Eastern District of Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Three Colombian nationals were sentenced today for their roles in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent James “Terry” Watson in Bogota, Colombia, on June 20, 2013.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart and Director Bill A. Miller of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) made the announcement.

“Throughout his law enforcement career, Special Agent Watson’s service was both selfless and courageous,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “With this action, we continue our work to hold accountable those who were responsible for his murder.  In the weeks ahead, we expect to take additional steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.  And in all that we do, our nation's Department of Justice will continue to honor Special Agent Watson’s sacrifice, to safeguard the nation he served, and to protect the values and principles he defended all his life.”

“Special Agent Watson’s kidnapping and murder is a tragic reminder of the dangers that exist for Americans abroad,” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “The sentences delivered today are also a reminder. They are a reminder of the commitment of the Justice Department, this office, and our investigative partners to protect and defend Americans abroad who are victims of crime. We will continue to press forward in this case until all those responsible have been brought to justice.”

“DEA will never forget the sacrifice of Special Agent Terry Watson, nor will we rest until those responsible for his kidnapping and murder are brought to justice for this horrific act,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “While this is certainly not the final step, we are pleased that another criminal facilitator in this awful tragedy is answering for his actions in a U.S. courtroom.”

Hector Leonardo Lopez, 34, Julio Estiven Gracia Ramirez, 32, and Andres Alvaro Oviedo Garcia, 22, previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of an internationally protected person and conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person.  Today, U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee sentenced Lopez to 25 years in prison, Gracia Ramirez to 27 years in prison, and Oviedo Garcia to 20 years in prison. Each also was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

In addition, today, Wilson Daniel Peralta-Bocachica, 31, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and, on Dec. 9, 2014, Edwin Gerardo Figueroa Sepulveda, 39, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of an internationally protected person and conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person.  Sentencing hearings for Peralta-Bocachica and Figueroa Sepulveda are scheduled for Feb. 18, 2015.

In the statements of facts filed with the plea agreements, Lopez, Gracia Ramirez, Oviedo Garcia, and Figueroa Sepulveda admitted that they conspired to conduct “paseo milionarios” or “millionaire’s rides” in Bogota, Colombia in which victims were lured into taxi cabs, kidnapped and then robbed.  They admitted that on the evening of June 20, 2013, they were part of a group that targeted Special Agent Watson.  Gracia Ramirez drove the taxi that picked up Special Agent Watson, Lopez drove the second taxi that was used to carry the assailants, and Figueroa Sepulveda entered the taxi carrying Special Agent Watson and shocked him with a stun gun while another defendant stabbed him.  Special Agent Watson was able to escape from the taxi, but he later collapsed and died from his injuries.  Oviedo Garcia was part of the group that attacked Special Agent Watson, however, shortly before Special Agent Watson was targeted a third taxi encountered mechanical issues and Oviedo Garcia stayed with the disabled taxi.  In the days following the kidnapping and murder, Peralta-Bocachica washed the taxi in which Special Agent Watson was stabbed, removing blood from the back seat of the taxi and discarding the rags that were used to clean the taxi before turning the taxi over to the Colombian National Police.

Two other defendants were charged in this case for their alleged involvement in the murder of Special Agent Watson.  Omar Fabian Valdes Gualtero, 27, and Edgar Javier Bello Murillo, 27, are charged by indictment with second degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.  Trial for the remaining defendants is set for Jan. 12, 2015.

The charges in the indictment against the other defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the FBI, DEA and DSS, in close cooperation with Colombian authorities and with assistance from INTERPOL and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.  The case is being prosecuted by Special Counsel Stacey Luck of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Department of Justice gratefully acknowledges the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, Colombian National Police, Colombian Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (DIJIN), DIJIN Special Investigative Unit, Bogotà Metropolitan Police, Bogotà Police Intelligence Body (CIPOL) Unit and Colombian Technical Investigation Team for their extraordinary efforts, support and professionalism in responding to this incident.

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.

 

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Tayron Tyree Weeks, 24, of Alexandria, was sentenced today to 132 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release for sex trafficking of a child.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of Police of the Fairfax County Police Department; and Earl L. Cook, Chief of Police of the Alexandria Police Department, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.

Weeks pleaded guilty on September 18, 2014.  According to court documents, Weeks met the victim at the Braddock Road Metro Station and then took her to a friend’s apartment in Alexandria, where Weeks engaged in sexual acts with the victim.  Weeks then asked the victim if she was interested in earning money by selling her body, and Weeks encouraged her to do so.  The victim told Weeks that she was only 14 years old, and Weeks responded “money is money,” and “you might as well get paid for something most girls do for free.”  The victim eventually contacted police and an undercover detective, posing as a teenage girl, started conversing with Weeks about Weeks’s desire to prostitute the undercover detective.

Weeks informed a friend that he intended to prostitute some girls, and this man told Weeks that that would be “sex trafficking,” that sex trafficking was unlawful and immoral, and that this conduct would likely result in Weeks being imprisoned.  Weeks responded that he did not think that the police would catch him.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Fairfax County Police Department, and the Alexandria Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Frank is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 1:14-cr-313.

 

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Nureni Abayomi Baruwa, 57, of Alexandria, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for employment tax fraud. Baruwa was also ordered to pay $238,345.52 in restitution.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Larry J. Wszalek, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Tax Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

According to the plea agreement and statement of facts, Baruwa operated a car detailing business called NAB International Group of Companies Inc.  This business was incorporated by Baruwa in 1993 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and he served as the president.  Baruwa was in charge of withholding employment taxes from his employees’ wages, paying over the withheld amount to the IRS and reporting these amounts to the IRS by filing quarterly employment tax returns.

According to court documents, in all but three quarters, beginning with the first quarter of 2003 through the last quarter of 2010, Baruwa failed to timely collect, account for and pay the IRS the taxes withheld from his employees’ paychecks, as well as the employer’s portion of the employment taxes.  Furthermore, in all but five quarters during the same period, Baruwa failed to file NAB’s quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS in a timely manner.  Additionally, since at least 2006, Baruwa has failed to file an individual income tax return in a timely manner, despite the fact that he was legally required to do so annually.  According to court documents, the tax loss is between $200,000 and $400,000.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. Assistant Chief Caryn Finley of the Department of Justice Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 1:12-cr-370.

 

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NORFOLK, Va. – Shane Bradshaw, 27, of Franklin, Virginia, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and directed to pay $7,781.50 to SunTrust Bank for his role in robbing the Franklin branch of SunTrust Bank on January 3, 2014. 

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

Bradshaw proceeded to a jury trial, but pleaded guilty on August 6, 2014, at the conclusion of the government’s evidence in the case.  According to testimony at trial and court documents, Bradshaw conspired with his co-defendant Louis Doughtie to rob the Franklin branch of SunTrust Bank.  On January 3, 2014, the two men entered the bank, having concealed their faces with ski masks and wearing dark clothing and gloves.  They carried air-soft pistols that they had spray-painted black to look like real firearms.  Bradshaw and Doughtie forced multiple customers waiting in line to the ground, and thenBradshaw leaped over the bank teller counter and personally cleaned out the teller drawers.  The two men escaped with approximately $8,000 in cash. 

Doughtie pleaded guilty on June 17, 2014.  On September 25, 2014, Doughtie was sentenced to 50 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  He was also ordered to pay restitution to SunTrust Bank. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City of Franklin, Virginia, Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys V. Kathleen Dougherty and Joseph E. DePadilla prosecuted the case.

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. 2:14-cr-66.

 

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NORFOLK, Va. – Shavonna Lakita Whitfield, 28, of Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced today to 210 months in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

Whitfield pleaded guilty on August 26, 2014.  According to court documents, Whitfield became involved in the conspiracy when she was contacted by co-conspirator Robert Harold Scott, Jr. under his assumed online identity of “Mike Pyro.”  Scott would routinely communicate with women in and around the Tidewater area to set up “sex parties,” where the women would work as prostitutes and Scott would pay them for their services.  In reality, Scott would not pay them and, at times, extort the women by threatening to publish sexually explicit videos.  In addition to the adult parties, Scott was found to be conspiring with and producing child pornography with five different women, including Whitfield.  Law enforcement found that, when discussing the sex parties, sometimes Scott would request these women to produce child pornography and was very specific as to the sex acts he wanted done on camera.  Whitfield complied in return for the promise of money.  Specifically, Whitfield produced child pornography with a 3 year old child. 

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi prosecuted the case.

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. 2:14-cr-164.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Sheila Clark Lewis, 56, of Suffolk, Va., was sentenced today to 65 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, and restitution in the amount of $99,875.97 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

Lewis pleaded guilty on September 2, 2014.  According to court documents, the defendant and co-conspirator, Shavika Thompson, acquired identity information of approximately 200 medical patients without authorization from Thompson’s employer, a telephone answering and messaging service that catered to doctors and medical service practices.  They used the information to use and establish numerous store credit card accounts in victims’ names at Kmart, Sears, and Kohl’s department stores.  At various times between November 2012 and September 2013, they made purchases using the victims’ accounts.  Surveillance videos for the date, time, and locations of purchases show that the defendants were together at the time of purchase in most instances.

Co-defendant Shavika Thompson pleaded guilty on September 4, 2014 and is currently scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2015.

This case was investigated by U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Randy Stoker prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:14-cr-88.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Ronald Lamont Wilson, a/k/a “Papa Ron,” 41, a longtime resident of Norfolk, Virginia, who was recently living in Orlando, Florida, was sentenced today to 160 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

Wilson pleaded guilty to the drug conspiracy charge on May 20, 2014.  According to court documents,Wilson conspired with others to distribute hundreds of kilograms of cocaine transported from Atlanta, Georgia to the Tidewater area between approximately 2002 and 2013.  The cocaine was transported in hidden compartments in vehicles and cash proceeds were sent back to Atlanta using the same method. Wilson used the proceeds of his drug trafficking sales to purchase and make subsequent payments on a residence in Dacula, Georgia.  He also used the proceeds to purchase vacation property in Florida, a 2004 Hummer, a 2008 Maserati and a 2002 Porsche. The Florida property and vehicles will be forfeited.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Sherrie S. Capotosto and Special Assistant United States Attorney Amy Cross-Rochefort prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:11-cr-180.

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WASHINGTON – An armed drug trafficker was sentenced today to serve 57 years in prison for his involvement in a decade-long cocaine-trafficking conspiracy in Newport News, Virginia. 

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office and Chief Richard W. Myers of the Newport News Police Department made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar of the Eastern District of Virginia imposed the sentence.

Kelvin L. Brown, aka, “Doom,” 34, of Newport News, was convicted by a jury on July 30, 2014, of participating in a drug conspiracy, distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Evidence presented at trial detailed various drug sales by Brown and his coconspirators, the use of firearms by Brown and others to protect the drug-trafficking enterprise and its proceeds, and threats made by Brown against a cooperating witness to dissuade him from cooperating with police.  In one incident, on Sept. 13, 2013, Newport News Police Department officers entered Brown’s apartment after he barricaded himself inside, and seized a firearm, scale and cocaine.

This investigation was led by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Newport News Police Department and Virginia State Police, and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph K. Wheatley of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard J. Zlotnick of the Eastern District of Virginia. 

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NORFOLK, Va. – Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, of Yorktown, Virginia, was arrested today on charges of attempting to steal schematics of the Navy’s newest nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and pass the schematics to whom he believed was an Egyptian government official.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; John Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Susan Triesch, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement.  Awwad is charged with two counts of attempted exportation of defense articles and technical data, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count if convicted. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

According to an FBI affidavit submitted to the court in support of search warrants, Awwad began working for the Department of Navy in February 2014 as a civilian general engineer in the Nuclear Engineering and Planning Department at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  Based on joint investigation, an FBI undercover agent speaking in Arabic contacted Awwad by telephone on September 18, 2014, and asked to meet him the following day. Without seeking additional information from the caller, Awwad agreed.The next day Awwad met with the undercover FBI agent, who was posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer, in a park in Hampton, Virginia. During the meeting Awwad claimed it was his intention to utilize his position of trust with the U.S. Navy to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, including but not limited to, the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier. Awwad agreed to conduct clandestine communications with the undercover FBI agent by email and unattributable telephones and to conduct “dead drops” in a concealed location in the park.

On October 9, 2014, Awwad and the undercover FBI agent met at a hotel where Awwad described a detailed plan to circumvent U.S. Navy computer security by installing software on his restricted computer system that would enable him to copy documents without causing a security alert. At this time Awwad also provided the undercover FBI agent four Computer Aided Drawings of a U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier downloaded from the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Information system.  These drawings were marked with warnings that foreign distribution could result in criminal prosecution. During the discussion, Awwad indicated his understanding that the drawings would be sent to and used in Egypt. Awwad also asked the undercover FBI agent for $1,500 to purchase a pinhole camera he would wear around the shipyard to photograph restricted material.  At the conclusion of the meeting, Awwad agreed to provide the undercover FBI agent with passport photos which would be used to produce a fraudulent Egyptian passport so Awwad could travel to Egypt without alerting U.S. government officials.

On October 23, 2014, Awwad traveled to the pre-arranged dead drop site situated on a secluded hiking trail, and utilized a concealed container disguised in a hole in the ground. He retrieved $3,000 in cash before placing a one terabyte external hard drive and two passport photos inside. The FBI later collected the contents of the dead drop container.

On November 28, 2014, Awwad was observed entering his office at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard holding a cardboard tube about three feet long. Once in his office, Awwad opened the cardboard tube and took out several white sheets which appeared to be design schematics of an aircraft carrier. Awwad then placed the schematics on the floor of his office and photographed them. After approximately 45 minutes of viewing the schematics and taking photographs, Awwad placed all the schematics back in the cardboard tube and left his office.

Awwad made his initial appearance in federal court today, and is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing on December 10, 2014, at 3:30 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia.      

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, in cooperation with the Department of Navy. Prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States are Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Benjamin L. Hatch and Joseph E. DePadilla, and Department of Justice, National Security Division Counterespionage Trial Attorney Heather M. Schmidt. 
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. 2:14-cr-163.

NORFOLK, Va. – Nicole Felicia Clark 36, of Ellenwood, GA and Steve Jacob Joseph 35, of Alpharetta, GA, were convicted yesterday evening after a three-day trial by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one kilogram or more of heroin.  Clark was also convicted of three counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute. 

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement today after the verdicts were accepted by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis.

Clark and Joseph were indicted on January 9, 2014.  They now face a maximum penalty of life in prison when they are both sentenced on March 20, 2015.

According to court records and evidence at trial, Clark and Joseph were members of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that transported cocaine and heroin to the Norfolk area from New York City and Atlanta, Georgia.  Clark transported kilograms of cocaine and heroin from Georgia to Norfolk in a secret compartment in a 2007 GMC Yukon SUV.  Clark transported hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money from Norfolk to Atlanta.  Joseph managed the drug operation in Atlanta.  He loaded cocaine and heroin into the GMC Yukon for delivery by Clark to Virginia.  Joseph handled the drug money generated by drug sales in Virginia and paid the group’s California supplier.  On November 4, 2013, Clark was arrested by Officers with the Clayton County, GA Police Department following a traffic stop of the GMC Yukon in suburban Atlanta.  During the stop, the investigating officer conducted a search of the Yukon, discovered the secret compartment with 2.5 kilograms of cocaine and 595 grams of heroin inside.  Trial testimony indicated that Clark was in the process of transporting the seized drugs to Virginia.  Joseph was arrested by the Clayton County PD later that evening in a car stereo installation shop named JMW Customs Auto in Rex, Georgia.  Police seized approximately $10,000 in cash from Joseph.  The police also seized from the shop a DVR security camera system on which were found videos depicting Joseph and Clark placing items in the secret compartment in the GMC Yukon.      

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:14-cr-8.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Donte Demus, 27, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced today to 54 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $144,841.00 in restitution for committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Thomas J. Kelley, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, made the announcement after Demus’ sentencing before United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

Demus and a co-conspirator, Travis Hager, were indicted on March 19, 2014 by a federal grand jury.  Demus was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, nineteen counts of aggravated identity theft, six counts of false claims, and two counts of theft of public property.  Demus pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on September 3, 2014.

According to court records, Demus, along with Travis Hager, stole the identities of individuals and used them to file false tax returns.  Hager was incarcerated in Virginia Beach.  While there, he stole the identities of a number of fellow inmates and provided them to Demus.  Demus then used these identities to file fraudulent tax returns in their names and have IRS issue refunds directly to him.

Hager pleaded guilty on June 4, 2014.  He was sentenced on October 2, 2014 to 54 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $144,841.00.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph Kosky prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:14-cr-43.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Michael Holub, 48, of Norfolk, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to mail and computer fraud.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller.

Holub was charged in a criminal indictment returned on September 10, 2013, with nine counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of computer fraud. Holub faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge and a $250,000 fine, and a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison on the computer fraud charge and a fine of $250,000 when he is sentenced on March 6, 2015, in Norfolk, by United States District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.

According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Holub worked as a project manager for Convergint Technologies, LLC, a national supplier of security equipment that had offices in Newport News.  Convergint is a distributor of security equipment manufactured by Lenel Systems International, Inc., in the Hampton Roads area and its products that are not available to the general public. An audit conducted by Convergint revealed that from 2010 to 2013, Holub stole Convergint/Lenel equipment and sold it over the internet on eBay. He used a computer and email account provided by Convergint in furtherance of the fraud.  Holub mailed the products through the United States and abroad, including at least one package of Lenel Systems equipment to China, causing a loss of over $100,000 to Convergint.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and Virginia State Police.  Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian Samuels is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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 at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  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. 4:14CR56.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), announced today that EDVA collected over $23.6 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2014.  Of this amount, over $15.4 million was collected in criminal actions and more than $8.1 million was collected in civil actions

Additionally, EDVA worked with other U.S. Attorneys’ offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $8.8 million in cases pursued jointly with these offices.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on November 19, 2014 that the Justice Department collected $24.7 billionin civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014.    The more than $24 billion in collections in FY 2014 represents nearly eight and a half times the appropriated $2.91 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“Every day, the Justice Department’s federal prosecutors and trial attorneys work hard to protect our citizens, to safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and to provide a valuable return on investment to the American people,” said Attorney General Holder.  “Their diligent efforts are enabling us to achieve justice and recoup losses in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy.  And this result shows the fruits of the Justice Department’s tireless work in enforcing federal laws; in protecting the American people from violent crime, national security threats, discrimination, exploitation, and abuse; and in holding financial institutions accountable for their roles in causing the 2008 financial crisis.”

“In all of our criminal and civil prosecutions, where appropriate, we strive to collect restitution for the victims of the crime, be that private citizens or the federal government” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “Asset forfeiture, fines, restitution and other means of collections are the Justice Department’s most effective and efficient tools in restoring money to victims of crime and their families.”

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

The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.  In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.

NORFOLK, Va. – Robert Harold Scott, Jr., 27, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced today to life in prison, for enticing and conspiring with multiple women to produce child pornography, among other charges including obstruction of justice.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Washington, D.C. made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

On July 14, 2014, Scott was convicted by a jury on multiple counts involving the production of child pornography and online enticement.  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Scott used various personas on the Internet to meet women and try to convince them to work as prostitutes for parties at hotels.  In reality, Scott would not pay them after the parties and sometimes would extort the women by threatening to publish sexually explicit videos.  Scott was convicted in Virginia Beach Circuit Court for this scheme in May 2013.  However, while the state charges were pending, Scott continued this behavior.  Homeland Security Investigations found that, when discussing the sex parties, sometimes Scott would request these women to produce child pornography and was very specific as to the sex acts he wanted done on camera.  Five different women complied and sent sexually explicit images of children in return for the promise of money.  In two instances, Scott convinced the women to bring the children to the hotel parties.  As a result of Scott’s actions, seven different children, ages 1 to 5 years old, were sexually abused.  Four of these women already pleaded guilty in Federal court to production of child pornography, and one of these women pleaded guilty in Chesapeake Circuit Court. 

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance provided by Chesapeake and Virginia Beach Police Departments.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and Jay V. Prabhu prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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. 2:14-cr-164.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Robert Harold Scott, Jr., 27, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced today to life in prison, for enticing and conspiring with multiple women to produce child pornography, among other charges including obstruction of justice.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Washington, D.C. made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

On July 14, 2014, Scott was convicted by a jury on multiple counts involving the production of child pornography and online enticement.  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Scott used various personas on the Internet to meet women and try to convince them to work as prostitutes for parties at hotels.  In reality, Scott would not pay them after the parties and sometimes would extort the women by threatening to publish sexually explicit videos.  Scott was convicted in Virginia Beach Circuit Court for this scheme in May 2013.  However, while the state charges were pending, Scott continued this behavior.  Homeland Security Investigations found that, when discussing the sex parties, sometimes Scott would request these women to produce child pornography and was very specific as to the sex acts he wanted done on camera.  Five different women complied and sent sexually explicit images of children in return for the promise of money.  In two instances, Scott convinced the women to bring the children to the hotel parties.  As a result of Scott’s actions, seven different children, ages 1 to 5 years old, were sexually abused.  Four of these women already pleaded guilty in Federal court to production of child pornography, and one of these women pleaded guilty in Chesapeake Circuit Court. 

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance provided by Chesapeake and Virginia Beach Police Departments.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and Jay V. Prabhu prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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. 2:14-cr-164.

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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Lutgarda Mueller, 65, of Gloucester, Virginia, was sentenced today to 40 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a fine of $5000.00, and forfeiture of more than $500,000.00 in illegal proceeds for participating in a conspiracy to distribute drug analogues and launder money.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.

Mueller pleaded guilty on August 4, 2014.  According to court documents, Mueller, also  known as “Lutie,” owned a store known as Luite’s Lair in Gloucester.  She was selling “Spice” from the store over a period of years. At the time of her arrest she was found to have $600,000 in cash in her house. During the sentencing hearing, Gloucester Sherriff Darryl Warren testified that Lutie’s Lair was one of five stores selling “Spice” in Gloucester County in 2012.  During 2012 and 2013 the Gloucester County Sherriff’s Office received over 600 calls for service related to “Spice.”  Of those, 83 were calls to Lutie’s Lair.  Sherriff Warren went on to testify that “Spice” related calls for service in 2012 and 2013 created an “unsustainable strain” on his office’s ability to serve the Gloucester Community. He concluded by noting that with the five stores, including Lutie’s Lair, being out of business, the calls for service related to “Spice” have decreased to virtually zero.

This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations, the Virginia State Police and the Gloucester Sherriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt prosecuted the case

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. 4:14-cr-7.

NORFOLK, Va. – Linda M. Avila, 50, of Frankford, DE, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to obtain payment for false claims and mail fraud.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Washington, D.C.; made the announcement after Avila’s guilty plea was accepted by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Linda Avila and unindicted co-conspirators devised a scheme to file false income tax returns using forms obtained from illegal aliens on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and elsewhere.   Avila altered the W-2 forms by using white out to cover up the names, social security numbers, and addresses and then wrote in other names and addresses and filed the fraudulent returns.  The addresses listed were for post office boxes and residential addresses that she had access to.  After she received the checks, she provided fake identification documents to the conspirators so they could cash the checks.   An arrest warrant and search warrant were executed at her home in Delaware and agents seized approximately 17 boxes of fraudulent tax records.  Templates for fraudulent W-2 forms and identification documents were also found on her computer.  The records included copies of approximately 1,754 tax returns filed between 2008 and 2014 for tax years 2004 through 2013.  The total loss to the IRS based on the fraudulent returns is approximately $7.2 million.

A Norfolk federal grand jury indicted Avila on July 25, 2014 on charge of conspiracy to make false claims, false claims against the United States and mail fraud.  She is scheduled to be sentenced on February 17, 2015 and faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Randy Stoker is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.   

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. 2:14-cr-108.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Antowan Thorne, also known as “Smooth,” 37, of Washington, DC, was sentenced today to 300 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Thorne was found guilty on August 20, 2014 of conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin following a bench trial before Judge Brinkema.  According to court documents, Thorne was a DC-based heroin dealer that targeted young individuals from northern Virginia as customers.  On August 21, 2013, the defendant sold heroin to a group of individuals from Fairfax County, Virginia, including 16-year-old Emylee Lonczak.  According to testimony at trial, Lonczak became unconscious immediately after ingesting a portion of the heroin sold by Thorne.  Lonczak was found dead the following morning, and a toxicology report found a fatal level of morphine (as a result of heroin) in her system.

This case was investigated by the DEA and the Fairfax County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary and Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc J. Birnbaum prosecuted the case.

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 may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:14-cr-165.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Catya J. Craig, 30, of New York, N.Y., pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U. S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen.

Craig was charged in a superseding criminal indictment returned on July 15, 2014, with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of interstate transportation of property converted or taken by fraud.
Craig is the third defendant to plead guilty in a scheme that victimized Wells Fargo and other financial institutions through an extensive mortgage office burglary and bank customer impersonation scheme.  She faces a maximum penalty of thirty (30) years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine when she is sentenced on February 27, 2014, in Norfolk.

According to a statement of facts filed with her plea agreement, Craig was part of a group of individuals that conspired to steal identity and financial information from Wells Fargo Mortgage offices.   There were twelve Wells Fargo offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey that were the subject of burglaries from 2012 through 2014.  Over 1,800 mortgage files were stolen that contained identity and financial information.  Craig, who worked for a New York bank at the time, introduced Jeffrey Washington to Alice Howard, who, traveled up and down the East Coast on some seven different trips with Howard impersonating Wells Fargo customers, opening business accounts and transferring balances from true accounts in the newly opened accounts.  They impersonated various bank customers, using counterfeit identifications created from the stolen personal information, and opened business accounts in fake business names in order to drain legitimate customer accounts at various banks of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  In August 2013, conspirator Alice Howard was arrested in the course of impersonating a bank customer at a Wells Fargo bank branch in Ashland, Virginia.  Howard was charged with the same scheme and was sentenced to sixty-five (65) months imprisonment in April 2014.  Following Howard’s arrest, Washington continued his involvement in obtaining mortgage files through the burglaries of other mortgage offices.  Washington pled guilty on August 28, 2014 to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft and will sentenced on December 5, 2014.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Newport News Police Department.  Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian Samuels is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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 at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

NORFOLK, Va. – Douglas Lawrence True, 23, of Clarksville, IN, pleaded guilty today to receiving child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Charles May, Executive Assistant Director for Naval Criminal Investigative Service Atlantic Operations, made the announcement after True’s guilty plea was accepted by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, True was an active duty sailor who was viewing child pornography aboard a ship’s computer.  Based upon this activity, the command seized and searched his cellphone.  Agents learned that True was communicating with many different minors and enticing them to send explicit photos of themselves to him.  In one example, True convinced his co-defendant Rebecca Gibbs to photograph herself performing sex acts on a 1 year old child and to send True the pictures. 

A Norfolk federal grand jury indicted True and Gibbs on June 19, 2014 on three counts relating to child pornography.  True is scheduled to be sentenced on February 20, 2015 and faces 20 years in prison.  Rebecca Gibbs pleaded guilty to production of child pornography on September 30, 2014 and as a result of her guilty plea, she faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years of incarceration when she is sentenced on January 5, 2015.

This case was investigated by Naval Criminal Investigative Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Joseph L. Kosky is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.   

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. 2:14-cr-97.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Alphonso Stoddard, 59, of Forest Heights, Maryland, and James McNeal, 63, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were sentenced today to life in prison and 15 years in prison, respectively, for conspiracy to commit bank robbery, armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and M. Douglas Scott, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement after the sentencing by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.

“These men were seasoned thieves who had been robbing banks for many years,” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “In committing these crimes they endangered the lives of many Virginians and law enforcement officers. The sentences delivered today reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and the commitment of this office and our law enforcement partners to protecting our communities by prosecuting violent criminals.”
 
“Armed bank robberies have a high propensity for violence because the weapons violent criminals bring with them puts bank tellers at risk and the public in danger,” said Assistant Director McCabe. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that the collaborative work by law enforcement in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. allowed investigators to trace these bank robbers to crimes committed throughout our region. The FBI, through our Violent Crime Task Force, will continue to track down bank and armed robbery crews in order to keep our community free from violence.”

Stoddard, who received mandatory life in prison without parole due to prior convictions for armed bank robberies, was convicted by a federal jury on Aug. 8, 2014, of charges involving three separate bank robberies. McNeal was also convicted by a federal jury on Aug. 8, 2014, for his involvement in one bank robbery, and was sentenced to 184 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Another co-defendant, James Link, 57, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty on March 20, 2014, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison and five years of supervised release on Sept. 19, 2014.

According to court records and evidence at trial, the FBI identified Link, McNeal and Stoddard as possible suspects in a string of bank robberies in late 2013 and kept the men under close surveillance.  On Dec. 27, 2013, Link, McNeal and Stoddard were followed by law enforcement agents as they cased two banks in Arlington, Virginia.  One of the banks the defendants were seen casing was a Wells Fargo branch on South George Mason Drive.

On Dec. 31, 2013, McNeal left his residence in Hyattsville and picked up Link and Stoddard before returning to the Wells Fargo branch in Arlington.  At approximately 1:15 p.m., Stoddard and Link entered the bank.  Inside the bank, Link brandished a firearm while Stoddard removed approximately $47,000 in cash from teller drawers.  The two men exited the bank and returned to the vehicle where McNeal was waiting.  The FBI and Arlington County police officers arrested the defendants approximately one block away from the Wells Fargo branch.  A handgun and cash were found in the vehicle.

A search of McNeal’s house led to the discovery of an additional firearm believed to be used in earlier bank robberies, cash and gloves.  Stoddard admitted to his involvement in armed robberies at a Wells Fargo in Rockville, Maryland, on Oct. 29, 2013, and the Bank of Georgetown in Vienna, Virginia, on Oct. 30, 2013.  Link admitted he was involved in the Bank of Georgetown robbery and an armed robbery at a Wells Fargo in Arlington on Nov. 25, 2013.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with assistance from FBI’s Baltimore Division and the Arlington County and Fairfax County police departments.  The U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and the District of Maryland also provided assistance in the investigation.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer A. Clarke is prosecuting the case.

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. 1:14-cr-76.

RICHMOND, Va. – Javier Flores Mendez, 24, of Tenancingo, Mexico, was sentenced today to 210 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity and sex trafficking of children.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer.

Flores pled guilty on August 15, 2014.  According to court documents, the defendant is from Tenancingo, Mexico, a town known for having a widely accepted culture of pimping and prostitution.  Every year residents of Tenancingo put on a festival known as “Carnaval,” which celebrates the pimp and prostitute lifestyle.  Carnaval festivities include a parade where pimps will lead prostitutes down the street, sometimes in grossly demeaning displays.  Tenancingo’s pimps and their associates have for years been responsible for moving prostitutes to other towns and cities in Mexico, as well as locations in the United States.  A primary destination in the United States for prostitutes who are being trafficked from Tenancingo is Queens, New York.  

In a ten-page statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Flores admitted that in March 2013 he approached a then 15-year-old girl who was working selling roasted corn at a food stand in Puebla, Mexico.  After striking up a conversation with her, he bought her a cell phone and programmed his number in it.  Over the next several weeks Flores and the girl communicated using that telephone, and later they went on several dates.  In May 2013, Flores persuaded the girl to come live with him in Tenancingo, Mexico, which is approximately three hours away by car from Puebla, Mexico.  Flores took the girl on a shopping trip to buy her clothes, shoes, makeup, jewelry and undergarments.  At first he treated the victim well, though he always controlled her movements and activities and did not give her a key for the hotel room.  After about a week, however, he began threatening that he would kill her if she did not do what he said or attempted to run away.

In July 2013, Flores planned a trip to illegally enter the United States and travel to New York. Flores admitted to forcing the victim to travel with him by threatening that he would kill her and her family if she did not go. Flores and the girl were apprehended on July 4, 2013, in McAllen, Texas, after wading across the Rio Grande River with the assistance of “coyotes,” who are individuals paid to help smuggle migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.

In September 2013, Flores reestablished contact with the girl. In late October 2013, Flores told the girl that she would have to start working as a prostitute at various bars in and around Tenancingo and Puebla. Flores forced the victim to work as a prostitute every night for a week, during which time she serviced 10 or more men a night and as many as a total of 100.  Flores also told the girl that they would again cross the border into the United States and travel to Queens, New York, where she would also work as a prostitute.  In or around late October or early November 2013, Flores and the victim successfully crossed the Mexico-U.S. border and for several days stayed in various safe houses in the Houston, Texas, area.  On November 2 they departed Houston in a Ford Excursion with nine other illegal aliens traveling to various points in the Northeast United States.  In the early morning hours of November 4, 2013, their vehicle was stopped for speeding by a Henrico County police officer on Interstate 64 East near the Staples Mill exit in Richmond.  At that time Flores and the minor were put into immigration detention and this investigation followed.

This case was investigated by HSI and the United States Attorney’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian R. Hood and Heather L. Hart prosecuted the case.

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. 3:14-cr-040

WASHINGTON – Irek Ilgiz Hamidullin made his first appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on federal terrorism offenses arising from his alleged participation in an attack on U.S. troops and Afghan Border Police in the Khost Province of Afghanistan in November 2009.

Hamidullin was indicted by a federal grand jury on twelve counts, including conspiring to provide and providing material support to terrorists; conspiring and attempting to destroy an aircraft of the armed forces of the United States; conspiring and attempting to murder a national of the United States; and other offenses.

The charges carry a potential maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Hamidullin, a Russian national approximately 55 years of age, was taken into custody in November 2009 and held by the Department of Defense in Afghanistan until being turned over to the FBI on Nov. 3 and brought to the United States to face charges.

The defendant was indicted on Oct. 8, 2014, and the charging document was unsealed today.

Arraignment is set for Friday at 10:00 a.m. in front of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson at the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia.

An indictment is merely a formal allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with substantial assistance from various other government agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Michael Eisner, 32, of Mastic, New York, was sentenced today to 72 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conducting a variety of fraud schemes, including stealing cash from his clients and fraudulently abusing credit cards in the name of his mother and wife.  Eisner also was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution to his victims, and he was remanded immediately into the U.S. Marshal’s custody after today’s hearing to begin serving his sentence.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.
Eisner pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on July 15, 2014.  According to court documents, prior to losing his law license in 2013, Eisner was a member of the Virginia Bar.  He owned and operated the Northern Virginia Law Group, a law practice located in McLean, Virginia.  In 2011 and 2012, Eisner committed a variety of fraud schemes, including stealing more than $250,000 in funds from his law clients.  These clients had entrusted this money to him during the course of bankruptcy proceedings, and they were under the false impression that Eisner was keeping this money in escrow to pay for bankruptcy-related expenses.  In reality, Eisner was using their money for his own personal benefit and enjoyment.

Eisner also defrauded several financial institutions during various credit card and check fraud schemes.  For instance, Eisner conducted a “credit card kiting” scheme, where he illegally abused a Citibank credit card account that was in his wife’s name.  Eisner submitted fraudulent electronic payments to Citibank to reduce the balance on his cards in order to transact new charges exceeding his wife’s credit limit before his phony payments to Citibank were dishonored.  Before Citibank caught on, Eisner amassed a balance that exceeded 300 percent of his wife’s credit limit.  Eisner’s wife was not aware that he was using her credit card in this manner, and she did not authorize him to do so.  In addition to using his wife’s credit card, Eisner also illegally used credit cards in his mother’s name during the course of this scheme without her knowledge or permission.

Eisner also conspired with Mark Head, who was sentenced to four years in prison on August 14, 2014, to conduct several other fraud schemes.  In one such scheme, Head opened an account in his friend’s name without his knowledge or permission.  Eisner and Head then used that account to issue several large checks to Eisner’s law firm.  In reality, the account never had more than $20 in it.  Eisner nonetheless deposited the checks written to his company at various Bank of America branches, and he immediately withdrew funds prior to Bank of America learning that the checks Head caused to be issued to Eisner were fraudulent.  In total, Eisner and Head’s criminal conduct during this scheme caused actual losses to Bank of America of nearly $350,000.

Eisner, either working alone or with Head, conducted many other schemes that are described in court documents.  As a result of his actions, Eisner caused more than $1.1 million in actual losses to his victims.  If he had been as successful as he intended and certain victims had not uncovered his fraud, Eisner would have stolen more than $3.6 million from clients, banks and other victims.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Golder prosecuted the case.

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. 1:14-cr-167.

RICHMOND, Va. – Brandon Jermaine Johnson, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced today to 96 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on charges of bank fraud and conspiracy.  He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount $25,098.30.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Kathy A. Michalko, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney.

Johnson pleaded guilty on July 14, 2014.  According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial of co-defendant Rasheeda McConnell, Johnson was part of a group that stole business checks from commercial mailboxes and used them to make counterfeit checks. The group then recruited people from areas where the homeless or unemployed would congregate to cash the counterfeit checks.  In return, the check-cashers received a small sum of cash.  The remaining proceeds went to the recruiters.  Johnson recruited check-cashers and provided them with counterfeit checks.

Four other co-defendants in this case pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to terms of incarceration as follows:  Jeffrey Keith Barnes, II, 7 ½ months; Devante Carson, 33 months; Christopher Eugene Pope, 15 months; and Kevin Lavon Smith, 9 months.  Another co-defendant, Rasheeda McConnell, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to serve 60 months.  Co-defendant Damion Latoras Foster was arrested on September 16, 2014, and is currently set for trial on February 2, 2015.    

This case was part of Operation Homeless, a nationwide initiative being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Attorney’s Offices to aggressively prosecute groups that recruit the homeless and indigent to cash counterfeit checks.   It was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, Chesterfield County Police Department, and Henrico County Police Department as members of the Metro-Richmond Identity Theft Task Force.  Prosecutions for the Task Force are handled by the United States Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles A. Quagliato and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 3:14-cr-28.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Lee Hall, 53, of Potomac Falls, Virginia, the former Director for Intelligence for the Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy Office of Plans, Policy, Oversight, and Integration (PPOI) Intelligence Directorate, was convicted yesterday of conspiracy to transport unregistered firearms, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and theft of government property.

Also convicted yesterday was Mark Stuart Landersman, 53, of Temecula, California, the brother of Hall’s former supervisor, David Landersman, the PPOI Senior Intelligence Director. Mark Landersman was convicted of conspiracy to illegally manufacture and deal firearms, conspiracy to transport unregistered firearms, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew L. Traver, Director, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS); and Charles E. Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after the verdict was announced by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Lee Hall faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the theft of government property conviction, and five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction. Mark Stuart Landersman faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The sentencing date for both is January 30, 2015. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Hall and Landersman were indicted in a superseding indictment on March 13, 2014, on charges of conspiracy and theft of government money.  According to court records and evidence at trial, in the fall of 2012 Lee Hall redirected $1.6 million in research funds towards the purchase of firearm silencers from Mark Landersman.  Mark Landersman was the owner of Advanced Machining and Engineering (AME), a small business in Temecula, California.  In November 2012, Mark Landersman, arranged for a machine shop owner to manufacture parts for  349 silencers and provided the blueprint for the silencers to the machine shop owner. 
Mark Landersman then picked up the silencer parts, and assembled them.  None of the 349 silencers bore serial numbers, and Mark Landersman paid the machine shop owner less than $10,000 for the labor and materials to manufacture the silencers.   On February 13, 2013, Mark Landersman shipped four boxes containing the silencers from California to a facility in Maryland where they sat for several weeks before being seized by NCIS agents in early April 2013.  The silencers were subsequently tested by a Department of Navy testing facility and failed a series of tests, including flash and sound suppression.

This case was initiated by NCIS and investigated by NCIS, and the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Morris Parker, Patricia Haynes, and Peter Hyun are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 1:13cr419.

RICHMOND, Va. – John Morrell Palmer, III, 55, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was sentenced today to twelve months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for participating in a wire fraud conspiracy that resulted in losses of approximately $1.8 million to the Kellogg Company, a food manufacturer and supplier.   He was also ordered to pay restitution to Kellogg’s in the amount of $1,886,392.87 and to forfeit that amount to the United States.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Richmond Division; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Serviceand Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck.

Palmer pleaded guilty on July 2, 2014.  According to court documents, he was employed as a sales manager with Kellogg’s, working in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area.  Co-conspirator John David Farmer was the President of Farmer’s Foods, a grocery store chain based in Chase City, Virginia.  Kellogg’s ran various incentive programs to encourage the volume purchase of Kellogg’s product by retailers, including Farmer’s Foods.  Under these programs, retailers received deductions that were credited against their accounts with SuperValu, a grocery wholesaler through which Kellogg’s sold product.  From 2009 through 2013, Palmer and Farmer conspired to submit fraudulent documents regarding non-existent purchases to Kellogg’s and SuperValu.  The appearance of greater than actual sales resulted in reduced net costs for Farmer’s Foods.  As a result of the fraudulent submissions, SuperValu awarded Farmer’s Foods approximately $1.8 million in unearned deductions against its running account with SuperValu.  Kellogg’s then reimbursed SuperValu for the awarded deductions.  Palmer used his position at Kellogg’s to facilitate the fraud.  In return, Farmer paid cash kickbacks to Palmer in the total amount of approximately half the value of the fraudulently obtained deductions.

Farmer pleaded guilty to a single-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud on October 27, 2014.  His sentencing is scheduled for January 22, 2015, before United States District Judge M. Hannah Lauck.

This case was investigated by the Virginia State Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 3:14-cr-85 and 3:14-cr-129.

NORFOLK, Va. – Baffour E. Opoku, owner and operator of Progressive Counseling Services, LLC, a Virginia Beach based counseling business, and nine other current and former employees were indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud the Virginia Medical Assistance Program.  Court documents were unsealed today.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Virginia Attorney General; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington; Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Bill Jones, Special Agent in Charge for the Washington Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General – Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, made the announcement after the defendants made their initial appearances in federal court this afternoon. 

The nine of the ten defendants were arrested today, and are currently awaiting further proceedings.  The defendants are:  Baffour E. Opoku, 48, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Doretha Selby-Diggs, 40, of Portsmouth, Virginia; Lisa Barrett, 49, of Norfolk; Barbara Bing Banks, 34, of Hampton, Virginia; Corey Etheridge, 42, of Chesapeake, Virginia; Jacqueline Harris, 34, of Portsmouth; Verline Harris, 48, of Virginia Beach; Arlette Johnson, 58, of Virginia Beach; Alfreda Stallion, 52, of Virginia Beach; and Johnny Stallion, 34, of Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the 105 count indictment, the defendants conspired to obtain reimbursement payments from the Virginia Medical Assistance Program by submitting false claims for mental health support services in 2011 and 2012. Opoku owned and operated Progressive Counseling Services, LLC.  He hired the other nine defendants to provide mental health support services to Medicaid-eligible clients in the Tidewater area.  According to the indictment, Opoku, along with an unindicted co-conspirator, created fraudulent assessments of Progressive clients to obtain authorization to bill Medicaid for mental health support services.  Once Progressive obtained this authorization, Opoku submitted false and fraudulent Medicaid reimbursement claims on behalf of mental health support services purportedly provided by the co-defendants.  The indictment alleges these reimbursement claims were bogus because most of the counselors were unqualified to serve as mental health professionals, the counseling sessions never occurred, and progress notes used to document the sessions were fabricated. 

In addition, Opoku faces charges that he failed to report nearly $450,000 in taxable income to the IRS over two tax years and that Opoku, along with Doretha Selby-Diggs and Corey Etheridge, submitted false documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security, with respect to a pending immigration matter. 

The indictment further alleges that Lisa Barrett, Barbara Bing, Jacqueline Harris, and Arlette Johnson testified falsely before a federal grand jury that was investigating this matter.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); IRS-Criminal Investigation; and the Department of Labor, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph L. Kosky and V. Kathleen Dougherty are prosecuting the case.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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. 2:14-CR-137.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Baffour E. Opoku, owner and operator of Progressive Counseling Services, LLC, a Virginia Beach based counseling business, and nine other current and former employees were indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud the Virginia Medical Assistance Program.  Court documents were unsealed today.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Virginia Attorney General; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington; Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Bill Jones, Special Agent in Charge for the Washington Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General – Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, made the announcement after the defendants made their initial appearances in federal court this afternoon. 

The nine of the ten defendants were arrested today, and are currently awaiting further proceedings.  The defendants are:  Baffour E. Opoku, 48, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Doretha Selby-Diggs, 40, of Portsmouth, Virginia; Lisa Barrett, 49, of Norfolk; Barbara Bing Banks, 34, of Hampton, Virginia; Corey Etheridge, 42, of Chesapeake, Virginia; Jacqueline Harris, 34, of Portsmouth; Verline Harris, 48, of Virginia Beach; Arlette Johnson, 58, of Virginia Beach; Alfreda Stallion, 52, of Virginia Beach; and Johnny Stallion, 34, of Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the 105 count indictment, the defendants conspired to obtain reimbursement payments from the Virginia Medical Assistance Program by submitting false claims for mental health support services in 2011 and 2012. Opoku owned and operated Progressive Counseling Services, LLC.  He hired the other nine defendants to provide mental health support services to Medicaid-eligible clients in the Tidewater area.  According to the indictment, Opoku, along with an unindicted co-conspirator, created fraudulent assessments of Progressive clients to obtain authorization to bill Medicaid for mental health support services.  Once Progressive obtained this authorization, Opoku submitted false and fraudulent Medicaid reimbursement claims on behalf of mental health support services purportedly provided by the co-defendants.  The indictment alleges these reimbursement claims were bogus because most of the counselors were unqualified to serve as mental health professionals, the counseling sessions never occurred, and progress notes used to document the sessions were fabricated. 

In addition, Opoku faces charges that he failed to report nearly $450,000 in taxable income to the IRS over two tax years and that Opoku, along with Doretha Selby-Diggs and Corey Etheridge, submitted false documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security, with respect to a pending immigration matter. 

The indictment further alleges that Lisa Barrett, Barbara Bing, Jacqueline Harris, and Arlette Johnson testified falsely before a federal grand jury that was investigating this matter.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); IRS-Criminal Investigation; and the Department of Labor, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph L. Kosky and V. Kathleen Dougherty are prosecuting the case.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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. 2:14-CR-137.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Lester Keith Gunter, a/k/a “Gunner,” 45, of Hazelwood, North Carolina, was sentenced today to 262 months in prison, followed by eight years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.

According to court documents, Gunter and his co-conspirators were a group of affiliated methamphetamine distributors operating in the Haywood County, North Carolina area who, from late 2011 through early 2013, sold large quantities of methamphetamine to a series of Norfolk-based redistributors. 

Gunter was indicted in a superseding indictment filed on July 9, 2014 and was found guilty by a federal jury on July 18, 2014.  Co-conspirators Rhonda Jo Raxter, John Clinton Cathey, and Jerimy Dayne Dennis pled guilty prior to the superseding indictment.  Rhonda Jo Raxter, a/k/a “Rhonda Jo Aurand,” pled guilty on June 4, 2014 and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.  John Clinton Cathey, a/k/a “Cat Hair,” pled guilty on July 2, 2014 and was sentenced to 36 months in prison.  Jerimy Dayne Dennis, a/k/a “Worm,” pled guilty on June 12, 2014 and was sentenced to 75 months in prison.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Virginia Beach Police Department and the Haywood County (NC) Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:13-cr-176.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Timothy J. Coughlin, 63, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced today to 90 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for defrauding thousands of investors and impersonating an Internal Revenue Service official while operating a fictitious credit union for the purpose of soliciting online investments.  He was also ordered to pay restitution of $10,084,625.56 to more than 3,500 victims.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Andrew J. Ceresney, Enforcement Director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Coughlin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and impersonating a federal officialon June 25, 2014.  According to court documents, from around 2006 through March 2014, Coughlin operated the Oxford International Credit Union and anotheronline investment vehicle known as the Oxford International Cooperative Union.  Investors from many countries paid annual dues to participate in the Oxford entities and made investments through online payment processors.  As part of the scheme, Coughlin createda website through which he posted false information to investors’ online accounts indicating that their deposits were earning significant daily returns, which averaged 0.471% each trading day from January 2007 through December 2009 (equivalent to a 356% average annual rate of return).  To further the fraud, Coughlin posted a fake certificate stating that each investors’ deposits were insured up to $50,000, and he also made audio recordings in which he falsely claimed that members were earning significant returns on their investments.

By the end of 2009, Coughlin had ceased approving requests for account withdrawals from investors, claiming that taxing authorities in the United States and Canada were freezing Oxford’s assets abroad.  In January 2012, Coughlin falsely announced to investors that he had reached an agreement to resolve the tax issues, and he created a fictitious agreement on which he forged the signatures of an actual IRS employee in Washington, DC, and a lawyer based in New York.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, SEC, and TIGTA.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Hanly prosecuted the case.

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. 1:14-cr-221.

RICHMOND, Va. – Dante Beard, 33, of Henrico County was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  He is the 11th person sentenced as a result of a federal investigation of Henrico County cocaine dealers who were supplied by a dealer in North Carolina.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Shannon L. Taylor, Commonwealth Attorney for Henrico County; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Douglas A. Middleton, Chief of Henrico Police Division, made the announcement after the sentencing before United State District Judge Henry E. Hudson.   

Beard pled guilty on October 10, 2014 to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  According to the Statement of Facts filed with his plea agreement, authorities intercepted a telephone conversation between Beard and his Henrico supplier, Darryl Delaney, during which Beard ordered cocaine.  Beard subsequently admitted that he had been purchasing approximately two ounces of cocaine at a time, twice a month from Delaney.

Delaney and another Henrico dealer, Gordon Shelton, had been obtaining approximately 375 grams of cocaine at a time from Carlos Cooke, in North Carolina.  Cooke’s courier, Tomeka Wimbush, would transport the drugs to Virginia.  In connection with a Statement of Facts in support of his guilty plea, Cooke acknowledged that between 2007 and 2013 he distributed between five and fifteen kilograms of cocaine to Delaney and Shelton in quantities of 375 grams at a time.  They, in turn, would then distribute the drugs to local dealers, including Beard, Kevin Lee, Kelley Brown, Charles Kates, Stevenson Silencieux, Eric Wingate and Michael Epps.  Those individuals would then redistribute the cocaine in the local area.

This case was part of an 18-month OCDETF investigation, Operation Carolina and Back.   Cooke was sentenced to 288 months in prison on August 8, 2014; and Wimbush was sentenced to 51 months in prison on August 5, 2014.  Delaney was sentenced to 156 months in prison on May 14, 2014; Shelton was sentenced to 120 months in prison on April 18, 2014; Silencieux was sentenced to 48 months in prison on September 19, 2014; Lee was sentenced to 108 months on September 19, 2014; Brown was sentenced to 48 months in prison on September 19, 2014; Kates was sentenced to 72 months in prison on October 3, 2014; and Wingate was sentenced to 41 months prison on October 16, 2014.  Epps, of Urbana, Virginia, was sentenced to 40 months in prison on October 3, 2014.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Henrico Police Division.  Assistant United States Attorney David T. Maguire and Matthew Ackley, Special Assistant United States Attorney and Henrico County Regional Drug Prosecutor are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 3:14-cr-070, 3:14-cr-003, 3:14-cr-016 and 3:14-cr-030

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Robin Anne Krohn, 31, of Stafford, Virginia, was sentenced today to 143 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Charles E. Jett, Stafford County Sheriff, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris.

Krohn pleaded guilty on July 22, 2014.  According to court documents, Krohn is a former patient of Dr. Nibedita Mohanty, who was indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, aiding and abetting health care fraud, and aiding and abetting money laundering on July 24, 2014.

Krohn was a patient of Dr. Mohanty from approximately February 2010 through December 2011.  During that time, Dr. Mohanty prescribed excessive dosages of controlled substances to Krohn.  Krohn both abused the medication she was prescribed, snorting up to 150 pills per day, and distributed a large portion of the controlled substances prescribed by Dr. Mohanty for a profit, earning between $3,000 - $5,000 per week throughout the course of the conspiracy.

Knowing that Dr. Mohanty freely prescribed excessive dosages of controlled substances, Krohn was also responsible for recruiting a number of individuals to see Dr. Mohanty in order to obtain unnecessary prescriptions, which Krohn and her conspirators would later abuse and distribute for profit.

This case was initiated and investigated by the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office and assisted by the FBI’s Richmond and Washington Field Offices. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Ballantyne and Nicole Grosnoff prosecuted the case.

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. 1:14-cr-256.

NORFOLK, Va. –Antwan Black, a/k/a “Twizzy,” 31, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by 8 years of supervised release for the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine.  He was further sentenced to an additional consecutive 5 years in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

According to court documents, Black was the leader of a drug trafficking organization out of Portsmouth, Virginia.  Between 2009 and July, 2013, Black sold heroin, cocaine-base and cocaine in the Portsmouth area. In 2012 and 2013, Black began using other individuals to man hotel rooms in the downtown Portsmouth area to sell drugs.  Black furnished the room with ounces of heroin and crack cocaine daily.   He paid for the hotel rooms, cell phones and other costs for his dealers.  At the end of the day, Black retrieved the money from sales and would re-supply the room.  Black carried a firearm with him during most of his drug deliveries.  He and his co-conspirators also used homes of drug users to sell their narcotics.  Drug users were given free drugs for access to their homes. As part of the investigation, authorities recovered two loaded firearms – a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and a MK99 assault rifle – from residences used by Black.  Both firearms were loaded.   

Black was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 10, 2014 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 28 grams or more of crack cocaine on March 17, 2014.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portsmouth Police Department.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Cross prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the EasternDistrict 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. 2:14-cr-15.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Ismail Elmas, 49, of Vienna, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to defrauding more than 10 of his investment advisory clients—many of whom were seniors and widows—of more than $1 million in funds they entrusted to him to invest on their behalf.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.

Elmas was charged by criminal information on October 21, 2014, on wire fraud charges.  Elmas faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on January 16, 2015. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Elmas admitted to having worked as an investment adviser at Apple Financial Services (AFS), an affiliate of Apple Federal Credit Union (AFCU), during the time of his offense.  Elmas also was registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as an investment adviser.  In addition, he owned and operated a bank account in the name of “I.E. Financial Solutions.”  From at least 2012 through in or around August 2014,  Elmas misappropriated client funds given to him for legitimate investments in his capacity as an investment adviser, and he used those funds for his own purposes by way of his I.E. Financial Solutions bank account at NFCU.  Elmas misappropriated these client funds in different ways.  For example, he materially withheld the fact that I.E. Financial Solutions was his own bank account, never telling his clients that they were giving their money to his own purported investment vehicle.  In other instances, Elmas falsely described I.E. Financial Solutions to clients as a particular investment vehicle (e.g., a Certificate of Deposit or a Real Estate Investment Trust).  And for other clients, Elmas simply transferred the funds to his I.E. Financial Solutions account without providing truthful disclosures about the use and disposition of the funds.  As a result of Elmas’ scheme, more than 10 victims lost more than $1 million but less than $7 million.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Golder is prosecuting the case.

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. 1:14-cr-328.

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NORFOLK, Va. –Antwan Black, a/k/a “Twizzy,” 31, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by 8 years of supervised release for the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine.  He was further sentenced to an additional consecutive 5 years in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

According to court documents, Black was the leader of a drug trafficking organization out of Portsmouth, Virginia.  Between 2009 and July, 2013, Black sold heroin, cocaine-base and cocaine in the Portsmouth area. In 2012 and 2013, Black began using other individuals to man hotel rooms in the downtown Portsmouth area to sell drugs.  Black furnished the room with ounces of heroin and crack cocaine daily.   He paid for the hotel rooms, cell phones and other costs for his dealers.  At the end of the day, Black retrieved the money from sales and would re-supply the room.  Black carried a firearm with him during most of his drug deliveries.  He and his co-conspirators also used homes of drug users to sell their narcotics.  Drug users were given free drugs for access to their homes. As part of the investigation, authorities recovered two loaded firearms – a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and a MK99 assault rifle – from residences used by Black.  Both firearms were loaded.   

Black was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 10, 2014 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 28 grams or more of crack cocaine on March 17, 2014.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portsmouth Police Department.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Cross prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the EasternDistrict 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. 2:14-cr-15.

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RICHMOND, Va. – Brady Nurse, 38, of Bothell, Washington, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with the fraudulent reimbursement of expense invoices while he served as a Baptist missionary in Portugal.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Richmond Division, made the announcement after the guilty plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge David J. Novak.  Nurse faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and full restitution when he is sentenced on January 21, 2015, by United States District Judge James R. Spencer.

In a statement of facts filed in support of his plea agreement, Nurse admitted that from 2008 to 2013, while working in Portugal as a Baptist missionary for the International Mission Board (“IMB”), he fraudulently obtained $285,412.73 through 135 fraudulent reimbursement requests.  The IMB is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest evangelical denomination, with more than 40,000 churches and nearly 16 million members.  It is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.  The IMB is dedicated to evangelizing around the world with approximately 4,800 missionaries worldwide.

Nurse acknowledged that in 2006, he was appointed to Apprentice status (missionary) by the IMB, and assigned to Lisbon, Portugal.  In 2009, he was approved for Career status. Nurse served as the Logistics Coordinator (“LC”) in Portugal, responsible for ensuring the payment of certain expenses for himself, other missionaries, and the IMB overall while overseas.  He was also responsible for the financial support activities for IMB field personnel assigned to Portugal.  As a Logistics Coordinator, Nurse was paid on an as-needed basis, for field personnel housing, car maintenance, applicable taxes, and major purchases.

IMB LC’s located overseas conducted business from both IMB bank accounts and personal accounts.  Nurse acknowledged that when an authorized expense was incurred, he would prepare a request for reimbursement, supported by appropriate documentation.  He would then submit the reimbursement request by wire transfer/email from Portugal to the IMB offices in London, U.K., which were then routed to IMB offices in Richmond, Virginia.  Once the reimbursement requests were approved by the IMB, Nurse was paid by electronic funds transfers to his overseas bank account through on line banking from a Richmond, Virginia. The internal auditing and control staff of the IMB initially detected, and then determined the extent of Nurse’s fraudulent scheme, subsequently reporting it to the F.B.I.

Nurse admitted using a variety of techniques to submit for, and fraudulently receive, funds from IMB.  For instance,  he increased amounts on valid documents/invoices submitted on expense reports to fraudulently increase his reimbursement; submitted fraudulent, manufactured, and/or duplicated documentation on expense reports for reimbursement; submitted inadequate documentation, such as quotes and estimates for services to be performed by vendors rather than actual paid invoices, but falsely represented them as services actually provided; altered documentation; and was reimbursed for non-reimbursable expenses such as a jewelry purchase disguised as vehicle painting.

On January 30, 2014, Nurse officially resigned from IMB.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney S. David Schiller is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 3:14-cr-138.

RICHMOND, Va. – Christopher J. Burruss, 37, of Toano, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to Interstate Threat to Injure the Reputation of Another, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 875(d).  Burruss faces a maximum of 2 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and one year of supervised release when he is sentenced on January 21, 2015, by United States District Court Judge James R. Spencer.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Richmond Division, made the announcement after the guilty plea was accepted by Magistrate Judge David J. Novak.

According to court papers, the victim of the scheme, T.N., is an attorney who previously represented Burruss in an Eluding Police and Driving Under the Influence (First Offense) criminal case in New Kent County, Virginia.  In November 2010, Burruss went to trial and was ultimately convicted on both offenses.  In November 2012, Burruss filed a Habeas Corpus Petition in state court, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel by T.N.  After a hearing on the matter, the Virginia Circuit Court with jurisdiction over the case rejected Burruss’s challenge.  He appealed and, in early 2014, the case was pending before the Virginia Supreme Court with oral arguments scheduled for February 11, 2014.

As part of the plea, Burruss admitted that on September 12, 2013, he filed a Virginia State Bar complaint against T.N.  Among other allegations, Burruss stated that he believed that T.N. had mishandled the New Kent County criminal case and had inappropriate communications and contact with Burruss’s friend, S.B., and another woman leading up to and after the criminal case that affected T.N.’s representation.  Included with the complaint, Burruss attached several embarrassing email and text messages between T.N., S.B., and two other women.  Also included were affidavits from S.B. and another woman detailing some of their interactions with T.N. before and after the New Kent County criminal case.  These emails, text messages, and affidavits later served as the basis for Burruss’s extortionate threats against T.N.

From January 23, 2014, through January 26, 2014, Burruss, with the assistance of S.B., began a direct email exchange with T.N. in which Burruss communicated his extortionate demands.  In a series of three emails, his demands evolved and required that to avoid disclosure of the embarrassing communications to the press, T.N. would have to submit an affidavit to the Virginia Supreme Court admitting to mishandling the New Kent County criminal case and repay almost $20,000 in legal fees incurred by Burruss in connection with the case.  The one-count information charging Burruss is premised on the following extortionate communication sent by Burruss on January 24, 2014, in response to a series of questions from T.N.:

Hi [T.N.]-
In response to your letter this morning Chris is seeking that you write an affidavit to be submitted to the Supreme Court admitting that you mishandled the case. He is also seeking complete restitution, which would include your retainer and the $20,000 in legal fees since then.  In the event that the DUI fine remains in effect he asks that you pay that, as well.  Neither of the affidavits from [C.E.] or myself were submitted to the court.  They are not yet public record, however Chris intends to move forward on Monday afternoon.  As far as the Bar is concerned we all know they would prefer to keep all of this very quiet.
Best regards-
[S.B.]

After receiving the final email on the afternoon of January 26, 2014, T.N. had no further communication with Burruss or S.B.  T.N. reported this matter to federal and state authorities, which led to the current prosecution.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Richmond office.  Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Gill and Heather Hart are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States

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. 1:14-cr-135.

NORFOLK, Va. – Shaniesta Kenay Banks, 22, of Chesapeake, Virginia, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

Banks pleaded guilty on December 11, 2013.  According to court documents, Banks became involved in the conspiracy when she was contacted by coconspirator Robert Harold Scott, Jr. under his assumed online identity of “Mike Pyro.”  Scott would routinely communicate with women in and around the Tidewater area to set up “sex parties,” where the women would work as prostitutes and Scott would pay them for their services.  In reality, Scott would not pay them and, at times, extort the women by threatening to publish sexually explicit videos.  In addition to the adult parties, Scott was found to be conspiring with and producing child pornography with several different women, including Banks.  Law enforcement found that, when discussing the sex parties, sometimes Scott would request these women to produce child pornography and was very specific as to the sex acts he wanted done on camera.  Banks complied in return for the promise of money.  Specifically, Banks produced child pornography with a 4 year old child.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:14-cr-164.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – David Michael Fioramonti, 42, of Purcellville, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice related to evidence of child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Joseph R. Price, Chief of the Town of Leesburg Police Department; and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.

According to documents filed with the Court, on December 31, 2013, several officers with the Leesburg Police Department observed Fioramonti in his car in the parking lot of a Sheetz gas station in Leesburg, Virginia.  Fioramonti was using his iPad to access the Internet using Sheetz’s unsecured public WIFI.  The officers determined that Fioramonti was a registered sex offender, and he was not allowed to access the Internet from an unapproved device.  They approached Fioramonti and requested the iPad, but Fioramonti refused.  He then began hitting the iPad on the gear shift of the vehicle, shattering the screen.  He was arrested by the Leesburg Police Department and subsequently released. After failing to appear in court, an arrest warrant was issued for Fioramonti.  

On February 11, 2014, Maryland State Police Officers encountered Fioramonti in a hotel room in Frederick, Maryland.  Fioramonti barricaded himself in his hotel room and stated he had a weapon.  While in the hotel room, Fioramonti removed the hard drive from his Toshiba laptop and destroyed it.  The black hard drive had contained evidence of Fioramonti’s attempts to collect child pornography as well as information, such as screen names and IP addresses, of individuals who collect and share child pornography on the Internet.

Fioramonti was charged in a superseding information on October 17, 2014, with the obstruction of justice in violation.  Pursuant to his guilty plea, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on February 6, 2015. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated by the Town of Leesburg Police Department and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Gardner is prosecuting the case.

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. 1:14-cr-309.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Thirteen members of the street gang, La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, were recently indicted by a federal grand jury for their alleged roles in three murders and one attempted murder in Northern Virginia, among other charges. Court documents were unsealed today.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of Police of the Fairfax County Police Department; Earl L. Cook, Chief of Police of the Alexandria City Police Department; and Stephan M. Hudson, Chief of Police of the Prince William County Police Department made the announcement.

The 13 indicted defendants are currently in custody and awaiting further court proceedings. The defendants are: Pedro Anthony Romero Cruz, 28, residence unknown; Jose Lopez Torres, 25, of Falls Church, Virginia; Jaime Rosales Villegas, 30, of Richmond, Virginia; Juan Carlos Marquez Ayala, 21, of Falls Church; Omar DeJesus Castillo, 25, of Arlington, Virginia; Alvin Gaitan Benitez, 21, of Falls Church; Douglas Duran Cerritos, 18, of Falls Church; Christian Lemus Cerna, 18, of Falls Church; Araely Santiago Villanueva, 18, of Falls Church; Manuel Ernesto Paiz Guevara, 19, of Falls Church; Jose Del Cid, 18, of Alexandria; Jesus Alejandro Chavez, 24, of Alexandria; and Genaro Sen Garcia, 19, residence unknown.

According to the nine-count indictment, on or about October 7, 2013, in Fairfax County, Virginia, defendants Torres, Ayala, and Castillo, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally murdered Nelson Omar Quintanilla Trujillo. The three defendants, with the alleged assistance of Benitez, then buried the body of Trujillo.

The indictment also alleges on or about March 29, 2014, in Fairfax County, defendants Castillo, Benitez, Cerritos, Cerna, Villanueva, Guevara, and Del Cid, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally murdered Gerson Adoni Martinez Aguilar.

The indictment also alleges on or about June 19, 2014, in the City of Alexandria, defendants Del Cid, Chavez, and Garcia, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally murdered Julio Urrutia. The indictment alleges that Chavez killed Urrutia by shooting him with a firearm.

According to the indictment, from on or about September 29, 2013, through on or about October 1, 2013, in Woodbridge, Virginia, defendants Cruz, Torres, and Villegas, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other and others to murder an unnamed person.

Eleven of the defendants face the maximum penalty of death, or a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The remaining two defendants, Villegas and Cruz, face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on the attempted murder charge, in addition to a consecutive minimum sentence of 10 years in prison due to the possession of a firearm charge. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Fairfax County Police Department; Alexandria City Police Department; Prince William County Police Department; and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Immigrations Customs Enforcement.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen M. Campbell and Julia K. Martinez are prosecuting the case.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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. 1:14-CR-306.

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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The former owner of Hampton Pipe and Tobacco, Jayson Mickle, along with nine others, were arrested yesterday and charged in a multi-count indictment relating to the distribution of controlled substance analogues, aka “Spice,” among other charges.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Washington, D.C.,  made the announcement after initial court appearances took place in Norfolk, Virginia, before United States Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller.  The defendants were all ordered held in custody pending a detention hearing in Newport News on October 20, 2014.

According to the indictment, the defendants ostensibly sold Blueberry Hedgehog, Cherry Hedgehog, Purp, Hampster Purp, Easta Pink and Yella to the public as “Aromatic Potpourri” and “Herbal Incense”, but they contained synthetic chemicals that mimic the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The defendants intended each to be smokable products, and consequently were subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laws and regulations. The FDA Office of Criminal Investigations considers these products as “street drug alternatives”, and as such, has concluded they pose a potential threat to public health.

The indictment includes the following charges, although individual defendant charges vary: Conspiracy to import and distribute controlled substance analogues (aka “Spice”), conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States, distribution of controlled substance analogues, misbranding, mail fraud, importation of a controlled substance, smuggling goods into the United States, maintaining drug involved premises, possession of acetone with intent to manufacture a controlled substance, distribution of drug paraphernalia, use of a communication facility to commit a drug crime and money laundering.  In addition to the criminal charges, the United States is seeking the forfeiture of 61 specific property items and a money judgment of nearly $13.15 million. According to the indictment, the charges arose from the individuals’ involvement with Hampton Pipe and Tobacco, a store formerly owned by Jayson Mickle, in the production and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids or “Spice”.

Jayson Mickle, 29, of Hampton, Virginia; Amanda Rowe, 30, of Hampton; Sandra Cooke, 52, of Hampton; Phillip Gibson, 45, of Hampton; Jake Pham, 29, of Newport News; David Jay Mickle, 52, of Hayes, Virginia; David Joseph Mickle, 31, of Hampton; Margaret Amber Phillips Cooper, 31, of Gloucester, Virginia; Jaime Wainwright, 24, of Hampton; Abigail Rose Phillips, 29 of Hampton; Christopher Ellis, 30, of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Justin Calderon, 32, of New York, New York; were charged in a multi-count indictment returned by a United States grand jury sitting in Newport News, Virginia.

Jayson Mickle, Rowe, Cooke, Gibson, Pham, David Jay Mickle, David Joseph Mickle, Margaret Amber Phillips Cooper, Jamie Wainwright, and Abigail Rose Phillips were arrested yesterday by federal, state and local law enforcement agents.

As the arrests were taking place, law enforcement agents also executed federal search warrants at Jayson Mickle’s home at 69 Chowning Drive in Hampton, and a business location associated with Angry Monkey Glass at 915 G Street in Hampton.

This investigation began more than two years ago in Gloucester County. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations; FDA Office of Criminal Investigations; Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office; Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Virginia State Police;  Tri-Rivers and Peninsula Task Forces; U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations; Hampton Police Division; Newport News Police Department; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Virginia Department of Emergency Services; Virginia Fusion Center; and the Virginia Marine Resources Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric M. Hurt and Kevin Hudson are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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. 4:14-cr-00053.

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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Michael John Baigert, Jr., 21, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, pled guilty today to four counts of production of child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller.

Baigert was indicted on September 10, 2014, by a federal grand jury on four counts of production of child pornography. The penalty for Production of Child Pornography is a mandatory term of 15 years with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Baigert will be sentenced on February 9, 2015, by U. S. District Court Judge Mark S. Davis.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Baigert acknowledged that in August, 2013, he travelled from his home in Virginia Beach to York County, Va., to visit “Jane Doe 1” whom he met via an on-line messenger app called KIK.  Baigert and “Jane Doe 1” entered a wooded area near her home where Baigert committed a number of sex acts on her.  The victim reported to the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office that she had been sexually assaulted.  Unbeknownst to the victim, Baigert recorded a portion of the sex acts on his iPhone. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s home where they seized a number of items.  Baigert admitted to detectives that he engaged in a number of sex acts with “Jane Doe 1” who he knew to be 14 or 15 years old.  Further investigation revealed three other victims, age 16 or younger, with whom Baigert engaged in sexual activity.  In each instance Baigert asked the victim if he could record their sexual activity and was told “no” each time.  Following execution of the search warrant, numerous homemade videos depicting young females engaged in sexually explicit conduct were found on electronic devices recovered from Baigert’ s home.  Baigert disputes that he asked any of the victims if he could record their sexual activity.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa R. McKeel is prosecuting the case.

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. : 4:14cr55

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced yesterday a settlement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Associated Foot & Ankle Centers of Northern Virginia, P.C. (AFAC), to ensure that it provides appropriate auxiliary aids and services to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing when providing medical services.

The investigation began with a complaint alleging that AFAC violated the ADA by failing to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services to a patient who is deaf during critical interactions relating to the patient’s medical care.  The complainant specifically alleged that AFAC failed to provide a sign language interpreter for multiple medical appointments and provided an individual who is not a qualified interpreter during other appointments.

“This settlement exemplifies our unwavering commitment to protect the rights of those who are deaf or hard of hearing and to ensure that they are able to communicate with health care professionals, especially when patients have complex interactions with medical providers,” said U.S. Attorney Boente.

The settlement agreement requires AFAC to pay $14,000 to the aggrieved individual and a $1,000 civil penalty to the United States; provide training to the podiatry practice’s staff on the requirements of the ADA; and adopt specific policies and procedures to ensure that auxiliary aids and services are provided promptly to patients and companions who are deaf or hard of hearing.

This matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Gordon, who coordinates the Civil Rights Initiative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia.

This case is a part of the Department of Justice’s Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative, which seeks to enforce the ADA’s prohibition of discrimination against individuals with disabilities by health care providers.  Through the Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative, U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the nation and the Department’s Civil Rights Division target their enforcement efforts on a critical area for individuals with disabilities—access to medical services and facilities.  The Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative is a multi-phase initiative that includes effective communication for people who are deaf or have hearing loss, physical access to medical care for people with mobility disabilities, and equal access to treatment for people who have HIV/AIDS.

The Department of Justice has a number of publications available to assist entities to comply with the ADA, including a Business Brief on Communicating with People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Hospital Settings, www.ada.gov/hospcombr.htm, and publications specific to health care providers, HIV discrimination, and effective communication with people with hearing and vision disabilities, as well as publications about tax credits available for providing access.  For more information on the ADA and to access these publications, visit www.ada.gov.  The settlement in this case, along with other Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative settlements may be found at www.ada.gov/usao-agreements.htm.  For more information on the Barrier Free Health Care Initiative visit www.ada.gov/usao-agreements.htm.  Those interested in finding out more about these settlements or the obligations of public accommodations under the ADA may call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov.  ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Ronald Chisholm, 52, of Norfolk, Va., pleaded guilty yesterday to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States Senior District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr.

Chisholm waived indictment and was charged in a criminal information on October 6, 2014.  Chisholm faces a maximum penalty of 22 years when he is sentenced on January 22, 2015.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Chisholm’s scheme was discovered in 2013 after a local check cashing business noticed one of its employees had cashed over $2 million in U.S. Treasury checks.  The employee of the check cashing business identified Ronald Chisholm as the individual who cashed the treasury checks and indicated Chisholm paid her $200 per check to cash the treasury checks in violation of the company’s policies.  A subsequent IRS investigation determined that Chisholm, along with unidentified co-conspirators stole the personal identifying information of numerous people and filed at least 698 fraudulent income tax returns.  As a result of these false returns, Chisholm and his co-conspirators received a total of $2,273,119.52 in fraudulent income tax refunds.

This case was investigated by the Criminal Investigations division of the Internal Revenue Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Joseph L. Kosky is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 2:14-cr-132.

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RICHMOND, Va. – Freddy David Santos Campuzano, 32, a Mexican National who resided in Richmond, Virginia was sentenced to 57 months in prison for his role in a violent criminal organization that specialized in manufacturing and distributing fraudulent identification documents.  Santos Campuzano previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Engage in Racketeering and Conspiracy to Launder Money.  Because he is illegally within the United States, he faces deportation following the service of his prison sentence.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Washington, D.C., made the announcement after the sentence was handed down by Senior United States District Judge James R. Spencer.  The Court granted the request of the United States for a variance, and sentenced the defendant above the calculated guideline range.

According to court papers, Santos Campuzano was connected to a Fraudulent Document Enterprise (FDE) previously prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia in United States v. Israel Cruz Millan, Case No. 3:10CR308.  The FDE originally operated in the United States beginning prior to 2008 and continuing through November 18, 2010, and had cells in Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Manassas, Virginia; Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas; New Haven, Connecticut; Mishawaka, Indiana; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; Chelsea, Massachusetts; St. Louis, Missouri; Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Providence, Rhode Island; and, Nashville, Tennessee.   The criminal enterprise was dismantled within the United States on November 18, 2010.  In the prior case and connected prosecutions, a total of 30 defendants were convicted.

On February 16, 2012, Judge Spencer sentenced the overall leader, Israel Cruz Millan, to 300 months’ imprisonment.   On March 2, 2012, United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson sentenced Oliverez-Jiminez to two consecutive life terms in prison, for racketeering, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to produce and transfer false identification documents. 
In connection with his guilty plea, Santos Campuzano admitted to helping the FDE restart its criminal activities in the United States following the 2010 arrests described above.  Beginning at some time prior to February 2012, Manuel Hidalgo Flores, also known as “Chino,” “Chimuelo” and “Julio,” began managing the organization’s operations in Richmond, Virginia; Springdale, Arkansas; Boston, Massachusetts; Raleigh, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  As in the previous case, the FDE produced high-quality false identification cards for distribution to illegal aliens.  In most cities where the organization operated, Hidalgo Flores placed a cell manager to supervise a number of “runners,” the lower level members of the organization who distributed business cards advertising the organization’s services and helped facilitate transactions with customers.

Beneath Hidalgo Flores, Santos Campuzano served as the manager of the Cincinnati, Ohio cell.  In general, within each cell, the manager was responsible for distributing the fraudulent documents using information obtained from clients by “runners.”  The runners would recruit illegal alien clients who wished to obtain false identification documents, including counterfeit Permanent Resident Alien Cards (also known as “Green Cards”), Social Security Cards, out-of-state identification cards, and various international documents.  The runners would relay identifying information and photographs from the client to the printer, who would create fraudulent identification documents for the client.  Once the documents were complete, the runner would usually provide the documents to the client in exchange for United States currency.

A client would generally pay approximately $150 for a set of fraudulent identification documents (such as a Permanent Resident Alien Card and Social Security Card).  Each cell maintained detailed sales records and divided the proceeds between the runner, the cell manager, and the upper level managers in Mexico.  In addition, the FDE used Western Union and MoneyGram to funnel criminal proceeds to Mexico.
The evidence during the Oliverez-Jiminez trial detailed how members of the organization sought to drive competitors from their territory by posing as customers in search of fraudulent documents and then attacking the competitors when they arrived to make a sale.  For example, Hidalgo Flores and other defendants connected to the Richmond cell admitted targeting a competitor in the Richmond, Virginia area on October 6, 2013.  The group identified L.G., who was selling fraudulent documents in competition with the Richmond cell.  A co-defendant posed as a customer and contacted L.G. about setting up a fraudulent documents transaction and then met with him at a designated location.  At the same time, Hidalgo Flores, and other FDE members, were surveilling the transaction.  The defendants planned to follow competitor L.G. after the transaction to find where L.G. produced fraudulent identification documents and intended to assault L.G. and steal his printing equipment with the intent to stop L.G. from selling fraudulent identification documents and to enhance the FDE’s control of the Richmond area fraudulent document market.

Unbeknownst to the FDE members, law enforcement officers were also surveilling the October 6, 2013 transaction.  Due to law enforcement intervention, L.G. was detained during a traffic stop and the FDE members fled the area.  According to his plea documents, Hidalgo Flores admitted that absent law enforcement intervention, he and his cohorts would have carried out their plan against L.G. 
To date, 42 members of this organization charged in the Richmond, Virginia federal cases have been convicted.  Santos Campuzano is the final charged defendant to be sentenced in the case. 
The case was investigated by the Richmond and Norfolk offices of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which falls under the Washington, D.C., office.  HSI received assistance from the Virginia State Police, Chesterfield County Police Department, and Henrico County Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gill is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Attorney General Eric Holder presented four Justice Department prosecutors with Attorney General Awards at a ceremony yesterday in Washington, D.C., in recognition of the team’s outstanding work in securing the convictions of multiple defendants for engaging in piracy off the coast of Somalia.
“With this important event, we come together to honor some of our nation’s most distinguished, dedicated, and deserving public servants,” said Attorney General Holder. “The hard work and impressive achievements of these 278 award recipients have inspired their colleagues at every level of the U.S. Department of Justice—including me. Their leadership has been indispensable in defining the past year as one of historic accomplishment in the face of nearly unprecedented challenge.”
“This prosecution demonstrates our commitment to obtaining justice for victims of piracy affecting the United States and the international community, and it sends a strong message that Somali pirates and their land-based leaders are not beyond the reach of U.S. and international law,” said U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia. “I want to commend the prosecution team, along with our investigative partners and legal support staff, for their ground-breaking work in securing these important convictions.”
The John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation was presented to Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Hatch and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. Depadilla and Brian J. Samuels of the Eastern District of Virginia, along with Trial Attorney Paul G. Casey from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, for their performance in prosecuting 14 sea-based Somali pirates and one land-based Somali pirate leader for their role in the capture and murders of four Americans onboard the sailboat Quest on Feb. 22, 2011.
These prosecutions resulted in two separate trials, one involving defendant Mohammad Saaili Shibin, followed by a two-month capital trial involving three defendants (Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar).
Shibin was the first Somali-based pirate leader ever brought to trial in the United States, and his case was the first time that U.S. piracy laws had ever been applied to a person who did not himself go onto the high seas to commit violent acts of piracy, but rather, facilitated those acts from the relative safety of Somalia. The prosecution team secured convictions on all counts and Shibin was sentenced to serve more than 12 life sentences.
In the second trial, all three defendants who were found guilty on 26 counts of the indictment. The district court subsequently imposed 19 consecutive life sentences, two concurrent life sentences, and a 30-year consecutive term in prison for each defendant.
These annual awards recognize Justice Department employees and other individuals for their dedication to carrying out the Department’s mission. The John Marshall Awards are the Department’s highest awards offered to attorneys, for contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance.

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.

RICHMOND, Va. – James Ashby Moncure, Jr., 42, of Fredericksburg, Va., was charged with five counts of Wire Fraud, one count of Mail Fraud, and two counts of Engaging in Unlawful Monetary Transactions.  If convicted on all charges, Moncure faces up to 140 years in prison and a fine of $2,000,000.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office; Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after the indictment was returned by the federal Grand Jury.

According to allegations in the indictment, Moncure, as a partial owner of Moncure Brothers LLC, partnered with The Silver Companies to develop property known as the Quantico Corporate Center (QCC).  The QCC is a business park located in Stafford County, Va., along Interstate 95 and US 1, adjacent to Marine Corps Base Quantico.  The indictment alleges that beginning prior to January 2010 and continuing through March 2014, Moncure solicited individuals for investment opportunities in exchange for short term promissory notes offering returns ranging from 10 percent up to 25 percent.  In connection with those investments, the indictment charges, Moncure represented that the investment funds would be used for acquiring and developing land for the QCC or another specified property.  The defendant also allegedly made misrepresentations about how the promised returns would be generated and about the security of investment funds.

The indictment alleges that Moncure misappropriated the overwhelming majority of the more than $9 million in investment funds he received, using them for payment of returns to earlier investors, transfers to investment trading accounts from which the defendant day-traded stocks and options, and other unauthorized purposes.  The indictment charges several transactions where the defendant received investment funds, followed by the defendant’s immediate wire transfer of those same funds to his Options Express, Inc., or Fidelity Investments trading accounts. 
This case was investigated by FBI’s Fredericksburg Field Office, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gill is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

This investigation has been coordinated by the Virginia Financial and Securities Fraud Task Force, an unprecedented partnership between criminal investigators and civil regulators to investigate and prosecute complex financial fraud cases in the nation and in Virginia.  The task force is comprised of several federal and state agencies, including the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and it also serves as an investigative arm of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), an interagency national task force.  For more information on FFETF, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

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

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Rolando Feliciano, 49, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today to charges relating to engaging in sexual activity with a 13-year old girl from Fairfax County, Va.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of Police of the Fairfax County Police Department; and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.

According to documents filed with the court, in July 2013, Feliciano used the website Facebook to contact the 13-year old girl.  Between July 2013 and March 2014, he had nearly daily contact with her using Facebook, Skype, and Facetime.  During their conversations, Feliciano repeatedly requested that she send him sexually explicit photographs and videos.  In addition, on three occasions Feliciano drove from New Jersey to Virginia to meet with the girl.  On two of those occasions he picked her up at her middle school, drove to a nearby park and engaged in sexual activity with her.

Feliciano was charged in a Superseding Information on October 7, 2014 with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor, and receipt of child pornography. Feliciano faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on January 9, 2015.  The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department, and FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Matt Gardner and Whitney Russell are prosecuting the case.

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. 1:14-cr-261.

NORFOLK, Va. – Katherine M. Kephart, 31, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five (5) grams or more of methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice.”  Kephart’s husband, Charles M. Kephart, 43, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced on January 23, 2014 to 78 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five (5) grams or more of methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice.”

Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation Norfolk Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen.

Katherine Kepart previously waived indictment and pled guilty on August 13, 2013.  According to court documents, in November of 2012, a cooperating source informed the FBI that Katherine Kephart and her husband were involved in methamphetamine trafficking.  The Kepharts were alleged to be obtaining quantities of methamphetamine from sources in the Ashville, North Carolina area and distributing in Virginia.  They regularly used methamphetamine and associated with known methamphetamine traffickers.  Katherine Kephart, who was a Virginia state probation and parole officer employed by the Virginia Beach Probation Office during this time, utilized her office facilities to further her husband’s drug trafficking activities.  She also traveled with her husband to North Carolina to procure methamphetamine and distributed methamphetamine on multiple occasions.  On February 28, 2013, Charles Kephart was arrested after he purchased 14 grams of methamphetamine during a controlled sale with the undercover officer.  The FBI then executed a federal search warrant on the Kepharts’ residence in Norfolk.  The search yielded drug paraphernalia, including at least seven small plastic bags or baggies, a piece of aluminum foil, four glass pipes, a spoon, two straws, a razor blade and an electronic scale.  Many of these items later tested positive for methamphetamine residue.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.