Eastern District of Virginia

NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake Sheriff’s Deputy was arrested this morning on charges related to his role in smuggling heroin into the Chesapeake City Jail.

According to allegations in the indictment, from July 2017 through January 2019, Jenis Leroy Plummer, Jr., 35, as a Chesapeake Sheriff’s Deputy at the Chesapeake City Jail, conspired with conspirators to smuggle heroin and other contraband into the Chesapeake City Jail. The indictment alleges that on Oct. 19, 2018, Plummer drove to a cul-de-sac on Horse Run Drive in Chesapeake and picked up a package containing contraband that a conspirator had left for him to retrieve. On that same day, Plummer used his position as a Chesapeake Sheriff’s Deputy to smuggle the contraband to an inmate in the jail. Plummer used his position as a Chesapeake Sheriff’s Deputy to obtain funds that he was not entitled to receive.

The Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office has provided significant assistance and full cooperation during the investigation.

Mr. Plummer is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute heroin, conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right, and a separate count of obtaining property under color of official right.  If convicted of all counts in the indictment, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 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.

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. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph DePadilla and Melissa E. O’Boyle 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 is 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-25.

An indictment 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 former Virginia Beach probation officer was sentenced today to eight years in prison for committing bank and wire fraud.

According to court documents, Kevin Darlene Edwards, 63, engaged in a four-year long scheme to defraud Beach Municipal Credit Union, two lenders, and other individuals of money and property. Starting in April 2015, Edwards falsified and forged numerous documents to support her application for a $650,000 loan. Through fraud and deceit, Edwards successfully obtained the loan and purchased a very large home in Chesapeake. Shortly thereafter, Edwards defaulted on the mortgage and filed a fraudulent bankruptcy to prevent the foreclosure sale, while also making numerous misrepresentations to the United States Bankruptcy Court. 

In addition to committing bank fraud, Edwards also procured a fraudulent loan from another lender by falsely asserting that she needed funds to save her daughter-in-law’s home from foreclosure. To obtain this loan, Edwards created a fake attorney and forged the signatures of her children and the notary on numerous fraudulent documents. As a result, Edwards caused the lender to place a fraudulent lien on the home owned by her children. 

To lull some of her victims, Edwards created fraudulent court orders involving fictitious cases and forged signatures of federal judges. After pleading guilty in this case, and while awaiting sentencing, Edwards filed another fraudulent lawsuit in Chesapeake Circuit Court to again prevent the foreclosure sale of her Chesapeake home. In that lawsuit, which the Chesapeake Circuit Court dismissed, Edwards made numerous misrepresentations and presented a letter claiming that she intended to pay off the mortgage on her home with the proceeds of a $3 trillion settlement fund that did not exist.

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 U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa E. O’Boyle and Daniel Shean 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 is located on the website of theDistrict Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-120.

NORFOLK, Va. – A previously convicted felon was sentenced today to seven years in prison for possession with intent to distribute heroin and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, Earl Jerome Joyce, 34, of Norfolk, was stopped for speeding by Norfolk Police in December 2017. During the stop a detective observed marijuana in plain view and Joyce was arrested. Police searched the vehicle and the other passengers and located approximately $82,000 in cash in the possession of the two passengers. After Joyce was transported to the Norfolk Police station, police discovered a plastic bag containing approximately 14 grams of heroin on the floorboard where Joyce had been seated.

While NPD was conducting surveillance outside Joyce’s residence in Norfolk, they observed a man and woman arrive in separate vehicles and enter Joyce’s residence. The man later exited Joyce’s residence carrying a safe, which Norfolk Police later discovered contained three loaded pistols, two of which were stolen. The woman later admitted to leaving Joyce’s residence with a large money-counting machine and a digital scale with drug residue.

Joyce was previously convicted of felony distribution of heroin in Norfolk Circuit Court.

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, Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, and Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. 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 is 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-130.

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a New Zealand man with four counts of production of child pornography and one count of kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.

According to allegations in the indictment, Troy George Skinner, 25, knowingly used a minor child living in Goochland, Virginia, to produce two videos of child pornography and two image files of child pornography. The indictment alleges that these acts occurred on four separate dates in February and March 2018. 

The indictment further alleges that from June 20 to June 22, 2018, Skinner traveled from New Zealand to Virginia, whereupon his arrival he unlawfully and willfully seized and confined the minor victim, and attempted to seize, confine, and kidnap the minor victim for ransom or another reason, and that he also used the Internet in furtherance of this offense.

If convicted of producing child pornography, Skinner faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years on each count. If convicted of the kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, he faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of life. 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 MaryJo Thomas, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian R. Hood and Katherine Lee Martin 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 is 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-19.

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

RICHMOND, Va. – A New York man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for his role as a source of supply in a two-year drug conspiracy that trafficked 5 kilograms of heroin from New York to Richmond.

“Combatting the opioid epidemic is a top priority for this office,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Individuals like Birthright, who pump poison into our communities for profit, will continue to receive the full attention of federal, state and local law enforcement as we seek to rid our streets of dangerous and highly-addictive opioids.”

According to court documents, from on or before December 2015 through May 2017, Antonio Birthwright, 37, of Bronx, participated in a multi-state heroin trafficking conspiracy by serving as a source of supply to several Central Virginia area drug dealers. Birthwright would travel on commercial bus lines from the Bronx to Richmond to distribute varying amounts of heroin. Once in Richmond, Birthwright would distribute the heroin, collect the drug proceeds, and travel back to New York.

“DEA will continue to work hand in hand with our state and local law enforcement counterparts and commends the U.S. Attorney’s Office for holding accountable those individuals and organizations who transport deadly opioids into Virginia and distribute them in our communities,” said Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for DEA’s Washington Field Division. “This investigation is a prime example of the lengths that drug traffickers are willing to go in order to profit from the deadly opioid epidemic, as well as the extent that law enforcement will go in order to bring them to justice.”

In late April 2017, DEA agents executed a search warrant at a Richmond area residence operated by Birthwright’s co-conspirators and recovered 1.4 kilograms heroin, a hydraulic press, drug packaging materials, and $2500. The heroin recovered in the residence was distributed by Birthwright to his Richmond based co-conspirators. During the course of the conspiracy, Birthwright distributed a total of 5 kilograms of heroin.   

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 sentencing by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik S. Siebert and Peter S. Duffey 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 is 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-87.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Chester man was sentenced today to 15 years for participating in the robbery of three convenience stores and the attempted robbery of another convenience store.

According to court documents, Devin VanGundy, 24, and his co-defendants were involved in a string of armed robberies and an attempted robbery at various gas stations and convenience stores located in the areas of Chesterfield County and Richmond during March 2018. In each of the robberies and attempted robbery, VanGundy provided the firearm for his accomplice to use, and acted as a getaway driver. The accomplice, in all the robberies, brandished VanGundy’s firearm, placing the store clerks in fear for their lives. 

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 MaryJo Thomas, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Duffey 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 is 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-88.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty today to his role in a string of grocery store robberies during the Fall of 2018.

According to court documents, Keonte K. Yorkshire, aka Tae, 21, was a member of a six-man robbery squad that robbed three grocery stores across the region in the span of a week last Fall. Yorkshire served as an inside look-out for one robbery and an outside look-out for two others. The armed robberies occurred at a Food Lion in Chesapeake on Sept. 25, 2018, a Food Lion in Virginia Beach on Sept. 29, 2018, and a Harris Teeter in Virginia Beach on Oct. 3, 2018.

The teams included inside and outside look-outs, getaway drivers, and two gunmen. The teams used police scanners to monitor law enforcement activity, encrypted applications, and earpieces to communicate with one another. At each robbery, the gunmen demanded the managers open the grocery store safe. In the final robbery at a Harris Teeter in Virginia Beach, one of the gunmen shot the store manager.

Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 17 years and a maximum sentence of life when he is sentenced on May 6.

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, Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Division, James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police, and Kelvin L. Wright, Chief of Chesapeake Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John F. Butler and Andrew C. Bosse are prosecuting the case.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Tidewater Violent Crime Task Force, in partnership with the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake Police Departments.

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 is 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-177-9.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesterfield man was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for mail fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property.

According to court documents, Edward Lee Moody, Jr, 47, was a registered investment adviser and the sole owner and operator of CM Capital Management LLC, an investment firm with its principal office located in Virginia Beach. Moody solicited investors on the basis of his representation that he would profitably invest their assets in securities on their behalf and manage those investments on an ongoing basis. In reality, he ran a Ponzi scheme over a 13 year period. He solicited and collected approximately $6.6 million from 55 investors, at least 13 of whom were elderly persons who liquidated assets from their existing, legitimate retirement accounts in order to provide funds to him that they expected he would invest on their behalf.

In most instances, Moody did not manage the accounts of the investors or buy or sell securities on their behalf, and did not even open individual brokerage accounts for them. Instead, he diverted investor monies for his own personal benefit and to enrich himself, using at least $1.4 million for business expenses, to purchase a home, make car loan payments, shop, travel to Las Vegas and other destinations. Moody also used approximately $885,000 of investor monies to buy and sell securities on his own behalf. He perpetuated the scheme by using approximately $1.8 million that he received from new investors to make periodic lulling payments to earlier investors, and he provided investors with fraudulent monthly account statements that falsely indicated that the investors’ funds had been invested in securities and had earned returns.

In addition to the prison sentence, Moody was ordered to pay over $4.8 million in restitution to his victims.

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 Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Salsbury 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 is 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-154.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond man was sentenced today to seven years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

According to court documents, Timothy Cureton, 27, possessed a firearm in a Facebook live video posted to his Facebook account on Jan. 25, 2018. In the video, which was discovered by the Richmond Police Department, Cureton held a brown Glock handgun with an extended magazine. 

Officers suspected that Cureton stayed at an apartment in Creighton Court. Just five days later, on Jan. 30, 2018, officers received information that individuals were storing illegal narcotics at an apartment in Creighton Court. Officers went to the apartment and upon entering the residence observed drug paraphernalia. After officers obtained a search warrant for the residence, they discovered two firearms in a bedroom closet. One of those firearms was a brown Glock handgun, consistent with the firearm Cureton displayed in the Facebook live video. Inside the same bedroom of the residence, officers located Cureton’s social security card and a document with Cureton’s name on it.

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 Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather H. Mansfield 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 is 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-108.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton woman pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft for stealing over $21,000 from an elderly client.

According to court documents, Sandra Payne, 47, was employed to provide in-home care for an elderly client in Newport News. During the course of her employment at that residence, Payne gained access to credit and debit card account numbers belonging to the family of her client. She used that data, without lawful authority or the knowledge and consent of the account owners, to purchase goods and services in excess of $21,000 at various merchants in the Tidewater area.

Payne pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison when sentenced on May 13. 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.

In 2018 the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners coordinated the largest sweep of elder fraud cases in history. The cases involved more than 250 defendants from around the globe who victimized more than a 1 million Americans, most of whom were elderly. The cases include criminal, civil, and forfeiture actions across more than 50 federal districts.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan M. Cowles and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad W. McHenry 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-98.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Woodbridge man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for sexually exploiting two minor girls as a prostitution customer. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Steve Nowell, 65, was a frequent commercial sex customer of a prostitution ring led by Michael Gunn, who sex trafficked two minor girls, ages 14 and 16, over the course of two years in the DMV area. Nowell was identified by the minor victims and by two co-conspirators of Michael Gunn as a regular commercial sex customer who paid both of the minors for sex on at least 23 occasions. Law enforcement found a hidden camera at Nowell’s home that secretly recorded at least one of the minors and other females in various stages of undress while at his residence for prostitution. In a recorded interview, Nowell admitted to paying for sex with one of the minors, and claimed he did not know her real age. Evidence at trial revealed the minor weighed between 80 and 90 pounds while she was sexually exploited by Nowell.

In addition to the sentence of 10 years in prison, Nowell was ordered to pay $8,900 in restitution to the minor victims.

This matter was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with detectives from the Fairfax County Police, Arlington County Police, Prince William County Police, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police, Alexandria City Police, Washington Metropolitan Police, Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, George Mason University Police, United States Marshal’s Service, and agents of various Office of Inspector Generals. This matter was brought to the task force by the Prince William County Police.

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, Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, Barry M. Barnard, Chief of Prince William County Police, and M. Jay Farr, Arlington County Chief of Police made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen C. Cain and Kimberly R. Pedersen 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 is 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-188.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Maryland man was sentenced today to nearly three years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to court documents, Brendyn J. Andrew, 27, of Gaithersburg, aided by a co-conspirator, used hundreds of stolen credit and debit card accounts to steal more than $150,000. In one part of the fraud scheme, Andrew obtained a full-size snack vending machine and created multiple bogus shell companies to pose as a legitimate snack-vending merchant. He then used his computer to encode stolen credit and debit card numbers onto blank cards, and executed fictitious transactions by swiping the newly encoded cards through the vending machine’s credit card payment terminal. Since the fictitious transactions appeared to be legitimate vending charges, Andrew caused the victim financial institutions to charge customers and electronically transfer the proceeds into accounts Andrew controlled. 

Court documents also show that Andrew and his co-conspirator used stolen credit and debit card numbers and customer account information to make numerous fraudulent purchases from various merchants in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Those fraudulent purchases included a 50-round ammunition drum from a Northern Virginia firearms retailer.

Andrew carried out the scheme while on probation, and he continued the fraud despite multiple fraud arrests in Maryland and Virginia.

In addition to the sentence of 33 months in prison, Andrew was ordered to forfeit a 2013 Mercedes Benz, a handgun, and firearms accessories, items he had purchased with proceeds from the fraud.  Andrew also was ordered to pay restitution.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Brian J. Ebert, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and M. Jay Farr, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonard O. Evans 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 is 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-378.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal jury convicted a Hamilton man today on charges of producing child pornography.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in November 2017, Logan Roy McCauley, 25, drove from his residence in Hamilton to West Virginia and picked up a minor he recently had met online. He then drove the minor back to his residence in Hamilton, and, within hours of arriving, engaged in sexual intercourse with the minor for purposes of using a smart phone to record a portion of the sexual encounter. Soon after creating the video, McCauley sent an online message to another person admitting he had made the video that morning. The day after McCauley created the video, law enforcement arrived at McCauley’s residence. At this time, McCauley told law enforcement about the video, which was still on McCauley’s smart phone.

McCauley faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when sentenced on April 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 matter was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with detectives from the Fairfax County Police, Arlington County Police, Prince William County Police, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police, Alexandria City Police, Washington Metropolitan Police, Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, George Mason University Police, United States Marshal’s Service, and agents of various Office of Inspector Generals

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, Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the verdict. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander P. Berrang, Jay V. Prabhu, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendelynn E. Bills 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 is 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-330.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A message from U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger regarding the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) during the recent government shutdown:

“I am extremely proud of our team here in EDVA for their outstanding efforts during the government shutdown,” said Terwilliger. “Their fortitude, perseverance, and complete dedication to public service and our mission of public safety is inspiring. Over the past weeks our criminal prosecutors and civil litigators continued to forge ahead with their important work, as evidenced by the cases highlighted below. They successfully secured convictions, argued sentencings, and achieved civil settlements. They, along with our support staff and federal, state and local law enforcement partners, have my sincere thanks and admiration for all they do to keep our communities safe here in EDVA.”

Below are headlines of several noteworthy cases that occurred during the government shutdown. For more information on a particular case, please click the link for the full press release on our website.

Noteworthy Cases

January 4: Multi-Kilogram Drug Trafficker from Mexico Sentenced to Prison

January 7: U.S. Postal Service Mail Carrier Sentenced to Prison for Bribery

January 7: Navy Officer Sentenced to Prison for $2.7 Million Fraud Scheme

January 7: Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Bank Robbery and Multiple Bomb Hoaxes

January 9: Owner of Seafood Company Sentenced to Prison for Blue Crab Scam

January 10: Nine-Time Felon Sentenced to Prison for Possessing a Firearm

January 14: Woman Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Ricin

January 15: Jury Convicts Two Cousins of Armed Bank Robbery

January 17: Romanian Man Sentenced for ATM Scam and ID Theft

January 18: Former State Department Employee Sentenced to Prison for Student Loan Fraud

January 18: Medical Company Executive Sentenced for Smuggling $18 Million in Misbranded Pharmaceuticals into United States

January 18: Mexican National Sentenced for Multi-Kilogram International Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

January 18: Woman Sentenced to 15 Years for $5 Million Fraud

January 22: Felon Sentenced for Illegally Reentering the United States

January 24: Man Sentenced to Life for Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child

January 25: Man Sentenced to Prison for Four Bank Robberies

January 25: Moroccan Man Sentenced to Prison for Assault on Federal Officers

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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER.

NORFOLK, Va. – FF Acquisition, Inc. (Farm Fresh), headquartered in Virginia Beach, has agreed to pay $1 million to settle civil penalty claims stemming from alleged record-keeping violations by its pharmacies.

“The abuse of prescription drugs is one of the most alarming and critical issues we face today,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “To combat this problem, it is crucial that those who dispense controlled substances comply with record-keeping requirements. These requirements help to prevent the illegal diversion of prescription drugs, and holding registrants accountable serves a vital role in our office’s effort to combat every manner of the opioid crises affecting Virginia.”

Farm Fresh operated 34 pharmacies primarily in the Norfolk area. Each pharmacy was registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which allowed Farm Fresh to maintain and dispense controlled substances, including opioids, at those locations.

“The abuse of prescription drugs has directly resulted in the escalation of heroin addiction and related overdoses,” said Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the DEA’s Washington Field Division. “Today's settlement sends a clear message to all pharmacies that it is essential to dispense controlled substances in compliance with DEA's record keeping requirements. DEA is dedicated to combatting the prescription drug abuse problem in Virginia and throughout the country and to hold all DEA registrants accountable.”

The United States alleges that between Sept. 9, 2014 and Sept. 21, 2016, Farm Fresh pharmacies violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to record dates and quantities of controlled substances shipped and received, by failing to record the DEA numbers of suppliers, and failing to timely notify the DEA of theft losses. These failures occurred despite several of the pharmacies having received Letters of Admonition from DEA for failing to properly complete and maintain the required records.

Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), to combat the illegal distribution and abuse of controlled substances, including prescription medications. Under the CSA, entities registered with the DEA who purchase, distribute, dispense, transfer, or sell controlled substances must comply with inventory and documentation requirements. Regulations promulgated under the CSA require that each DEA registrant, including pharmacies, maintain complete and accurate records of each substance manufactured, received, sold, delivered, dispensed or otherwise disposed of by the registrant for two years. These requirements play a vital role in ensuring the appropriate handling, accounting, and distribution of controlled substances.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the DEA’s Washington Division. The matter was investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Wuerker.

The civil claims settled 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.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A fugitive who fled the scene of a fatal car crash that killed a 78 year-old woman on Wednesday afternoon made his initial appearance in federal court today on robbery and gun charges.

Darrell Pittman, 29, of Newport News, was arrested in Chesapeake early Saturday following his escape from the fatal car crash. Pittman, who was a passenger in the Ford Explorer that struck the vehicle of the woman who was killed, fled the scene before he could be apprehended by police on outstanding warrants.

According to allegations in the indictment that was unsealed today, Pittman approached a Papa John’s employee on or about July 25, 2018, in Newport News and allegedly took money, pizza, and property from the employee through the threat of force and violence, brandishing a firearm at the employee and demanding the employee’s money and property during the course of the robbery.

Pittman is charged with interference with commerce by robbery, and with brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. If convicted of the brandishing charge, he faces a mandatory minimum consecutive term of 7 years in prison. If convicted on both counts, Pittman faces a maximum penalty of 27 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.

Pittman is scheduled for a detention hearing Thursday at the federal courthouse in Newport News.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of a renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Robert Mathieson, U.S. Marshal 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, and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement. Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy E. Cross and Chad McHenry 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 is 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-4.

A(n) indictment 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. – Universal Concrete Products Corporation (UCP) and its President and co-owner, Donald Faust, Jr., have agreed to pay $1 million to settle civil allegations that UCP falsified test records for concrete panels for the extension of the Silver Line, also known as Phase II of the Dulles Metrorail Project.

The allegations stem from UCP’s work as one of the subcontractors supplying precast concrete to the Dulles Metrorail Project, which is partially funded by loans from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The government’s amended consolidated civil complaint in intervention alleges that from approximately October 2015 through June 2016, then-UCP Quality Control Manager, Andrew Nolan, and UCP quality control employees under his supervision, falsified test records to make it appear as though air content for the concrete was within the required range of air content. Nolan allegedly falsified test records knowing that the general contractor for the Dulles Metrorail Project would reject the concrete had it known that the concrete fell below the required air content for the project. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is overseeing Phase II of the Dulles Metrorail Project and is addressing any remediation necessary as a result of the alleged conduct separately from the resolution reached by the government in this settlement. 

The government’s civil lawsuit claims are based on a whistleblower suit initially filed in 2016 by a former UCP quality control employee. The suit was filed in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, which allow private persons to file suit on behalf of the government. Under the statutes, the government has a period of time to investigate the allegations and decide whether to intervene in the action or to decline intervention and allow the whistleblower, also called the relator, to go forward alone. The government intervened in the relator’s suit in May 2018. The False Claims Act and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act also provides the whistleblower a share of the government’s recovery.

Related court documents and information from the civil lawsuit is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:16-cv-316.

In August 2018, Nolan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Related court documents and information from the criminal action is 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-292.

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 Virginia Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. The matter was investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Roushdy, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Fiorillo, and Assistant Attorneys General Peter Broadbent and Nancy Auth.

The civil claims settled by this 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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Moroccan man was sentenced today to 5 years in prison for assaulting federal law enforcement officers and failing to depart the United States.

According to court documents, Zakaria Taoufik, 40, staged a violent outburst on a Royal Maroc passenger flight at Dulles International Airport as ICE officers attempted to execute his lawful removal to Morocco. Taoufik was being deported following of an aggravated felony conviction. Once aboard the aircraft, Taoufik screamed threats and obscenities, and repeatedly slammed his head into the on-board entertainment screen in front of him until it shattered. He assaulted the ICE officers escorting him, attempting to head-butt and bite them. He spat deliberately into the face of one of the officers, hitting him in the eye and also hitting another officer in the eye. Taoufik knew that he had an infectious disease at the time he spit at and attempted to bite the officers. As a result of his highly disruptive conduct, the captain ordered him off the plane. This was Taoufik’s second successful attempt to prevent his removal, as he previously foiled an earlier attempt to remove him from Atlanta in October 2017.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Reilly and Assistant U.S. Attorney Grace Hill 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 is 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-73.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach man was sentenced today to nine years in prison for robbing three banks and one credit union.

According to court documents, between November 2017 and April 2018, Rian Michael Lopez robbed three banks in Virginia Beach and a credit union in Chesapeake. Lopez would enter the banks or credit union brandishing what appeared to be a firearm while demanding money. The total amount taken from all the robberies was approximately $35,000. The robbery spree came to an end when an alert Virginia Beach police officer spotted Lopez casing out another bank in an automobile linked to the previous robberies. Lopez has previously served time for a 2010 federal bank robbery conviction in South Carolina.

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 Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney William D. Muhr 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 is 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-135.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Chesterfield man was sentenced today to life in prison for attempted sex trafficking of a minor, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Richard Todd Haas, 48, attempted to use a prostitute he knew to help him obtain young girls to sexually molest and produce child pornography, which he then intended to sell for a profit. Haas first met the prostitute in 2012 on the now-defunct website Backpage.com, and they got together several times for sex that year. They reconnected in May 2016, again through Backpage.com, and the woman visited Haas at his Chesterfield home to provide sexual services. During that visit, Haas shared with her his desire to have sex with children. Haas showed her child pornography on his laptop, and asked her if she had access to any young girls because they could produce child pornography together and make a lot of money. The woman feigned interest in the Haas’s proposal, but instead of actually participating in the plan, she notified the FBI.

Working in conjunction with FBI investigators, the woman stayed in contact with Haas via phone and text, and obtained incriminating text messages and recorded conversations. The FBI’s undercover investigation ended in August 2016 when investigators received information that Haas had recently sexually molested an 11-year-old girl. Federal investigators executed a search warrant on Haas’s home and business on September 1, 2016, seizing many items including his laptop. A forensic examination of the laptop revealed more than 7,000 images and movies of child pornography involving child victims whose identities are known, as well as many more child pornography images and movies involving unidentified victims.

Additionally, evidence at sentencing proved that Haas molested an 11-year old child in 2016 on multiple occasions. 

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 MaryJo Thomas, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian R. Hood and Heather H. Mansfield 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 is 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-139.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced last week to 15 months in prison for illegally reentering the United States.

According to court documents, Carlos Matute-Midence, 25, was found to be in the country illegally after his arrest for participating in a large conspiracy in which he and several others traveled up and down the Eastern Shore cashing bad checks at local businesses serving the Hispanic community, stealing a total of almost $70,000. He was convicted of 15 racketeering and uttering counts and sentenced to serve three years in state custody. His federal sentence will be served consecutive to his state sentence.

Before he committed those crimes, Matute-Midence had been deported twice within a week. A week after his second deportation, he voluntarily removed himself from the United States after entering the country a third time. He returned yet again and was arrested for his part in the bad-check scheme sometime later.    

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. 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 is 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-111.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Ashburn woman was sentenced today to over 15 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded more than 50 victims of over $5 million.

According to court documents, Keisha L. Williams, 43, told individual victim lenders that she had paid a lot of money for a certain healthcare-related software overseas in Austria; that the software was being held in “escrow” because she still owed taxes, attorney’s fees, and other debt associated with the purchase; and that if they would just provide her with a short-term loan to get this software out of escrow and bring it to the United States, everyone would be quickly repaid, with interest. Williams received over $5.4 million from over 50 victims for the alleged purpose of getting this software out of escrow. 

In reality, Williams spent this money on a lifestyle of luxury. For example, Williams spent more than $1 million on travel for herself and her girlfriend, including trips to Bora Bora, Italy, and the Bahamas, and on $4,000-a-night stays at the Four Seasons hotel. Williams also conspired with others to impersonate federal officials to extort money, and bribed various T-Mobile employees to obtain one of the extortion victim’s personal toll records.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grace L. Hill and Jack Hanly 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 is 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-298.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Two men pleaded guilty today to running a prostitution business that catered to the Hispanic population in northern Virginia over the past three years.

According to court documents, Luis Bonilla-Hernandez, 32, of Sterling, and Eliazar Duran Mota, 23, of Herndon, ran the prostitution business out of their homes. Each week, the defendants would obtain a woman to work in prostitution for a week at a time. The women, known as “Treinteras,” would travel by bus to Union Station in Washington, D.C. from states such as Pennsylvania and New York. The defendants then picked up the women from Union Station and transported them throughout northern Virginia to commercial sex customers. The defendants would advertise the women with business cards purporting to be tied to an automobile shop, and they would tell Hispanic patrons via word of mouth that the cards related to prostitution.

The women performed over a dozen commercial sex transactions each day, charging between $30 and $40 each time. After the prostitution dates, the women were required to turn all of their money over to the defendants, with a portion of the proceeds returned to the women at the end of the week. After a woman worked for a week, the defendants would switch out their “inventory” by obtaining a new woman from Union Station to work in prostitution throughout northern Virginia.

When law enforcement executed a search warrant on Bonilla Hernandez’s house, they recovered evidence of prostitution and over $14,000 in cash. Both defendants pleaded guilty in connection with the prostitution of five adult victims.

Bonilla-Hernandez and Duran Mota pleaded guilty to one count of interstate travel or transportation in aid of a racketeering enterprise. The defendants each face a maximum of five years in prison when sentenced on April 12, 2019. 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 matter was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with detectives from the Fairfax County Police, Arlington County Police, Prince William County Police, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police, Alexandria City Police, Washington Metropolitan Police, Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, George Mason University Police, United States Marshal’s Service, and agents of various Office of Inspector Generals. This matter was brought to the task force by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and Michael L. Chapman, Loudoun County Sheriff, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen C. Cain is prosecuting the case, with significant assistance provided by the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

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-26 and 1:19-cr-27.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving the distribution of kilogram-level amounts of illegal drugs on behalf of co-conspirators located overseas and throughout the United States.

According to court documents, Jose Ramon Felix Meza, 52, traveled to Northern Virginia in June 2018 with Gilberto Paz Madrid, 33, another citizen of Mexico, to distribute controlled substances on behalf of co-conspirators located in Mexico, the Washington, D.C. area, and elsewhere. Following a successful operation, law enforcement agents from Homeland Security Investigations interdicted and seized nearly 9 kilograms of heroin.

In June 2018, the Virginia State Police attempted a traffic stop of a sport utility vehicle that Madrid was driving (with Meza as his passenger) along the Capital Beltway after he and Meza paid thousands of dollars for what they believed were numerous bricks of illicit narcotics. Madrid accelerated away from a pursuing law enforcement vehicle. Madrid and Meza’s vehicle collided into several cars, yet they continued to flee from law enforcement until officers successfully arrested both individuals. Madrid was sentenced to 10 years in prison on January 4.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Virginia State Police as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). 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, Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Washington, D.C., 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 U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh 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 is 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-317.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Tzvi Lexier, of Toronto, Canada, was sentenced today to 26 months in prison for conspiring to smuggle misbranded pharmaceuticals into the United States and for the unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs.

According to court documents, while he was CEO of TC Medical and SB Medical, Lexier instructed subordinates to smuggle misbranded prescription drugs and devices into the United States, including oncology drugs, orthopedic injections, and cosmetic devices. These products were not approved by the FDA and did not contain the labels, warnings, and instructions required by the FDA. In order to smuggle these products into the United States, TC Medical and SB Medical employees used false names and false customs forms, and broke large shipments into multiple smaller shipments. At Lexier’s direction, co-conspirators in the United States stored TC and SB Medical’s products in their private residences, often in violation of safety regulations requiring the pharmaceuticals to be stored at cool temperatures.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mark S. McCormack, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Metro Washington Field Office, Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., 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 Anthony J. Trenga. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay V. Prabhu, Kellen S. Dwyer, and Nathaniel Smith III 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No 1:14-cr-397.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Georgia man was sentenced to 15 months in prison today for fraudulently discharging over $250,000 in student loan debt.

In addition to the prison sentence, Corey Cadet Dukes, 39, of Jonesboro, was ordered to pay $244,884.31 in restitution to victims of his crimes, and to a three-year term of supervised release following his prison sentence.

According to court documents, Dukes, formerly of Alexandria, was an employee of the U.S. Department of State from 2013-2017. Simultaneously, Dukes was also a full-time supervisor for a security company providing protection to a federal building in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, Dukes applied through the Department of Education for a Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge of over $200,000 in student loan debt, affirming that he was unable to work and was earning no income.

The Department of Education conditionally discharged Dukes’ student loans subject to successful completion of a three-year income monitoring period, which required that TPD applicants not earn over the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a family of two, which was no higher than $16,020. Earned income over that amount triggered a repayment obligation and the loans would be reinstated. After failing to respond to multiple requests for proof of income, in October 2016 Dukes submitted a signed self-certification stating: “I, Corey Dukes, did not have any earned income from May 1, 2013 – October 13, 2016.” In reality, during this same period Dukes had earned over $331,000 from his two full-time jobs, and had purchased a Bentley, a Porsche, and other luxury vehicles. The Department of Education permanently discharged over $250,000 of Dukes’ student loan debt.

Court documents revealed that approximately two years later, in June 2018, Dukes discharged an additional $300,000 in personal debt in a Bankruptcy Court in Georgia. Around the time of the bankruptcy proceeding, and at the same time the Department of Veterans Affairs increased his disability rating to 100 percent and ordered Dukes to be given additional benefits, Dukes traveled extensively on vacations, including to Paris, Amsterdam, The Bahamas, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Cabo San Lucas, among others.

Court documents also revealed that during the period of time from 2013-2018, Dukes also submitted numerous false and misleading statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to obtain first an 80 percent disability rating based on migraine headaches, then a 100 percent disability rating, based in part on a PTSD claim. Documents filed in court show that Dukes had an insider in the VA email him confidential VA adjudication criteria for PTSD that he then used in order to obtain a PTSD rating. At the same time he was working two full-time jobs and engaging in foreign travel, Dukes informed the VA he was unable to work or to function independently.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Steve A. Linick, Inspector General of the State Department, Kathleen S. Tighe, Inspector General of the Department of Education, Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and Michael J. Missal, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly R. Pedersen and Karen L. Taylor, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Russell L. Carlberg and Brian D. Harrison.

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 is 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-298.

RICHMOND, Va. – A Romanian man was sentenced today to 65 months in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, Viorel Naboiu, aka “Luigi Latorza,” 44, originally from Craiova, Romania, conspired with several other individuals, including co-defendant Florin Bersanu, to steal money from banks and credit unions in multiple states through an ATM-skimming operation. Naboiu and his co-conspirators manufactured and then inserted small skimming devices deep into the card reader slots of dozens of bank branch ATMs. These skimming devices copied the information on the magnetic stripe of the bank customer’s debit cards when customers used their cards to conduct ATM transactions. The conspirators also mounted pinhole cameras, hidden behind plastic flashing designed to blend into the ATMs’ housing, which surreptitiously recorded the finger-taps of PINs used by bank customers during their transactions. Naboiu and his cohorts skimmed card information and PINS from over 1,300 bank customers. At sentencing he was held accountable for over $150,000 in actual losses and over $646,000 in intended losses.

Naboiu’s co-defendant, Bersanu, was sentenced on Dec. 6, 2018, to 57 months in prison.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and MaryJo Thomas, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian R. Hood 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 is 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-75.

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal jury convicted two cousins today on charges of aiding and abetting armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in addition to convicting one cousin of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, John Campbell, 45 of Richmond, and Alhakka Campbell, 45, of Knightdale, North Carolina, stormed into a Wells Fargo Bank in Henrico shortly after the bank opened on Nov. 17, 2017. While John Campbell threatened employees with a firearm, Alhakka Campbell vaulted the teller counter, removing approximately $5,197 in cash from teller drawers and putting it in a black bag. The cousins then fled the bank in a stolen pickup truck that they later abandoned. When Alhakka Campbell removed the cash, he unknowingly grabbed two GPS tracking devices, which broadcast the location of the stolen currency to law enforcement. Law enforcement immediately responded to the location of the GPS trackers, leading to the arrest of both men, and the recovery of the firearm used by John Campbell during the robbery. 

The Campbell are scheduled for sentencing on April 18. Each face a statutory maximum of 25 years for the bank robbery conviction, plus a mandatory consecutive sentence of at least 5 years for using or carrying a firearm in relation to the bank robbery. John Campbell will also be sentenced for possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony offense, which carries a statutory maximum of 10 years. 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 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 MaryJo Thomas, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson accepted the verdict. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gill and Gabrielle Michalak 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 is 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-124.

NORFOLK, Va. – A South Carolina woman was sentenced today to 35 months in prison for the unregistered possession of ricin, a highly dangerous toxin.

According to court documents, Debbie Siers-Hill, 63, of Ladson, knowingly possessed the following items in a storage unit that she rented and controlled: Ricin, held in a container wrapped in towels and double wrapped in plastic bags; syringes, including one containing identifiable traces of ricin; numerous other liquid chemicals and powdered caffeine; latex gloves; packages of castor plant seeds; and three firearms, one of which had an obliterated serial number. In addition, two more castor seeds were found in Siers-Hill’s car, and agents also found castor seed hulls in the house where she lived. Ricin is an extremely dangerous toxin contained within the seed of the castor plant. As a “select agent”—along with such materials as the Ebola virus, anthrax, and the 1918 pandemic influenza strain—it is not available to the general public, and there is no known antidote to ricin poisoning.

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. Attorneys Alan M. Salsbury and Andrew C. Bosse 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 is 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-62.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk man was sentenced today to two and a half years in prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, Earlon Delton Mitchell, 29, is a nine-time felon who had recently finished a 10-year prison sentence for committing two armed robberies in which he shot his victims. In September 2017, Norfolk police executed outstanding arrest warrants on Mitchell. After struggling to arrest Mitchell for roughly two minutes, the officers managed to detain him and recovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun tucked into his pant leg. Mitchell is also a self-admitted gang member and general of the 9 Trey Blood Set.

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 Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert J. Krask. 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 is 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-117.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The owner of a Newport News seafood business was sentenced to nearly four years in prison and fined $15,000 for conspiring to commit Lacy Act violations for blending foreign crab meat with Atlantic blue crab meat, then labeling the blended crab meat as “Product of USA”.

According to court documents, James R. Casey, 74, of Poquoson, is the owner and President of Casey’s Seafood, Inc. According to court documents, from at least July 2012 through June 2015, Casey knowingly conspired to replace Atlantic blue crab with crab meat from Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Central and South America. Casey and his co-conspirators falsely labeled at least 397,917 pounds of crab meat, with a retail value in the millions of dollars, as Atlantic blue crab and “Product of the United States”.

According to court documents, Casey directed employees to remove foreign crabmeat from the original shipper’s packaging containers, blend and combine foreign crab meat from one processor with crab meat from another processor, and place it into different packing containers with a label declaring that the contents were a “Product of USA,” despite knowing that the contents were imported crab meat. Casey also directed employees to place labels with “Product of the USA” on containers that covered up labels that stated “Product of Brazil” or “Product of China”.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Logan Gregory, Special Agent in Charge for NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement’s Northeast Division, Mark S. McCormack, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Metro Washington Field Office, and Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt and Trial Attorney Gary Donner of the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-04.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton man was sentenced today to one year in prison for bribery.

According to court documents, Darryl Harding, 61, was a postal carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Hampton. Harding was receiving money from members of a marijuana conspiracy to deliver packages containing marijuana sent from Seattle to addresses in Hampton on Harding’s mail route. Harding would intercept the packages and deliver them to members of the conspiracy in return for cash. Harding was paid as much as $300 for each package he delivered.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Paul Bowman, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-48.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach naval officer was sentenced today to over four years in prison for his role in a $2.7 million procurement fraud scheme, and for lying on his federal income tax return.

According to court documents, Randolph M. Prince, 45, was a Navy officer at a Naval Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit based in Virginia Beach in charge of procurement. From Spring 2014 until Fall 2015, Prince took advantage of his role within his command to steer government contracts to businesses of his choosing. These businesses were companies formed by Prince’s associates and purporting to be legitimate sub-vendors of military equipment, despite being vendors of nothing at all. 

In order to steer said contracts, Prince and others rigged bids, substituted products on purchase orders, and used fraudulent invoices and delivery documents to make the purchases appear legitimate. In the end, Prince ensured his command spent upwards of $2.7 million dollars on purchase orders to the sham companies, knowing all along that the Navy would receive nothing in return. The items ostensibly purchased for Prince’s unit were “inert training aids” and are destroyed in routine training for Navy EOD units. Because Prince was responsible for the ordering of goods up-front, and confirming their delivery on the back-end, he was able to perpetrate the scheme for over 18 months without his command becoming aware. Prince and others pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme, money that Prince failed to report as income on his 2014 tax return.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for Defense Criminal Investigative Service Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Cliff Everton, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Layne 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 is 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-116.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton man pleaded guilty today to armed bank robbery and making false bomb threats.

According to court documents, in August 2018, Oscar Von Alston II, 31, made multiple bomb threats throughout Hampton and Newport News in an effort to divert authorities and emergency resources away from his armed robbery of the Virginia Educators Credit Union (VECU). During the evacuation of the threatened locations, Von Alston robbed the VECU at gunpoint. He was apprehended less than 20 minutes after the robbery with over $22,000 from the VECU.

Von Alston faces a mandatory minimum of seven years and maximum of life in prison when sentenced on April 11. 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 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 Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, and Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter G. Osyf 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-79.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving the distribution of kilogram-level amounts of controlled substances on behalf of co-conspirators located overseas and throughout the United States.

According to court documents, Gilberto Paz Madrid, 33, traveled to Northern Virginia in June 2018 with another Mexican citizen to distribute controlled substances on behalf of co-conspirators located in Mexico, the Washington, D.C. area, and elsewhere. Following a successful operation, law enforcement agents from Homeland Security Investigations interdicted and seized nearly 9 kilograms of heroin.

In June 2018, the Virginia State Police attempted a traffic stop of a sport utility vehicle that Madrid was driving along the Capital Beltway after he and a co-conspirator paid thousands of dollars for what they believed were numerous bricks of illicit narcotics. Madrid accelerated away from a pursuing law enforcement vehicle. His vehicle then collided into several cars and continued to flee from law enforcement until officers successfully arrested both individuals.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Virginia State Police as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). 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, Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Washington, D.C., 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 U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh 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 is 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-317.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A New York man was sentenced today to one year in prison for sending threats and framing three victims for crimes they did not commit. 

According to court documents, Anthony Caccamo, 28, of Flushing, conducted an extensive harassment campaign against a woman and two men with whom the woman had had consensual romantic relationships. Using certain internet applications to hide his identity, Caccamo sent the woman threatening messages on a near-daily basis. Separately, Caccamo sent harassing messages to the two men during the same time period. 

Beyond harassing his victims, Caccamo framed the woman and two men for crimes and workplace violations they had not committed. For instance, he sent a false tip to the Department of Homeland Security, accusing the woman of smuggling narcotics. Posing as one of his two male victims – who happened to be a government employee with a cybersecurity background – Caccamo threatened to hack the woman’s online accounts and disclose her sensitive information. After he became aware of the federal investigation, Caccamo pretended to be a victim himself, providing false statements and fabricated evidence to law enforcement to falsely implicate one of the two men. While the government ultimately traced the conduct back to Caccamo and cleared the framed individuals of wrongdoing, federal investigators spent more than 1,000 hours investigating the case.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and John V. Kelly, Acting Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Fong and Jay V. Prabhu 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 is 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-327.

NORFOLK, Va. – A Honduran man who illegally entered the United States pleaded guilty yesterday to transportation of a person for criminal sexual purposes. 

“Our office is committed to protecting the most vulnerable victims of our society,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We have a long history of making these cases a priority and will continue to work closely with our local and state partners to ensure that our most vulnerable victims receive the justice and protections they rightfully deserve.”

According to court documents, Carlos Arturo Rodezno-Quintanilla, 52, started sexually abusing Jane Doe when she was 4 years old. In June, Rodezno-Quintanilla came to Florida from Honduras with the now 13-year-old minor. From there, the two traveled to Norfolk, where Rodezno-Quintanilla continued to sexually abuse the girl. The girl contacted the Norfolk Police Department to report the abuse shortly after arriving in Norfolk. Rodezno-Quintanilla entered the United States illegally in June, was immediately encountered by immigration officers, and was on supervision while waiting further court proceedings. Rodezno-Quintanilla had absconded from supervision when he was found in Norfolk.

Rodezno-Quintanilla pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of a person for criminal sexual purposes, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced on March 26, 2019. 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 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, Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, and Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi 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 is 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-166.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An illegal alien with a prior felony drug trafficking conviction pleaded guilty today to cocaine trafficking and firearms charges.

According to court documents, Homero Salgado Alvarez, 46, a Mexican national, was a cocaine supplier residing in Sanford, North Carolina. Alvarez admitted to supplying a co-conspirator with quantities of cocaine, which the co-conspirator would transport from North Carolina back to the greater Washington, DC area. The co-conspirator sold approximately 3/4 kilogram of cocaine he acquired from Alvarez to undercover law enforcement.

Although Alvarez worked at an apparently legitimate business that includes a used tire retail shop, Alvarez and his co-defendants used the term “tires,” as well as other coded language, to communicate about their drug trafficking activities in order to conceal them from law enforcement. When Alvarez was arrested in October, law enforcement found approximately three kilograms of cocaine hidden in Alvarez’s washing machine and bathroom. Agents also discovered a handgun, which Alvarez has admitted to possessing for protection when conducting his cocaine trafficking business.

Alvarez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Based on his prior drug trafficking conviction and the charges to which he pleaded guilty, Alvarez faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison when sentenced on April 5, 2019. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Operation Tomb Stone.  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.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of a renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division at the Washington Field Office, Scott W. Hoernke, Acting Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, and Barry M. Barnard, Chief of Prince William County Police, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh is prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendelynn Bills.

This investigation was led by FBI Washington Field Office’s Safe Streets/HIDTA Task Force. The Task Force is composed of FBI Agents along with investigators from the Prince William County Police, the Fairfax County Police, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police Department, Alexandria City Police, Vienna Police, Herndon Police and ICE. Significant assistance was provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, FBI’s Charlotte Field Office, DEA’s Greensboro Resident Agency, and the Police Departments of Sanford, North Carolina and Fayetteville, North Carolina.

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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 1:18-CR-380 and 1:18-CR-470.

NORFOLK, Va. – A federal grand jury returned indictments late yesterday charging seven illegal aliens with re-entering the United States after having previously been deported.

Name, Age

Citizenship

Charges

Max Penalty

Juan Sanchez-Pahua, 30

Mexico

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Israel Balcazar-Martinez, 34

Mexico

 

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Wilson Angel Jacobo-Tay, 24

Guatemala

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Daniel De La Paz-Mata, 28

Mexico

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Gerardo Toribio-Rodriguez,46

Mexico

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Jorge Sormiento-Rodriguez,45

Honduras

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Roberto Carlos Aju Aju, 28

Guatemala

 

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

 

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 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. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin M. Comstock, V. Kathleen Dougherty, William D. Muhr, John F. Butler, Elizabeth M. Yusi, and Randy C. Stoker are prosecuting these 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 2:18-cr-186, 2:18-cr-187, 2:18-cr-188, 2:18-cr-190, 2:18-cr-192, 2:18-mj-536, and 2:18-mj-537.

An indictment 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 Mexican citizen who is the subject of an INTERPOL “Red Notice” pleaded guilty today to illegally reentering the country after having been previously removed. 

According to court documents, Cesar Fernando Valenzuela-Alvarez, 42, who most recently was living in Chesapeake, had illegally entered the United States and been removed to Mexico on multiple occasions. On October 17, he was taken into custody in Chesapeake after officers learned he was the subject of an INTERPOL “Red Notice”. 

Valenzuela-Alvarez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison when sentenced on April 3, 2019. 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 Russell Hott, Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew C. Bosse 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 is 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-167.

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal grand jury returned indictments late yesterday charging seven illegal aliens with illegal reentry following their deportations or removals and/or related charges.

Name, Age

Citizenship

Charges

Max Penalty

Erlin Torres Zuniga, 28

Honduras

 

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Ruperto Hernandez Zarate, 33

Mexico

Falsely Made Immigration Document

Misuse of Social Security Number

10 years

2 years

Hugo Giovanni Lemus Ramos, 42

El Salvador

Falsely Made Immigration Document

Misuse of Social Security Number

False Claim if U.S. Citizenship

10 years

2 years

3 years

Javier Antonio Cruz Bonilla, 26

El Salvador

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Max De Jesus Pinzon, 31

Mexico

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Efrain Avila Flores, 40

Guatemala

Illegal Reentry following removal

2 years

Rodolfo Segura-Virgen, 38

Mexico

 

Illegal Reentry following removal after conviction for an aggravated felony

20 years

 

If convicted, each defendant will again be deported after completion of any prison sentence. 

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 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. Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. David Schiller and Heather H. Mansfield 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 is 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-149, 3:18-cr-151, 3:18-cr-152, 3:18-cr-155, 3:18-cr-156, 3:18-cr-157, 3:18-mj-189.

NORFOLK, Va. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Navy veteran Eric Brian Brown with kidnapping resulting in the death of Ashanti M. Billie, a 19-year-old Virginia Beach college student.

According to allegations in the indictment, Brown, 46, abducted Billie in September 2017 on the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Brown then transported Billie against her will and across state lines from Virginia to North Carolina. Billie died as a result of the kidnapping.

If convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, Brown faces a maximum penalty of death and a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Brown is also charged with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and theft. If convicted of those two offenses, he faces a maximum penalty of 15 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 and requirements.

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; Cliff Everton, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office; Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police; James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police; and Kerr Putney, Chief of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, made the announcement after the indictment was returned. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin M. Comstock, Randy C. Stoker 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER.

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

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man pleaded guilty today to his role in two bank robberies.

“Hudgins is a violent criminal who poses a danger to our communities and those in law enforcement trying to keep us safe,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “His significant criminal history includes grand larceny, hit and run, and now bank robbery. With the assistance of our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, we are committed to removing violent criminals like Hudgins from our streets.”

According to court documents, Russell Hudgins, 34, and his co-defendant, Roscoe Freeman, 33, conspired to rob two banks in the Tidewater area. On May 16, Hudgins went into Citizens and Farmers Bank in Yorktown wearing a black knit cap, a tattoo sleeve, and a fake brown beard.  Hudgins made a verbal demand for money from the teller and stated “You know what time it is. Give me 10s, 20s and large.” The total loss to the bank was $1,786.00. 

Two days later, Hudgins entered Old Point National Bank in Isle of Wight County wearing a tattoo sleeve and a beard. Hudgins made a verbal demand for all the money in the teller’s drawer and left the bank with $1,629 and a GPS tracker. In both robberies Freeman acted as a getaway driver. Freeman was apprehended by law enforcement after a vehicle pursuit, while Hudgins ran away from the scene and hid from police until he was caught at his residence later that day.

Hudgins was previously convicted in 2007 of armed carjacking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and was on federal supervision at the time of the robberies. Hudgins has also previously been convicted of grand larceny, contempt of court, and hit and run.

Hudgins pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery and faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison when sentenced on April 15, 2019. 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 Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan M. Cowles 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-78.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia today concluded an investigation into conditions at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia. The Justice Department concluded that there is reason to believe that the conditions at the Jail violate the Constitution, specifically rights of prisoners protected by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Department concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Jail fails to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care to prisoners, and places prisoners with serious mental illness in restrictive housing for prolonged periods of time under conditions that violate the Constitution. The Department also concluded that the Jail’s restrictive housing practices discriminate against prisoners with mental health disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

As required by the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the ADA, the Department provided the Jail written notice of the supporting facts for these alleged conditions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address them.   

“The Constitution guarantees all prisoners necessary medical care, including mental health care, treatment, and services,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. “Our investigation found reasonable cause to conclude that the Jail fails to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care and that prisoners experience serious harm as a result. The Justice Department hopes to continue to work with the Jail to resolve the Department’s concerns.”

“Our investigation uncovered evidence of significant violations of inmates’ constitutional rights to adequate medical and mental health care, as well as violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia. “We look forward to working with the Jail to ensure the rights of those incarcerated are not violated.”

The Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia initiated the investigation in December 2016 under CRIPA, which authorizes the Department to take action to address a pattern or practice of deprivation of constitutional rights of individuals confined to state or local government-run correctional facilities. The investigation was also initiated under Title II of the ADA.

This investigation was conducted by attorneys with the Special Litigation Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the Department via phone at (844) 644-0225 or by email at Community.HamptonRoads@usdoj.gov.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia today concluded an investigation into conditions at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia. The Justice Department concluded that there is reason to believe that the conditions at the Jail violate the Constitution, specifically rights of prisoners protected by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Department concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Jail fails to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care to prisoners, and places prisoners with serious mental illness in restrictive housing for prolonged periods of time under conditions that violate the Constitution. The Department also concluded that the Jail’s restrictive housing practices discriminate against prisoners with mental health disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

As required by the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the ADA, the Department provided the Jail written notice of the supporting facts for these alleged conditions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address them.   

“The Constitution guarantees all prisoners necessary medical care, including mental health care, treatment, and services,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. “Our investigation found reasonable cause to conclude that the Jail fails to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care and that prisoners experience serious harm as a result. The Justice Department hopes to continue to work with the Jail to resolve the Department’s concerns.”

“Our investigation uncovered evidence of significant violations of inmates’ constitutional rights to adequate medical and mental health care, as well as violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia. “We look forward to working with the Jail to ensure the rights of those incarcerated are not violated.”

The Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia initiated the investigation in December 2016 under CRIPA, which authorizes the Department to take action to address a pattern or practice of deprivation of constitutional rights of individuals confined to state or local government-run correctional facilities. The investigation was also initiated under Title II of the ADA.

This investigation was conducted by attorneys with the Special Litigation Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the Department via phone at (844) 644-0225 or by email at Community.HamptonRoads@usdoj.gov.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment late yesterday charging a Henrico man with possessing 100 grams or more of heroin with the intent to distribute and illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to the indictment, Mervin Turner, 37, is charged with possession with the intent to distribute 100 grams of more of heroin. If convicted on this count, Turner faces a mandatory minimum term of 5 years in prison and maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. Turner is also charged with possession of a semi-automatic pistol, and if convicted he faces a maximum penalty of 10 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.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of a renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Scott W. Hoernke, Acting Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police, and Alfred Durham, Chief of Richmond Police, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik S. Siebert and Kenneth Simon 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 is 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-158.

An indictment 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. – The owner of an antiques and specialty shop in Middleburg pleaded guilty today to violating the Lacey Act by illegally selling and transporting between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of items made from endangered species, migratory birds, and other wildlife.

According to court documents, Keith Foster, 60, of Upperville, was the owner of The Outpost LLC.  The Outpost specialized in selling foreign-sourced merchandise, a portion of which included wildlife products made from endangered species such as crocodiles, sea turtles, and sawfish. To evade enforcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Foster relied on a shipping company to falsify import records in order to hide wildlife items and avoid inspection by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other law enforcement officials.

According to court documents, on numerous occasions beginning in December 2016, Foster discussed with a customer the unlawful nature of his conduct, including telling a customer it was illegal to import sawfish blades but he was going to continue to smuggle them, saying, “Rest assured, I’m gonna bring more in. Cause I’m the only fool in the States that probably wants to risk it.”

During March and April 2017, Foster imported over 100 undeclared wildlife items, including items protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) such as sea turtle shell, sawfish blades, crocodile skin bags, coral, and mounted birds of prey. CITES is an international treaty that provides protection to fish, wildlife and plant populations that are or could be harmed as a result of trade and restricts the international trade and transport of species that are threatened with extinction. 

According to court documents, on April 12, 2017, Foster showed a customer numerous wildlife pieces for sale, including sawfish blades, turtle shell, ivory, zebra hide, crocodile, and various birds and bird parts. Foster told the customer about smuggling wildlife, about lacking the proper CITES permits to purchase, export, and later import some protected wildlife, and about the dangers of being caught by United States Customs. The customer then purchased numerous wildlife items including sawfish blades, a mounted barn owl, and a jar made from sea turtle shell, all of which were previously smuggled by The Outpost. The customer was in fact an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent.

As part of his plea agreement, Foster and The Outpost forfeited $275,000 and over 175 items made from wildlife, which were previously smuggled and being offered for sale.

Foster pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act and faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison when sentenced on March 8, 2019. 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 Edward Grace, Acting Assistant Director of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg is prosecuting the case.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 

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 No. 1:18-cr-455 and 1:18-cr-456.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A former resident of Williamsburg was sentenced today to over 5 years in prison for stealing approximately $514,000 from a Williamsburg ophthalmologist and filing false tax returns that concealed the stolen funds.

According to court documents, Sherea Darnell, 35, worked as the practice manager for the Cullom Eye and Laser Center, located in Williamsburg, from 2012 to 2016. Both Darnell and Dr. Robert Cullom were actually W-2 employees of Riverside Medical Group. Over a four-year period, Darnell used three of Dr. Cullom’s credit cards to conduct personal transactions for her own benefit totaling approximately $514,000. She also obtained access to Dr. Cullom’s Wells Fargo Advisors accounts, which she used to pay the balances of the credit cards without his authority, including an account that had been established to pay for medical equipment, but which Darnell diverted into making payments on the credit cards. Darnell used the victim’s credit cards to pay for her son’s pre-school tuition which she deducted on her 2016 tax return. She also took over $90,000 in cash advances, transferred funds into her personal USAA accounts, hired a maid service, purchased high-end clothing and airline tickets for herself and her family and made a deposits and payments on luxury vehicles. Darnell failed to report any of these funds obtained via the credit cards on her tax returns for the years 2013-2015. Following her resignation in August 2016, Darnell continued to use the victim’s credit cards to pay her moving expenses, obtain additional cash advances and make other purchases until Dr. Cullom discovered the fraud and shut down the accounts.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Howard J. Zlotnick and Brian J. Samuels 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 is 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-92.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hayes woman pleaded guilty today to charges of fraud and identity theft in connection with stealing nearly $100,000 from a Gloucester woman.

According to court documents, in early 2015, Amy Denton, 43, began performing personal care services for A.C., who required assistance due to certain medical issues and limitations. A.C., a recipient of Social Security Disability income and other public assistance, resided in an apartment with her teenaged son, who suffered from disabilities. Denton assisted A.C. with running errands, certain household duties and taking her to appointments. 

On or about Jan. 1, 2015, A.C.’s mother passed away, leaving behind life insurance to A.C., notice of which was eventually sent to a post office box to which Denton had access. In May 2015, Denton caused A.C. to complete a power of attorney form that gave the Denton access and control over A.C.’s finances, and eventually forged forms on A.C.’s behalf in order to obtain the life insurance. After Denton added herself to A.C.’s checking account, she opened two other bank accounts using A.C.’s name. Denton then caused the life insurance proceeds to be deposited and/or transferred into the bank accounts in the total amount of $99,968.23. Denton used the majority of the funds for her own use, including purchasing a vehicle, travel, entertainment, paying court fees, over $15,000 in cash related transactions (or checks to cash) and debit/check card transactions. A.C. neither authorized nor was aware of any of these transactions occurred.

Denton pleaded guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge, and a mandatory penalty of 2 years on the aggravated identity theft charge, which will run consecutive to any prison term imposed on the mail fraud charge. Denton is scheduled to be sentenced on April 26, 2019. 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 Darrell W. Warren, Jr., Gloucester County Sheriff, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert J. Krask accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian J. Samuels 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:18-cr-70.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An indictment was unsealed today charging two men with conspiracy, acting in the United States as unregistered agents of the government of Turkey, and making false statements to the FBI.

According to allegations in the indictment, Bijan Rafiekian, aka Bijan Kian, 66, of San Juan Capistrano, California, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, 41, of Istanbul, a Turkish national with close ties to the highest levels of the Government of Turkey, were involved in a conspiracy to covertly influence United States politicians and public opinion against a Turkish citizen living in the United States whose extradition had been requested by the Government of Turkey. The plot included using a company founded by Rafiekian and a person referred to as “Person A” in the indictment. The company, referred to as “Company A” in the indictment, provided services based upon Person A’s national security expertise.

The indictment charges that the purpose of the conspiracy was to use Company A to delegitimize the Turkish citizen in the eyes of the American public and United States politicians, with the goal of obtaining his extradition, which was meeting resistance at the U.S. Department of Justice. At the same time, the conspirators sought to conceal that the Government of Turkey was directing the work. However, not only did Turkish cabinet-level officials approve the budget for the project, but Alptekin provided the Turkish officials updates on the work, and relayed their directions on the work to Rafiekian, Person A, and others at Company A.

According to allegations in the indictment, the scheme included using a Dutch company owned by Alptekin to appear to be the “client” of Company A and to pay the company’s fee of $600,000, which was to be paid in three installments. Alptekin made the payments from an account in Turkey. The indictment alleges that after Alptekin made the payments to Company A, it was to kick back 20 percent of the payments to Alptekin’s company in the Netherlands, and two such kickbacks were made.

Rafiekian is charged with conspiracy and acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of the government of Turkey.  If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and 10 years in prison for the charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government.

Alptekin is charged with conspiracy, acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of the government of Turkey, and four counts of making false statements to the FBI.  If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for the conspiracy charge, 10 years in prison for the charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government, and 5 years in prison for each of the four false statement charges.

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, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Gillis and Trial Attorney Evan N. Turgeon of the Department of Justice’s Counterintelligence and Export Control 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. 1:18-cr-457.

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