors. Robertson was then unable to raise new investor capital. So Robertson approached Cavalier investors and other friends and offered to help them get loans in exchange for a portion of the loan proceeds. Mr. Robertson and others then caused falsified loan applications to be submitted to various banks and credit unions on behalf of these individuals, which included false statements about the borrower’s personal financial status, the real purpose of the loan, and whether the loan was secured by collateral. In doing so, Robertson and others obtained nearly $250,000 through falsified loan applications to at least 5 financial institutions.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David W. Archey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office; Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Lee Martin, Stephen E Anthony, and Kenneth Simon prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:16-cr-133.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Manassas man was sentenced today to one year in prison for straw purchasing a firearm.

“Straw purchasing a firearm is a federal crime with serious consequences,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We are doubling down on our efforts across the DMV to prosecute any and all straw purchasing cases. It should send a strong message to those who would come into Virginia to illegally purchase firearms – Don’t lie and buy for the other guy. You will be prosecuted.”

According to court documents, in January 2017, Robert Marshall, 25, and another individual visited a Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL) in Woodbridge. The individual spent several minutes examining firearms, left the store, and then Marshall attempted to purchase one of the firearms examined by individual. Marshall paid for a semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting a large capacity magazine, and returned the next day to complete ATF paperwork and undergo a background check. After completing the sale, FFL staff members immediately reported the sale to law enforcement as a possible straw purchase. Law enforcement officers located Marshall the same day, and Marshall claimed that he was no longer in possession of the firearm. Marshall admitted to being paid by the individual and another person to purchase the firearm, and that he had not answered the questions on the ATF form truthfully.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Harp prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-240.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Alexandria man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for conspiring to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin, which led to the overdose death of at least one individual.

According to court documents, George Addae, 26, directed a heroin trafficking conspiracy from 2016 through September 2018. Addae obtained wholesale quantities of heroin and repackaged the drug into capsules. He arranged heroin sales with his customers through electronic communications and directed his co-conspirators to deliver the narcotics. On April 2, 2018, Addae personally distributed a mixture of heroin and fentanyl to a man in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County. That man ingested the drug and died from mixed drug intoxication.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Addae was also ordered to forfeit $100,000.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc J. Birnbaum prosecuted the case.

This investigation was led by the Fairfax County Police and the FBI Washington Field Office’s Safe Streets/HIDTA Task Force. This task force is composed of FBI Agents and Task Force Officers from the Fairfax County Police, the Prince William County Police, the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, the Alexandria City Police, the Leesburg Police, the Herndon Police, the Vienna Police, and works in conjunction with the ATF, USMS, HSI and other local, state and federal agencies throughout Northern Virginia. The task force investigates the most egregious and violent criminal gangs and street crews operating in the Capital Region.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-188.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl.

According to court documents, Dujuan Walters, 34, maintained a stash house at his residence in Newport News, at the direction of co-conspirators. Walters and his co-conspirators used his residence to store heroin, fentanyl, a hydraulic press, and other equipment used in the preparation and distribution of controlled substances. In December 2018, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Walters’s residence, where they recovered the aforementioned items, as well as a kilogram of heroin, additional black tar heroin, and liquid fentanyl.

Walters pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl and faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment when sentenced on April 17, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police; Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police; and Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division, made the announcement after Magistrate U.S. District Judge Robert J. Krask accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy E. Cross, Peter G. Osyf, and Kevin P. Hudson are prosecuting the case.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Cookout. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-47.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Alexandria man was sentenced today to four years in prison for his role in a money laundering scheme.

According to court documents, Michael Bernard Bagley, 51, owned and operated Jellyfish Partners LLC, which he described as a private intelligence company in the Washington, D.C., area that provided operational support to its clients, primarily in Mexico. In January, law enforcement received information that Bagley was recommended as an individual who was capable of laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking. Bagley met on several occasions with individuals he believed were affiliated with a Mexican cartel to discuss his ability and willingness to launder what he believed were the proceeds of drug sales.

To effectuate his scheme, Bagley provided the purported cartel associates with a “Capital Banking Plan,” which described how Bagley would launder over $20 million in drug proceeds through another company. In February, Bagley met with the purported cartel associates and again reiterated his desire to launder the funds and claimed he would take a 10 percent commission on all funds he laundered. In April, in Alexandria, Bagley accepted $50,000 in cash he believed was proceeds from the sale of drugs. Bagley ultimately transferred $45,000 from a bank account in the name of Jellyfish Partners LLC to an account Bagley believed was controlled by the cartel. In May, Bagley again received $100,000 in cash to launder. Over the following weeks, Bagley deposited $90,000 in purported Mexican cartel-controlled funds via a combination of cash deposits, ACH deposits, and a wire transfer. Bagley further claimed that he was also working with the “number one guy” of El Mayo, the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. In June, Bagley received another $101,000 to launder.

In total, Bagley accepted $251,000 in funds he believed to be the proceeds of drug sales from a cartel.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Timothy R. Slater, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamar K. Walker and Karen L. Taylor prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-263.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A former Hampton police detective pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

According to court documents, Deangelo Freeman, 31 conspired with local drug dealers while he was a detective in the Special Investigations Unit of the Hampton Police Division. Specifically, Freeman was associated with a number of individuals who were selling large quantities of cocaine. These individuals included Alex Burnett who owned 9Rounds Gym in Hampton Town Center.  Freeman admitted to providing information to Burnett about an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Freeman learned of this information while serving as a narcotics detective and participating in the investigation of Burnett. The information provided by Freeman included the identity of a confidential informant. Freeman provided the information to compromise the investigation and to help Burnett’s drug distribution activities.

Freeman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison when sentenced on April 23, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division, made the announcement. after U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Krask accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt is prosecuting the case.

The Hampton Police Division has fully cooperated and provided significant assistance with this investigation. The Idaho State Police provided assistance with the arrest of Freeman in Idaho.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:17-cr-111.

NORFOLK, Va. – A federal judge convicted a Virginia Beach man today on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography.

According to court records and evidence presented at the bench trial, Augustin Dante Ezequiel Arce, 30, of Virginia Beach, was identified sharing images of child sexual abuse over a peer-to-peer network throughout 2017 and the first part of 2018. An Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force officer with the Harrisonburg Police Department downloaded images of child sexual abuse in an undercover capacity from Arce’s mobile devices. In August 2018, Arce was indicted by a federal grand jury. After being asked to turn himself in, Arce fled the district and was found several months later in southern California, living in a tent.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

Ezequiel Arce faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison when sentenced on April 2, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Raymond Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., and James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen declared the verdict. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and Daniel P. Shean are prosecuting the case.

The Harrisonburg Police Department provided significant assistance in the investigation.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-121.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond man was sentenced today to 13 months in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for packages believed to contain marijuana that had been sent through the United States mails. 

According to court documents, Christopher Grant, 59, accepted multiple bribes over a nearly one-year period from several different individuals while working as a U.S. mail carrier. In exchange, Grant gave those individuals at least 20 suspected marijuana parcels, all of which had been shipped from other states to vacant addresses and false aliases along Grant’s route. One such parcel was intercepted, searched, and found to contain over 11 pounds of marijuana. To hide his crimes, Grant attempted to alter U.S. Postal Service tracking records to falsely show that he had delivered the packages as addressed. Grant was confronted after surveillance recordings showed him accepting five cash bribes from individuals receiving the suspected marijuana parcels.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Imari Niles, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; and Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge David J. Novak. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin G. Cooke prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-cr-125.

The owner of a purported investment company based in the United Kingdom and two alleged co-conspirators were charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday for their alleged participation in an investment fraud scheme by which they allegedly stole at least $6.2 million from victim investors.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, Inspector in Charge Delany De Leon-Colón of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group and Special Agent in Charge David Archey of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office made the announcement.

Brian Michael Bridge, 46, of London, England, the owner of Chimera Group Ltd.; James Michael Johnson, 68, of Richmond, Virginia; and James Leonard Smith, 54, of Midlothian, Virginia, were each charged in an indictment filed in the Eastern District of Virginia with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. Johnson and Smith made their initial appearances in Richmond today. Bridge remains at large.

The indictment alleges that Bridge – working with Johnson and Smith in the Richmond area – operated a worldwide scheme through Chimera Group Ltd. The scheme operated as an advance fee scheme which involved the defendants as promoters who promised to pay the victims a sum of money at a later date in exchange for an upfront advanced payment.   Among other misrepresentations, Bridge, Johnson and Smith allegedly told potential victims that their principal payments would be protected based on letters of credit and other documents that purported to be from a large financial institution.  However, these letters were fabricated, the indictment alleges.  The indictment also alleges that the defendants used escrow attorneys who were themselves part of the scheme in order to give the victims the appearance that their money would remain secure until the defendants’ promises had been kept.  Upon receiving the victims’ funds, those attorneys immediately forwarded the money out of their escrow accounts to the defendants and affiliated individuals, the indictment alleges.

The indictment alleges that the defendants stole at least $6.2 million from their victims.

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

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group and FBI’s Richmond Field Office investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Vasanth Sridharan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Securities Division of the Virginia State Corporation Commission also provided assistance. 

NORFOLK, Va. – Federal and local law enforcement officials today announced the results of Operation High Tide, a proactive, large-scale narcotics and firearms trafficking investigation that focused on high-impact targets driving crime in some of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Hampton Roads.

In early September, over 100 law enforcement agents, officers, and other personnel executed Operation High Tide, which resulted in the arrests of nearly two dozen individuals involved in selling drugs and guns in Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth.

To date, Operation High Tide has resulted in 20 convictions and the recovery of approximately 78 firearms, over 7 kilograms of cocaine, nearly a kilogram of crack cocaine, over 625 grams of heroin, over 100 grams of fentanyl, 75 grams of acetyl fentanyl, 12 pounds of marijuana, 621 grams of hash oil, 24 grams of MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), 120 grams of methamphetamine, and over $560,000 in cash. The narcotics seized have a street value of nearly $1 million.

“Armed criminals are the principal players involved in the deadly cycles of drug turf battles and gang conflicts that deprive our neighborhoods and families of the peace and security they deserve,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Operation High Tide is the latest highly-coordinated effort from federal, state, and local law enforcement to tackle violent crime in Hampton Roads. Further, this operation is emblematic of Attorney General Barr’s Project Guardian, which was announced last month and focuses on those who use firearms during narcotics trafficking and the trafficking of firearms. Through this operation, we are making our strong partnership known and felt in Hampton Roads, as we apprehend and remove from the streets those individuals who have committed serious offenses and put the safety of our communities in danger. This coordinated operation reflects the skilled and brave work of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, and is part of a law enforcement surge in this priority enforcement area for EDVA.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) initiated Operation High Tide in collaboration with the Chesapeake and Norfolk Police Departments and the Virginia State Police. The operation identified individuals throughout Hampton Roads who were illegally selling firearms, fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and other narcotics.

“This investigation focused on the most violent offenders in the Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Portsmouth communities,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division. “ATF’s priority is reducing violent crime. Criminals often utilize firearms as tools of their trade causing harm to our communities.  This case illustrates ATF’s commitment to effective law enforcement partnerships and dedication to keeping our cities safe.”

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

Below is a table which lists the name, age, hometown, and respective charge(s) to which each defendant pleaded guilty.

Name, Age

Hometown

Charges

Sentencing

Brian D. Best, 34

Virginia Beach

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine

Feb. 27, 2020

Antisha Carrington, 25

Virginia Beach

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl, and Marijuana

Feb. 21, 2020

Kawanta D. Epps, 40

Norfolk

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl, and Marijuana; Distribution of Heroin

Feb. 19, 2020

Anthony L. Green, 48

Chesapeake

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl, and Marijuana; Distribution of Heroin

March 12, 2020

Corey L. Jones, 50

Portsmouth

Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin; Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime

Feb. 19, 2020

 

Dominic D. Jones, 26

Portsmouth

Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin; Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime

Feb. 11, 2020

Malcolm D. Jones, Sr., 45

Portsmouth

Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin; Distribution of Heroin, Fentanyl; Distribution of Acetyl Fentanyl

Feb. 5, 2020

Shon E. Melton, 30

Portsmouth

Distribution of Heroin; Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime; Possession of an Unregistered National Firearms Act Firearm

March 26, 2020

Gary Norfleet, 52

Chesapeake

Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine; Felon in Possession of a Firearm

Feb. 11, 2020

Jermaine C. Parker, 35

Chesapeake

Distribution of Fentanyl; 2 counts of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime

Feb. 3, 2020

Corey S. Reed, 38

Norfolk

Distribution of Heroin; Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin

Jan. 9, 2020

Jameel M. Simmons, 37

Portsmouth

Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin; Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime

Jan. 23, 2020

Jelami M. Smith, 43

Portsmouth

Distribution of Heroin

Feb. 2, 2020

Robert B. Spruill, 39

Chesapeake

Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess Methamphetamine

Feb. 27, 2020

Hasheed Mills, 25

Portsmouth

Distribution of Heroin; Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime; Distribution of Cocaine

Feb. 28, 2020

Tajh Rodgers, 29

Portsmouth

Robbery Affecting Commerce; Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence; and 3 counts of Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking Crime

Jan. 9, 2020

Glenn Farris, 36

Norfolk

Using a Communication Facility to Commit, Cause, and Facilitate the Distribution of Controlled Substances

Feb. 12, 2020

Malcom Jones, Jr., 25

Portsmouth

Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin

Feb. 18, 2020

Raewkon A. Pierce, 24

Portsmouth

Distribution of Cocaine

March 16, 2020

Johnnie Ross, 29

Portsmouth

Distribution of Fentanyl

March 31, 2020

 

G. Zachery Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division; Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police; Col. K.L. Wright, Chief of Chesapeake Police; Greg Underwood, Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney, and Nancy Parr, Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney, made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the ATF’s Norfolk Field Office, the Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Portsmouth Police Departments, and the Virginia State Police, with the assistance of the FBI, DEA, NCIS, and the U.S. Marshals.

Attorneys from the Drug and Violent Crime Unit of the Norfolk Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Kristin G. Bird, Andrew C. Bosse, John F. Butler, Megan M. Cowles, Sherrie Capotosto, Kevin M. Comstock, Joseph E. DePadilla, William B. Jackson, Darryl Mitchell, and William D. Muhr are prosecuting the cases.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 3:19-CR-111; 2:19-CR-80, 141, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 154, 155; and 2:18-CR-138.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today 13 months in prison for illegal re-entry by a previously deported alien.

“Juan Navarro-Hernandez has a staggering seven DUI convictions,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This is precisely the type of defendant and criminal immigration case we are focused on here in EDVA. Those who illegally enter the United States, and then choose to commit further crimes here, pose a great danger to the safety of our communities. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and immigration authorities to prosecute and remove these criminals from our communities.”

According to court documents, Juan Navarro-Hernandez, 50, of Guanajuato, Mexico, was deported from the United States at taxpayer expense in February 2001. Sometime later, Navarro-Hernandez snuck back into the United States again, and on May 19, 2019, Navarro-Hernandez was found unlawfully in the United States when he was arrested by Chesapeake Police for driving under the influence (DUI). Navarro-Hernandez has a total of seven convictions in state court for DUI.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Raymond Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-111.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A former teacher with the Newport News school system was sentenced today to five years in prison for receiving and uploading images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents, in March of 2018, Michael Scott Porter, 51, of Newport News, uploaded images of child sexual abuse to a Microsoft OneDrive account. Microsoft reported the incident to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) consistent with federal law. Search warrants were subsequently obtained for the account and home of Porter, and during the search, law enforcement discovered over 2400 images of child sexual abuse in the Microsoft OneDrive account as well as on other devices in Porter’s home.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa R. McKeel prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-74.

An Alexandria, Virginia, tax lobbyist was sentenced to one year in prison today for willfully filing a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents, attorney James F. Miller, 67, underreported his gross income on his 2010 through 2014 tax returns by more than $2.2 million. Miller, a tax policy lobbyist and former employee of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, filed multiple false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These returns omitted partnership income he received from two law firms and the gross receipts he received from his own lobbying firm. The total tax loss resulting from Miller’s fraudulent conduct was more than $730,000.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, ordered Miller to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution to the United States in the amount of $735,933.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Terwilliger commended agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant United State Attorney Ryan S. Faulconer from the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Terri-Lei O’Malley of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.

A resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty yesterday to multiple criminal copyright and money laundering charges related to his running of iStreamItAll, one of the biggest illegal television show and movie streaming services in the United States, and to his working as a computer programmer with co-defendants to help build Jetflicks, a similarly large illegal television show streaming service.  Today, a second defendant, who also resides in Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in the same court to a criminal copyright charge for his work as a computer programmer for Jetflicks.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement today.

Darryl Julius Polo, aka djppimp, 36, pleaded guilty yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution, one count of copyright infringement by reproduction or distribution, one count of copyright infringement by public performance and one count of money laundering.  In a separate proceeding today, co-defendant Luis Angel Villarino, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.  Sentencing for both defendants will be before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia, with Polo’s on March 13, 2020, and Villarino’s on March 20, 2020.

According to Polo’s plea agreement, Polo ran a site called iStreamItAll (ISIA), an online, subscription-based service headquartered in Las Vegas that permitted users to stream and download copyrighted television programs and movies without the permission of the relevant copyright owners.  Polo admitted that he reproduced tens of thousands of copyrighted television episodes and movies without authorization, and streamed and distributed the infringing programs to thousands of paid subscribers located throughout the U.S.  Specifically, Polo admitted that ISIA offered more than 118,479 different television episodes and 10,980 individual movies.  In fact, according to the plea agreement, ISIA had more content than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime, and Polo sent out emails to potential subscribers highlighting ISIA’s huge catalog of works and urging them to cancel those licensed services and subscribe to ISIA instead. 

According to Polo’s plea agreement, Polo obtained infringing television programs and movies from pirate sites around the world—including some of the globe’s biggest torrent and Usenet NZB sites specializing in infringing content—using various automated computer scripts that ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Specifically, Polo used sophisticated computer programming to scour global pirate sites for new illegal content; to download, process, and store these works; and then make the shows and movies available on servers in Canada to ISIA subscribers for streaming and downloading.  Polo also admitted to running several other piracy services—including a Usenet NZB indexing site called SmackDownOnYou—and earning over $1 million from his piracy operations. 

In addition, in Polo’s and Villarino’s plea agreements, they each admitted that they separately worked as computer programmers at Jetflicks, another online, subscription-based service headquartered in Las Vegas that permitted users to stream and, at times, download copyrighted television programs without the permission of the relevant copyright owners.  According to both plea agreements, Polo, Villarino and their co-conspirators at Jetflicks reproduced tens of thousands of copyrighted television episodes without authorization, and streamed and distributed the infringing programs to tens of thousands of paid subscribers located throughout the U.S.

Both Polo and Villarino also admitted that at Jetflicks they and their co-conspirators used automated software programs and other tools to locate, download, process and store illegal content, and then quickly make those television programs available on servers in the U.S. and Canada to Jetflicks subscribers for streaming and/or downloading.

In addition, as set forth in Polo’s and Villarino’s plea agreements, both Jetflicks and ISIA were not only available to subscribers over the internet but were specifically designed to work on many different types of devices, platforms and software including myriad varieties of computer operating systems, smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, video game consoles, digital media players, set-top boxes and web browsers. 

The other defendants in the case are scheduled to go to trial starting on Feb. 3, 2020.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office conducted the investigation.  Senior Counsel Matthew A. Lamberti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander P. Berrang of the Eastern District of Virginia and are prosecuting the case.  The CCIPS Cybercrime Lab provided significant assistance.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News couple has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for their respective roles in manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in Hampton Roads.

According to court documents, Dynetta R. Littlejohn, 30, pleaded guilty earlier this year to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and was sentenced today to five years in prison.

Littlejohn’s codefendant, Robert James Walker, 37, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and was sentenced on October 23 to nearly 15 years in prison.

Littlejohn, was at home in August 2018, when law enforcement lawfully searched her residence and seized several narcotics to include MDMA, promethazine, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and cocaine base. Police also seized two digital scales, $1,225 in cash, glassine bags and other drug packaging material, narcotics cutting agents, and other tools of the drug trafficking trade. Law enforcement also seized a loaded Ruger P90 .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun and additional ammunition. Littlejohn told officers that the items seized belonged to her. The search of the residence sprung from Littlejohn’s cohabitant, Walker, making an illegal U-turn mere hours earlier in a vehicle also filled with drugs, $3,091 in cash, and a loaded Glock GMBH 22, .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

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

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter G. Osyf prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-53.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A previously convicted felon was sentenced today to 46 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $512,500 for defrauding investors of a local newspaper and unlawful possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon.

According to court documents, Brian Thomas Reynolds, 53, of Leesburg, defrauded both investors and lenders to a company that he controlled that operates a local newspaper in Loudoun County. Reynolds made several materially false and fraudulent representations to actual and potential investors and lenders regarding the existence and value of advertising contracts held by the company, and created fake advertising contracts when no such agreements existed. Reynolds also made materially false and fraudulent representations regarding the company’s historical advertising revenues and the amount of money that Reynolds and others had invested in the company, falsely claimed that another individual had agreed to “match” the investments of certain investors, falsely claimed to at least one investor that the company lacked any debt, and materially overstated the amount of money held by the company in its bank accounts.

Court documents also state that Reynolds created altered loan documentation to defraud an individual who had lent money to the company by changing the language of the loan agreement to conditions that were materially more favorable to Reynolds and his company than had actually been agreed to by the lender. Reynolds also made materially false representations regarding the number of issues previously distributed by the newspaper, and falsely claimed that a prominent businessperson served on the company’s advisory board, when in fact that individual held no position on the board and played no role in the operation of the business.

Reynolds, who has four prior felony convictions and is prohibited from possessing firearms, also pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing seven firearms and associated ammunition.

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

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Burke and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell L. Carlberg prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 1:19-cr-70 and 1:19-cr-71.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Suffolk man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for producing images of child sexual abuse.

“These crimes are vile and display the kind of manipulation and vindictiveness Quinton Myrick is capable of,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Production of child pornography is one of the most offensive and serious crimes in the entire criminal code; it involves a real-life child, real-life abuse, and causes incalculable and unknowable harm to victims.”

According to court documents, Quinton Thomas Myrick, 26, met an 11-year-old girl from Ohio online in December 2018. Myrick convinced the girl to produce child pornography and send it to him, and she complied. When Myrick suspected the 11-year-old was talking to other boys, he posted the child pornography on the girl’s social media account. Myrick also produced child pornography with a second minor victim, a 17-year-old girl. When Myrick became angry with her, Myrick also posted her videos on social media.

“HSI will continue to target sexual predators who use the internet to prey on young victims,” said Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Norfolk. “Let this case serve as a lesson to predators who think they can hide behind a screen name. If you target minors, we will target you for arrest.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk; and Robert Porti, Deputy Chief of Franklin Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi prosecuted the case.

The Columbus Police Department provided significant assistance during this investigation.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-91.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today for six years in prison for illegally reentering the United States following removal after a felony conviction.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Rodrigo Martinez-Mendoza, 43, first made illegal entry into the United States in 1993. In 1996 in Texas, he was convicted of forgery. Immigration authorities learned of the matter and commenced removal proceedings. Following processing, Martinez-Mendoza was then released on his own recognizance. In May 1997, Martinez-Mendoza failed to appear at his scheduled hearing, and was ordered deported to Mexico, and a warrant was issued. In August 2005, law enforcement encountered Martinez-Mendoza at Fort Lee Army Base in Petersburg, and he was then processed for deportation. In September 2005, Martinez-Mendoza was removed to Mexico at taxpayer expense. Thereafter on an unknown date, at an unknown location, he illegally returned to the United States.

“Martinez-Mendoza is a serious threat to public safety,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “In addition to an involuntary manslaughter conviction for killing a man during a drunken fight, he has a criminal record that includes DWI, lying to the police, and he has illegally entered the United States on multiple occasions. The Department of Justice is committed to prioritizing criminal immigration enforcement, especially those like Martinez-Mendoza, who enter this country illegally only to commit further crimes. They will be held accountable, prosecuted, and removed.”

In October 2009, Martinez-Mendoza was arrested by officers of the ICE Fugitive Operations Team in Chester, and later pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and served four months before again being deported to Mexico at taxpayer expense. On an unknown date, Martinez-Mendoza illegally returned to the United States.

In December 2017, in Petersburg, Martinez-Mendoza was arrested by law enforcement officers from the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force on state charges of felony malicious wounding. In October 2018, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Richmond Circuit Court and sentenced to a term of five years in prison with four years suspended.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Russell Hott, Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. David Schiller prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:17-cr-164.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A federal jury convicted seven Newport News and Hampton men today on charges including racketeering conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and drug trafficking.

“The 36th Street Bang Squad is a violent and vicious criminal enterprise,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “The murders were no random acts of violence, rather they were the product of a deliberate effort of 36th Street Bang Squad to attack rivals and enhance the reputation of the gang. I want to thank our trial team and investigative partners at the ATF, Hampton Police Division, and the Newport News Police for their terrific work on this case.”

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, the defendants carried on the affairs of the 36th Street Bang Squad racketeering enterprise, by committing numerous acts of violence and drug trafficking including the double murder of Jada Richardson and Domingo Davis, on April 6, 2015, and the murder of Dwayne Parker on March 8, 2015, as well as numerous retaliatory shootings against rival gang members. Evidence presented at trial showed their activities occurred in multiple locations in downtown Newport News and Hampton.

“These gang members terrorized people, and brought not only drugs and firearms into their neighborhoods but violence and fear as well," said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Washington Field Division. "They showed repeatedly that they do not value human life or the safety of innocent bystanders. ATF is proud to work alongside our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to take dangerous offenders like them off the street. This verdict should be a warning to anyone out there committing violent crime in our communities.”

Name, Age

Hometown

Conviction(s)

Sentencing Date

Martin L. Hunt, 22

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy; Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Use of a Firearm Resulting in Death; Attempted Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence; Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering

May 8, 2020

Xavier Greene, 25

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy; Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Use of a Firearm Resulting in Death; Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence

May 6, 2020

Deshaun Richardson, 24

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy

June 5, 2020

Ryan Taybron, 22

Hampton

Racketeering Conspiracy; Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence; Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Cocaine; Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking

June 3, 2020

Eric Nixon, 24

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy; Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence; False Statement

May 13, 2020

Geovanni Douglas, 24

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy; Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence

May 28, 2020

Raymond Palmer, 29

Newport News

Racketeering Conspiracy; Attempted Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in Aid of Racketeering; Possession/Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence

May 19, 2020

 

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis accepted the verdict. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Howard J. Zlotnick and Brian J. Samuels, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Cross, and Trial Attorney Chad W. McHenry of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:17-cr-52.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Alexandria woman pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy to straw purchase 31 firearms.

According to court documents, Alexus Jordon, 23, and her then-boyfriend, Emmanuel Ndjongo, conspired to straw purchase 31 firearms from Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs) in Virginia. Jordon purchased six of the firearms at FFLs in Virginia, while Ndjongo used Jordon’s name to order the remaining firearms from an FFL located in North Carolina and had these firearms shipped to various FFLs in Virginia. Once the firearms arrived in Virginia, Jordon picked the firearms up from the FFL where they had been shipped, and gave the firearms to Ndjongo, who sought to sell the firearms to other individuals.

“It should abundantly clear now to all: If you straw purchase firearms in the Eastern District of Virginia, you will be subject to felony prosecution,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “It is not draconian. Rather, it is practical and just. Straw purchasers have committed felonious conduct and a felony conviction ensures that they can no longer purchase firearms for others.”

Local law enforcement in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland have recovered two of the firearms unlawfully purchased during this conspiracy, both of which had altered or obliterated serial numbers at the time of recovery.

“This investigation demonstrates how individuals criminally abuse the process of purchasing firearms,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division. “Anyone engaged in firearms trafficking should be on notice. ATF works with our law enforcement partners throughout the nation to keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them. If you lie when you buy a firearm, you will be held accountable.”

Jordon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements in connection with the purchase of firearms and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison when sentenced on March 6, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas U. Murphy II and Philip Alito are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-335.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond City Public Schools music teacher made his initial appearance in federal court today on charges of receipt and distribution of images of child sexual abuse.

Kellen Thomas Donelson, 32, of Richmond, was arrested at his home yesterday. Donelson is a music teacher at Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary School and an Associate Minister/Music Director at Mount Hope Baptist Church.

According to allegations detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, in February and July of 2019, Donelson uploaded multiple images of child pornography via Snapchat and Kik Messenger. Yesterday, during a court-authorized search of his home, law enforcement discovered at least 50 images and videos of child pornography on Donelson’s phone.

Donelson is charged with receipt and distribution of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Anyone with information regarding this matter should contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at: 1-804-648-0419, extension 223.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Elliker is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-mj-212.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Nigerian man pleaded guilty today to trafficking more than 30 kilograms of heroin intended for importation into the United States. 

According to court documents, in December 2017, Edwin Anyaoku, 54, sold a kilogram of heroin for $15,000 to a confidential DEA source, with the understanding that the source would smuggle the heroin into the United States where it could be sold at a high profit. Anyaoku told the source that he had a nephew in the United States who could receive drug proceeds, and even offered to fly to the United States himself to bring back the money.

The one-kilogram deal, however, was only a test, and thereafter, Anyaoku started planning to sell the source a much larger load of heroin intended for the United States. In June 2018, Anyaoku arranged to sell the source a total of 29 kilograms of heroin, two of which were Anyaoku’s own personal investment, at a price of $14,000 per kilogram. Anyaoku expected to net a personal profit of thousands of dollars from the sale. In June 2018, Anyaoku and two accomplices showed up at a hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, with all 29 kilograms of heroin in luggage. Anyaoku was arrested and later extradited to the United States from South Africa in June 2019.

Anyaoku pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and distribution of one kilogram or more of heroin. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced on March 20, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-cr-270.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former D.C. government employee with a prior conviction for murder pleaded guilty today to distributing the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, as well as illegally possessing multiple firearms.

According to court documents, while employed at the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) in Southwest D.C., Darrell Marcellus Pope, 51, of Clinton, Maryland, sold fentanyl on multiple occasions in front of his office building. The DCRA is located within 1,000 feet of Amiden Bowen Elementary School.

Pope had a broad network of customers, including several who lived across the Potomac River in the Eastern District of Virginia. One of Pope’s customers, identified in court documents as A.D., regularly traveled from Woodbridge to buy heroin and fentanyl from Pope. On March 14, Pope sold drugs to A.D., who brought them back to Woodbridge. The drugs that Pope sold to A.D. ultimately caused the fatal overdose of a Lake Ridge woman.

Fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, is a Schedule II synthetic pain reliever that comes in the form of transdermal patches and lozenges. Fentanyl is also produced in clandestine labs both domestically and abroad. Illicitly produced fentanyl is often combined with heroin or other substances to increase potency or ad an opioid effect to an otherwise non-opioid drug.  Fentanyl and other synthetic opioid-related deaths have increased dramatically since 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2018, 32,000 persons in the United States died from overdosing on synthetic opioids.

Pope pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, and to being a felon in possession of firearms. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison when sentenced on March 20, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh is prosecuting the case.

The Prince William County Police Department provided significant assistance with this case.

Pope’s co-conspirator, Ronald Maxwell Gorham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl on October 29, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21, 2020.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-355 (Pope) and 1:19-cr-320 (Gorham).

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A California man was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for supplying cocaine and other controlled substances to individuals in Virginia.

According to court documents, from 2015 until early 2019, Chad Stewart, 44, of Anaheim, supplied cocaine and other controlled substances to multiple drug distribution cells located in Northern Virginia. Most notably, Stewart supplied cocaine to associates and members of the Imperial Gansta Bloods, a criminal street gang. His customers would compile and return tens of thousands of dollars of drug proceeds to him, sometimes via shipments of bulk cash, and sometimes by hand carrying bulk cash to California and delivering it to Stewart in person. Stewart admitted to shipping nearly 150 kilograms of cocaine, along with at least one kilogram of heroin.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, and Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-208.

NORFOLK, Va. – An Iowa woman pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin, one count of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, and one count of distribution of heroin.

According to court documents, Latosha L. Prather, 36, of Des Moines, served as the out-of-state heroin and fentanyl supplier for convicted Hampton Roads regional supplier Michelle Best. In September 2017, Prather sold two kilograms of a substance containing a mixture of heroin and fentanyl for $125,000 to Best from Prather’s home-based day care service in Des Moines. Agents and analysts traced approximately $100,000 in cash deposits from Best to Prather. In January 2018, Prather travelled from Des Moines to Virginia Beach where she met with Best in a Wal-Mart parking lot to distribute another kilogram of heroin and fentanyl for $49,000. In March 2018, a Virginia SWAT team working in concert with the DEA executed a search warrant on Best’s Croatan home, and recovered nearly $42,000 in cash, approximately 352 grams of heroin laced with fentanyl, significant quantities of other narcotics, a commercial money counter, and a number of firearms. Best was sentenced in March 2019 to 30 years in prison.

Prather pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. She faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced on March 17, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John F. Butler and Andrew C. Bosse are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-138. The case of United States v. Michelle Best, et al. can be found by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-147.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Glen Allen man was sentenced today to 104 months in prison for his role in a November 2017 armed robbery of a 7-Eleven in Richmond.

According to court documents, Devin Walcott, 21, and two others met in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2017, when they planned to travel to Green Top Hunting and Fishing, a sporting goods store and federally licensed firearms dealer in Ashland, to break in and steal firearms. When they arrived at the store, they could not break into any of the doors of the building. As a result of their inability to break into the store, one of the individuals fired a firearm at a lock on one of the doors to try and gain entry. Hearing the gunshot, an employee that was inside the store, but who Walcott and the others had not realized was there, yelled at the would-be burglars. That led them to flee the area in Walcott’s vehicle. 

After failing to break into Green Top, the three co-conspirators decided to rob a 7-Eleven on Cary Street in Richmond. Each of the three wore Halloween-style masks over their faces and wore hoodies. One of the co-conspirators, not Walcott, carried a firearm into the store to complete the robbery. However, all three entered the store together, and all three left the store once the robbery ended.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen E. Anthony prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-cr-91.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk man was sentenced today to seven years in prison for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug crime. 

According to court documents, Curtis Talley, 38, who has 13 prior felony convictions, many of which are for prior probation violations, was found with distribution amounts of cocaine, marijuana, and a loaded gun when Norfolk police officers arrested him on earlier warrants.  

“Armed drug dealers are responsible for much violence plaguing our communities,” said G. Zachery Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We will continue to seek out and prosecute cases against this dangerous class of repeat offenders.”

“ATF’s primary mission is to protect America’s neighborhoods from violent crime,” said Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division. “We are focused on stopping offenders who perpetrate violence by trafficking drugs and carrying firearms and will use all of our resources to bring them to justice.”

This case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. Click here for more information about Project Guardian.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; Colonel Gary T. Settle, Virginia State Police Superintendent; Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Bosse and Joseph E. DePadilla prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-114.