Eastern District of Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Antowan Thorne, also known as “Smooth,” 37, of Washington, D.C., was convicted yesterday of conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin following a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.  At least one individual died in Fairfax County, Virginia after using heroin provided by Thorne.

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.

According to the evidence presented at trial, during 2012 and 2013, Thorne conspired with others to distribute extremely potent heroin, largely to customers from northern Virginia.  On Aug. 21, 2013, four individuals from northern Virginia, including 16-year-old Emily Lonczak and Kyle Alifom, traveled to Washington, D.C. to purchase heroin from Thorne.  After using the heroin, Lonczak became unconscious and later died of a heroin overdose.

Alifom previously pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence for hiding Lonczak’s body after her overdose death.  Alifom was sentenced to 80 months in prison.  Thorne will be sentenced on Nov. 14, 2014.

This case was investigated by the DEA’s Washington Field Division 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 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-165.

RICHMOND, Va. – Alan Cooley, 34, of Falls Church, Virginia, was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday for engaging in the sex trafficking of a child and transporting a minor across state lines for prostitution.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement.

According to court records, on March 26, 2014, the FBI was alerted that the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’sOffice had received a tip that a juvenile female allegedly was engaged in prostitution for a pimp known as “Midas,” later identified as Cooley.  In the early morning hours of March 26, law enforcement located the juvenile in a hotel room in Dumfries, Virginia.  During a subsequent interview, the juvenile revealed that she had run away from her home in North Carolina and had been recruited initially by a pimp in Charlotte to engage in prostitution.  After two weeks of working for the Charlotte pimp, the juvenile allegedly was transported by Cooley to Fredericksburg, Virginia to engage in further prostitution.

According to court records, once Cooley, the juvenile and another adult prostitute arrived in Virginia, Cooley allegedly posted advertisements for the juvenile in the escorts section on Backpage.com.  Cooley also is alleged to have used physical force and threats of violence against the juvenile, including hitting her in the face multiple times when the juvenile refused to engage in certain sex acts with a customer.  When police first knocked on the Dumfries hotel room where Cooley and the juvenile were staying on March 26, Cooley is alleged to have violently prevented the victim from opening the door and threatened to kill her if she talked to the police.

Cooleyfaces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, with assistance from the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office and the Prince William County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather L. Hart is prosecuting the case.

Criminal 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. 3:14-cr-110.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The president of an international hotel brokerage firm was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for conducting a wide-ranging set of multi-million dollar fraud schemes involving the sale of several hotel properties.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Timothy A. Gallagher, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the defendant was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.

Robert Timothy Koger, 48, formerly of Oakton, Virginia, was the president and sole owner of Molinaro-Koger, an international hotel real estate brokerage and advisory firm headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.  Koger pleaded guilty on Jan. 16, 2014 to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court records, the charges arose from three separate schemes executed by Koger, which resulted in losses exceeding $55 million.  The first scheme involved Koger’s illegal flipping of hotels and promissory notes securing hotels in which Host Hotels and Resorts, L.P. (“Host”) and others were victims.  In the second fraud, Koger executed a Ponzi scheme to steal and launder funds received from prospective buyers of hotels that were to be held in escrow while Koger negotiated with the hotel’s owners regarding the terms of the sale.  In the third scheme, Koger defrauded a Tampa, Florida-based physician and businessman in connection with the latter’s ownership of a hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In the first scheme, after Koger was hired by Host as a broker to sell two of its hotels, Koger located legitimate buyers for the properties at a fair market price.  Rather than selling the hotels directly to the legitimate buyers, however, Koger recruited straw buyers controlled by him to whom he arranged the sale of the hotels by Host for considerably less than the legitimate buyers had agreed.  The straw buyers then immediately turned around and sold the hotels to the legitimate buyers at the higher price previously arranged by Koger.  Koger pocketed the difference between the legitimate purchase price and the straw buyer’s price, plus the commissions that Host paid Koger for arranging the “front end” sales with the straw buyers.  In a similar manner, Koger defrauded Host by having a straw buyer purchase promissory notes securing European hotel properties in which Host was interested.  The straw buyer then resold the notes to Host for considerably more than it paid for them.  In total, Koger defrauded Host of over $22 million.

In the second fraud scheme, Koger received deposits from prospective buyers of hotels that were to be held in escrow while Koger negotiated with the hotel’s owners regarding the terms of the sale.  Contrary to his representations to the prospective buyers, Koger was not actually holding their funds in escrow.  Instead, he used their funds to pay for personal and business expenses, including to repay prospective buyers whose funds previously were purportedly held in escrow by Koger.

Finally, Koger defrauded “K.P.,” a Tampa-based investor who owned the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh.  A management firm that held a promissory note secured by the hotel decided to sell the note, and K.P. submitted an offer to buy the note for less than its face value.  In what is described in court records as a “walk-away fraud,” Koger used an alias (“Rick Thompson”) to contact K.P. about his bid for the hotel’s promissory note.  As part of this process, Koger (acting as “Rick Thompson”) falsely claimed to K.P. that “Thompson” had submitted a higher bid for the note than K.P.’s bid, but “Thompson” then offered to withdraw his bid if K.P. paid “Thompson” $2.5 million to walk away from his purportedly higher bid.  After K.P. paid off “Thompson,” Koger used a different alias (“John Stern”) to contact K.P. again about the property.  In what is described in court records as a “break-up fraud,” “Stern” falsely offered to buy the hotel from K.P., but then threatened to sue K.P. over an alleged breach of contract related to the sale, unless K.P. agreed to pay “Stern” $15 million.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael E. Rich and Chad I. 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-18.

NORFOLK, Va. – Sierra Danyelle Halsey, 23, of Suffolk, Virginia, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

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

Halsey pleaded guilty on May 5, 2014.  According to court documents, Halsey 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 sometimes would 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 Halsey.  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.  Halsey complied in return for the promise of money.  Specifically, Halsey produced child pornography on several occasions with a 1 year old and a 5 year old.  Halsey also obstructed justice by deleting electronic evidence at the behest of Scott after he was arrested in the Fall of 2013.
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 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

RICHMOND, Va. – Lamar Keith Garvin, 49 years old, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 30 years and 1 day in prison for his role in a string of armed jewelry store robberies.     
       

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Carl J. Vasilko, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Washington Field Division, made the announcement after the sentence was imposed by United States District Judge John A. Gibney.

A federal grand jury indicted Garvin on August, 20, 2013, on charges of Attempted Interference with Commerce by Robbery and Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to a Felony Crime of Violence arising out of the January 12, 2013, attempted robbery of the Zales Jewelry Store at Spotsylvania Towne Center.  He was arrested on November 4, 2013 and held without bond pending trial.  On January 21, 2014, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery, three additional counts of Interference with Commerce by Robbery and a second charge of Using, Carrying and Brandishing a Firearm During and In Relation to a Felony Crime of Violence.
On May 12, 2014, after opening statements on day-one of his jury trial, Garvin pled guilty to all of the charges in the superseding indictment. 
In a proffer of facts made in support of the plea, Garvin admitted that he had committed the crimes charged in the superseding indictment.  Specifically, Garvin admitted that between September 2012 and March 25, 2013, he and his coconspirators agreed to rob a number of jewelry stores in the Baltimore, Maryland and Spotsylvania and Richmond, Virginia areas.  Garvin admitted that on September 12, 2012, he and Michael Richardson robbed the Zales Jewelry Store in Baltimore County, Maryland and stole approximately $115,499 worth of jewelry.  Garvin further admitted that on November 13, 2012, he, Richardson and another coconspirator robbed at gun point the Kay Jewelers in Short Pump Mall, in Henrico County, and stole approximately $341,718 worth of jewelry.  Garvin further admitted that on January 12, 2013, he, Richardson and Veronica Smith attempted to rob the Zales at the Spotsylvania Towne Center, but their attempt was foiled by a clerk who apprehended Michael Richardson.  Richardson was armed with a firearm during that robbery attempt.  Garvin further admitted that on February 18, 2013, he and two other coconspirators robbed the Littman Jewelers in Short Pump Mall, Henrico, County, at gun point and stole $125,000 worth of jewelry.  Garvin admitted also that on March 25, 2013, he and two coconspirators robbed the Fink’s Jewelers located at Stony Point, in Richmond, Virginia at gunpoint, and stole approximately $400,000 worth of jewelry. 
Two of Garvin’s coconspirators, Michael Richardson, 49, of Washington, D.C., and Veronica Smith, 54, of Washington, D.C. were sentenced earlier this year for their roles in the robberies.  Richardson was sentenced to 15 years for his role in three robberies.  Smith, who was only involved in one attempted robbery, was sentenced to 87 months of imprisonment.
This case was investigated by the ATF, Henrico County Police Department, Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Department and the City of Richmond Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Olivia L. Norman 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. 3:13-cr-141.
          

NORFOLK, Va. – Timothy S. Miller, 58, a co-founder of a Chesapeake, Virginia, government contracting company, pleaded guilty today to providing illegal gratuities to two public officials working for the United States Navy Military Sealift Command.

United States Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after Miller’s guilty plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, in February 2009, Miller, along with his business partner, Dwayne A. Hardman, co-founded a government contracting company that was designed to provide telecommunications support to the Military Sealift Command, which is the leading provider of transportation for the U.S. Navy.

At his plea hearing, Miller admitted that he provided illegal gratuities to two public officials for, or because of, favorable official acts.  On May 12, 2009, Miller provided $30,000 in cash to Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the Military Sealift Command’s N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, and Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., a government contractor who worked with Toy at the Military Sealift Command Headquarters.  On May 14, 2009, Miller agreed that another $20,000 cash payment be delivered to Toy and Miserendino by Hardman.

According to Miller’s statement of facts, Toy exercised substantial influence over the Military Sealift Command contracting process, by creating and executing multi-million dollar budgets, obtaining funding for projects, developing and having access to sensitive information, and requesting that subcontract work be awarded to particular companies.  As a result of the $50,000 payment, Miserendino and Toy performed various official acts to assist Miller’s company.  Indeed, in 2009, Miller’s company received approximately $2.5 million in business from the Military Sealift Command.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Miller has agreed to forfeit $167,000.

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014.  He faces a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison.

Earlier this year, six other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme.  On February 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 29, 2014, to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000.  On February 18, 2014, Hardman pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 9, 2014 to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $144,000. On February 19, 2014, Michael P. McPhail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on August 5, 2014, to 36 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.  On March 5, 2014, Roderic J. Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on June 23, 2014, to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,000.  On April 4, 2014, Adam C. White pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on July 11, 2014, to 24 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.  On August 12, 2014, Scott B. Miserendino, Sr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and accepting bribes and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014. 

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS, and DCIS.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – James T. McBride, 60, of Columbus, Ohio, the self-proclaimed leader of a group known as “Divine Province,” was convicted today by a federal jury of conspiracy, causing the impersonation of a diplomat and producing false identification documents.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. 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 the verdict was accepted by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.

McBride was indicted on May 14, 2014, by a federal grand jury of one count of conspiracy, one count of causing the impersonation of a diplomat and four counts of producing false identification documents.  According to the evidence at trial, McBride was the leader of a sovereign citizen group called “Divine Province,” whose members claimed the U.S. government was a “municipal corporation” that did not have authority over them.  McBride produced and distributed false diplomatic identification cards to his group’s members, and he encouraged them to make claims of diplomatic immunity to avoid arrest, debts or taxes.  None of the group’s members were in fact accredited diplomats.
McBride started selling the identification cards in September 2012 at a seminar he organized in Herndon, Virginia.  Afterwards, he started selling the IDs from a website and shipping them around the country.

McBride sold the IDs in pairs, one that identified the holder as a “Universal Post Office Diplomat” and another that purported to be an “International Diplomatic Driver Permit,” for approximately $200.  The defendant also encouraged his members to send copies of the IDs to governmental agencies to notify them of a member’s “status” as a diplomat.  The defendant claimed that his authority to issue the IDs came from the Vatican.  The defendant also gave a televised interview on ABC News prior to the filing of charges in the case, in which he reiterated such claims.  During the course of the charged conduct, the defendant’s organization earned close to $500,000.

McBride faces a maximum punishment of five years in prison for the conspiracy count, ten years for the count of causing the impersonation of a diplomat, and five years for each count of producing a false identification document.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with significant assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney William E. Johnston and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kosta S. Stojilkovic 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-175.

**UPDATE** Nov. 30, 2015 - Dr. Bajoghli was found not guilty on all counts after a 16-day trial. Original press release announcing the indictment is below.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Amir Bajoghli, 44, of McLean, Virginia—a dermatologist, the owner of the Skin & Laser Surgery Center and a former Washingtonian magazine “Top Doctor”—was indicted by a federal grand jury today on 60 counts of health care fraud, aggravated identity theft and obstruction of justice.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Timothy A. Gallagher, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Nicholas DiGiulio, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS); Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office; and Patrick E. McFarland, Inspector General of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), made the announcement.

According to the indictment, from 2009 to 2012, Bajoghli defrauded various health care benefit programs through his medical practice, the Skin and Laser Surgery Center, which had offices in Stafford, Woodbridge and Vienna, Virginia, and in Washington, D.C.

First, the indictment charges that Bajoghli intentionally misdiagnosed patients with skin cancer, performed unnecessary and invasive Mohs micrographic surgery on patients’ benign skin tissue and submitted claims to health care benefit programs on the basis of fraudulent skin cancer diagnosis codes and false certifications that the procedures had been medically necessary for the health of the patients. According to the indictment, Bajoghli also at times billed health care benefit programs for Mohs surgeries that he did not in fact perform.  Bajoghli also allegedly directed his staff to improperly dispose of medical waste at his practices.

Second, the indictment charges that Bajoghli directed his unlicensed and unqualified medical assistants to perform wound closures, including complex suturing and skin grafts, on Mohs surgery patients at follow-up office visits.  The indictment alleges that during these procedures, Bajoghli was seeing patients at other office locations and critical decisions regarding patient care were left to the medical assistants’ judgment.  In addition, the procedures were fraudulently billed to health care benefit programs as if Bajoghli had performed or personally supervised the procedures.  The obstruction of justice charge alleges that, during the course of the government’s investigation, Bajoghli directed his office staff to tell inquiring patients that he had personally performed their wound closures, regardless of whether that was in fact true.

Third, the indictment charges that Bajoghli fraudulently billed health care benefit programs under his provider number for services rendered by his nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant when he was not present at the office where the services were provided.  Bajoghli is alleged to have fraudulently certified to health care benefit programs that he had personally provided or personally and immediately supervised the services.  The alleged conduct, at times, amounted to Bajoghli fraudulently billing as if he was seeing patients at three locations at once.

Finally, the indictment charges that Bajoghli defrauded health care benefit programs with respect to billing for the preparation and evaluation of permanent section biopsy slides.  The indictment alleges that Bajoghli paid an Ohio company approximately $5 per slide to prepare the slides and a Connecticut dermatopathologist approximately $10 per slide to evaluate them, render diagnoses and prepare pathology reports.  According to the indictment, Bajoghli and the dermatopathologist falsely represented the reports as Bajoghli’s work product to allow the dermatopathologist to avoid malpractice exposure, and Bajoghli fraudulently billed both the preparation and evaluation of the specimens at up to $450 per slide as if he had performed both services.

If convicted, Bajoghlifaces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison on each health care fraud count, a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence for each of the aggravated identity theft counts, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the obstruction of justice count.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, HHS’s Office of the Inspector General, DCIS and OPM’s Office of the Inspector General.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Nathanson is prosecuting the case.

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-278.

NORFOLK, Va. – Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., 55, a former contractor for the United States Navy Military Sealift Command, pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes and conspiring to commit bribery.

U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after Miserendino’s guilty plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Miserendino was a government contractor at the Military Sealift Command, which is the leading provider of transportation for the U.S. Navy.  In that position, Miserendino worked closely with Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate.  In approximately November 2004, Miserendino and Toy initiated an extensive bribery conspiracy that spanned five years, involved multiple coconspirators including two companies, and resulted in the payment of more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things of value to Miserendino and Toy in exchange for official assistance.

At his plea hearing, Miserendino admitted that he solicited and accepted regular cash bribes, as well as other things of value, from two Chesapeake, Virginia contracting companies, referred to as Company A and Company B in court documents, in exchange for providing favorable treatment to those companies in connection with U.S. contract work.  More specifically, Miserendino admitted that he accepted $3,000 in cash bribes per month from various employees at Company A, including co-conspirators Dwayne A. Hardman, Roderic J. Smith, Michael P. McPhail, and Adam C. White.  Miserendino also admitted that he, along with Toy, accepted a cash bribe payment of $50,000 in May 2009 that was paid to him by Company B’s founders, Hardman and Timothy S. Miller.

In addition to more than $265,000 in cash bribes, Miserendino also admitted that he and Toy received other things of value, including flat screen televisions, laptop computers, a vacation rental in Nags Head, North Carolina, a football helmet signed by Troy Aikman, and softball bats.

According to plea documents, in exchange for the bribes, Miserendino and Toy performed various official acts to assist Company A and Company B.  Indeed, during the conspiracy, Company A received approximately $3 million in business from the Military Sealift Command and Company B received approximately $2.5 million in business.

As part of his guilty plea, Miserendino also admitted to engaging in a scheme to conceal his criminal activity, which involved Miserendino arranging for more than $85,000 to be paid to one of his co-conspirators, Hardman, in an attempt to prevent Hardman from reporting the bribery scheme to law enforcement authorities.

Miserendino is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014. 

Earlier this year, five other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme.  On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 29, 2014, to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000.  On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman, the co-founder of Company A and Company B, pleaded guilty to bribing Toy and Miserendino, and he was sentenced on July 9, 2014, to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $144,000.  On Feb. 19, 2014, Michael P. McPhail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on Aug. 5, 2014, to 36 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.  On March 5, 2014, Smith, the co-founder and former president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on June 23, 2014, to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,000.  On April 4, 2014, White, a former vice president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on July 11, 2014, to 24 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.  

The remaining defendant, Miller, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.  Miller’s trial is set for Sept. 30, 2014, before Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS, and DCIS.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – James McNeal, 63, of Hyattsville, Maryland, and Alphonso Stoddard, 59, of Forest Heights, Maryland, were convicted by a federal jury of 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; Timothy A. Gallagher, Acting 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 verdict was accepted on Aug. 8, 2014 by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.

Stoddard was convicted of charges involving three separate bank robberies, and McNeal was convicted for his involvement in one bank robbery.  Stoddard faces a mandatory life sentence because of prior convictions for armed bank robberies, and McNeal faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  The two defendants will be sentenced on November 7, 2014.

According to court records and evidence at trial, the FBI identified 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, 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 Stoddard before returning to the Wells Fargo branch in Arlington.  At approximately 1:15 p.m., Stoddard and a third man, James Link, 56, of Washington, D.C., 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 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.
           
Link pleaded guilty to two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and admitted his involvement in four bank robberies.  He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 12, 2014.

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.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam B. Schwartz and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer A. Clarke 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-76.

WASHINGTON – Victor Manuel Contreras, 29, of Manassas, Virginia, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for obstructing and interfering with the enforcement of federal child sex trafficking laws.

U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division,  and Special Agent in Charge Clark E. Settle of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.  The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents and statements made at his plea hearing, in July 2011, Contreras engaged in chats via Facebook with a minor female.  In those chats, she indicated a desire to run away from home, and Contreras told her that he would help her if she did so.  Once the girl ran away from home, Contreras arranged for her to stay with other MS-13 gang members, who subsequently coerced her into prostitution.  When law enforcement officers interviewed Contreras during their search for the girl, Contreras lied about his relationship with her, and then called other MS-13 gang members to warn them that law enforcement officers were looking for her.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.              

The case was investigated by HSI, and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Alicia Yass of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary K. Daly of the Eastern District of Virginia.

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WASHINGTON – Nureni Abayomi Baruwa, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud today, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. 

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, which will be determined by the court at Baruwa’s Oct. 24 sentencing.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Caryn Finley of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division website.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Thirteen members of an international counterfeit currency ring were indicted today on racketeering and related charges for allegedly printing and distributing millions of dollars in counterfeit U.S. $100 bills.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Julia A. Pierson, Director of the U.S. Secret Service, made the announcement.

“This alleged counterfeiting ring used sophisticated techniques to mimic the security and design features of the redesigned U.S. $100 bill,” said U.S. Attorney Boente.  “I want to commend the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners for aggressively investigating this conspiracy and supporting the prosecution of these 13 defendants.”

“This case is a perfect example of the Secret Service combining traditional investigative methods with cutting-edge technology to resolve a long-term and complex counterfeit currency investigation,” said Secret Service Director Pierson.  “These arrests further demonstrate the remarkable level of success our Special Agents have had combatting counterfeit U.S. currency and other financial crimes over our 149 year history.”

According to court records, beginning around 1999, the Secret Service first detected a high-quality counterfeit $100 Federal Reserve Note in New York City.  The counterfeit bills, which are believed to have been manufactured in Israel through off-set printing, have been circulated predominately along the I-95 corridor and eastern United States.  More recently, beginning in January 2014, the organization allegedly established a domestic printing plant in New Jersey.  Since the detection of this counterfeit note, over $77.4 million has been passed or seized by law enforcement globally.  The Secret Service estimates that in 2013 alone, approximately $10.8 million worth of this counterfeit note was passed or seized.

As detailed in the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint in this case, the Secret Service recently developed critical investigative leads that ultimately contributed to the dismantling of this criminal distribution network.  From May 28 to June 13, 2014, agents executed federal arrest and search warrants across five states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Florida), culminating in the suppression of a sophisticated counterfeit printing plant in New Jersey that is suspected of producing one of the most prolific counterfeit notes in history.  As part of these searches, law enforcement recovered one Heidelberg and one Ryobi off-set printing press, three Heidelberg printing machines, an etching machine used to develop plates, multiple off-set plates, computer equipment, counting machines, approximately $240,700 in genuine U.S. currency, approximately $2.5 million in counterfeit U.S. currency and a stolen .45 caliber Colt 1911 gun.

As outlined in the table below, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned a superseding indictment on Aug. 7, 2014 charging ten members of the criminal enterprise with one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit multiple offenses relating to the counterfeiting of U.S. currency.  Three additional defendants (Barrett, Epps and Guerra) were charged with participating in the counterfeiting conspiracy.

All 13 defendants were initially charged by criminal complaint and arrested from May 28 to June 13, 2014.  The ten defendants charged with the racketeering conspiracy face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted, and the three defendants charged solely with the counterfeiting conspiracy face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.

The defendants are listed in the superseding indictment in the following order:

Defendant Name & Age

Residence

Arrest Location & Date

Custody/Bond Status

Rison Lezion, Israel

Jamaica, New York
May 28, 2014

In custody

Ronin Fakiro, 45

Rison Lezion, Israel

Jamaica, New York
May 28, 2014

In custody

Boaz Borohov, 43

Tel Aviv, Israel

Cherry Hill, New Jersey
May 28, 2014

In custody

Ofra Borohov, 45

Tel Aviv, Israel

Cherry Hill, New Jersey
May 28, 2014

In custody

Arkadiy Bangiyev, 37

Rego Park, New York

Rego Park, New York
May 28, 2014

In custody

Eduard Bangiyev, 39

Forest Hills, New York

Scranton, Pennsylvania
May 28, 2014

In custody

Johnny Elegante Lee, 44

Glen Oaks, New York

Miami, Florida
June 1, 2014

In custody

Tarell Lavon Johnson, 26

Lynbrook, New York

Lynbrook, New York
May 28, 2014

In custody

Craig Johnson, 48

Douglasville, Georgia

Douglasville, Georgia
June 13, 2014

In custody

Shannon Lamont Smith, 38

Woodstock, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia
May 28, 2014

Released on bond

Fredrick Barrett, 32

Hempstead, New York

Hempstead, New York
May 28, 2014

In custody

Ramel Epps, 23

Freeport, New York

Freeport, New York
May 28, 2014

Released on bond

Brattie Guerra, 22

Freeport, New York

Freeport, New York
May 28, 2014

Released on bond

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, with assistance from multiple field and resident offices of the Secret Service in Philadelphia, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Long Island and Scranton, Pennsylvania; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Prince William County Police Department; Stafford County Sheriff’s Office; and the police departments of Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Mt. Laurel, New Jersey; Nassau County, New York; Rockville Centre, New York; and Woodstock, Georgia.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly R. Pedersen and Gordon D. Kromberg are prosecuting the case.

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-206.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Brian Kim, 38, of Fairfax, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to defrauding the U.S. Postal Service by counterfeiting and selling approximately $76,000 in postage stamps at two packaging centers he owned and operated in northern Virginia.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Kim pleaded guilty to a criminal information containing one count of mail fraud.  He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 7, 2014.  Kim also has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $76,000, representing the total amount of illicit gains from the fraud.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Kim admitted that from January to October 2013, he counterfeited postal stamps that had been originally printed on a USPS-authorized postage meter, and he then affixed those stamps to packages and letters that customers brought to his packaging centers.  Neither the customers who purchased the stamps nor the USPS employees who picked up the packages were aware of Kim’s scheme.

Kim’s packaging centers were located in Fairfax and Arlington, Virginia.  On one representative day (Aug. 12, 2013), Kim caused the mailing of letters and packages bearing 80 counterfeit stamps, with a total value of $395.70.  On Oct. 15, 2013, postal inspectors seized approximately $23,974.59 worth of counterfeit stamps while executing search warrants at Kim’s businesses.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney William E. Johnston and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kosta S. Stojilkovic 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-239.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Ryan Fernandes, age 30 of Gloucester, Va., was sentenced today to 204 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release. This followed his November 12, 2013 guilty plea to Conspiracy to Distribute Analogues.

     Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis in Newport News.

     Fernandes was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 10, 2013, for his activities as the owner/operator of the Treasure Box on George Washington Highway in Gloucester, Virginia.
In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, the defendant admitted to conspiring with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a variety of analogue drugs, commonly referred to as “Spice” and “Bath Salts,” between January 2012 and July 2012.

     This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Virginia State Police Tri-Rivers and Peninsula Task Forces the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Eric M. Hurt prosecuted 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.

NORFOLK, Va. – A former employee of a government contracting company, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for conspiracy to bribe public officials at the United States Navy Military Sealift Command.

United States Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after McPhail’s sentencing before United States Chief District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Michael P. McPhail, 49, pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery on Feb. 19 2014.   According to his plea documents, McPhail is a former employee of a Chesapeake, Virginia, government contracting company, referred to as Company A, which sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command, the leading provider of transportation for the United States Navy.  At his plea hearing, McPhail admitted that from approximately March 2005 to approximately January 2007, he personally contributed approximately $45,000 of his salary toward bribe payments made to two public officials working for the Military Sealift Command.  McPhail further admitted that he did so in an effort to unfairly and illegally influence those public officials to provide favorable treatment to Company A in connection with United States government contracting work.  Specifically, McPhail and other Company A employees, including Roderic J. Smith, Dwayne A. Hardman, and Adam C. White, provided monthly cash bribes to two Military Sealift Command public officials, Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the Military Sealift Command’s N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, and Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., a former government contractor.  This extensive bribery conspiracy spanned five years, involved multiple co-conspirators and two different companies, and resulted in the payment of more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things of value, to Toy and Miserendino.

Earlier this year, four other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme.  On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Company A employees.  On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman, the co-founder of Company A, pleaded guilty to providing bribes to Toy and Miserendino.  On March 5, 2014, Smith, the former president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials.  On April 4, 2014, White, a former vice president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.  

 On June 23, 2014, United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan sentenced Smith to 48 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $175,000.  On July 9, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced Hardman to 96 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $144,000.  On July 11, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced White to 24 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $57,000.  On July 29, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced Toy to 96 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $100,000. 

On May 23, 2014, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Miserendino and Timothy S. Miller, a businessman whose company sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command.  The indictment charges Miserendino with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of criminal investigations and to commit tampering with a witness, and one count of obstruction of criminal investigations.  The indictment charges Miller with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.  Trial is set for Sept. 30, 2014, before United States Chief District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the FBI, DCIS, and NCIS.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN).

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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Olanrewaju Abiola, 39, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit access device fraud for participating in an identity theft and credit card fraud ring that operated in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore region.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Valerie Parlave, 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.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, from at least as early as September 2010 through at least June 2012, Abiola conspired with others to purchase stolen credit card data on the Internet or through other means.  This stolen data was then unlawfully loaded onto gift cards or unlawfully encoded onto other credit or debit cards through the use of device-making equipment, such as credit card encoders.  The counterfeit credit cards often were embossed with aliases belonging to the members of the conspiracy, including the alias of “Sean White,” which was used by Abiola.

Abiola and his co-conspirators then took trips, sometimes together, to use the re-encoded gift, credit or debit cards to buy gift cards and other merchandise at legitimate merchant locations like Giant, Rite-Aid and Nordstrom in or around the Washington-Baltimore region.  Abiola and his co-conspirators often presented counterfeit driver’s licenses displaying various aliases when requested by store clerks.  The co-conspirators then returned the merchandise they purchased in order to convert the stolen data to cash.
The actions of Abiola and his co-conspirators involved more than 250 victims and resulted in at least $200,000 in actual and intended losses.

Three other individuals from Baltimore previously have pleaded guilty for their roles in the identity theft and credit card fraud ring: Rameesha Smith, 30, Patrick Fagbemi, 33, and Kentrala Fulton, 35.  Smith was sentenced to 38 months in prison on June 20, 2014 for her role in the scheme.  Fagbemi and Fulton will be sentenced on Sept. 5, 2014 and Oct. 17, 2014, respectively.  Abiola faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 17, 2014.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmine H. Yoon 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 Nos. 1:14-cr-241 (Fulton), 1:14-cr-240 (Abiola), 1:14-cr-222 (Fagbemi), and 1:14-cr-87 (Smith).

WASHINGTON – Marcellus Williams, aka “Math,” “P-Shooter” and “Manny,” 27, of Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for engaging in numerous gang-related crimes as a ranking member of the Black P-Stones, including shootings of rival gang members, robberies and drug dealing.

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 and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement after sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. 

According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Williams was a “First Superior” in the Black P-Stones, a violent street gang also referred to as the P-Stone Bloods and Cobra Stones.  The Black P-Stones operated primarily in the Beechmont, Courthouse Green and Woodview neighborhoods in the Denbigh area of Newport News, Virginia, and its members engaged in various criminal activities including murders, robberies, drug trafficking and obstruction of justice.  As a First Superior, Williams directed and participated in the gang’s criminal activities, including robberies, attempted murder and marijuana sales.

According to the statement of facts, on April 27, 2008, Williams and other Black P-Stones members participated in a broad-daylight shooting on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News targeting a rival gang member.  The rival was shot twice and injured in his mouth, neck and shoulder. 

Additionally, on Dec. 10, 2008, Williams and other Black P-Stones members retaliated against a rival gang member who exhibited disrespect toward Williams’s girlfriend.  Approximately seven to eight bullets were fired at the rival gang member’s home in Williamsburg, Virginia, with bullets ripping through the living room and front door while two people were inside. 

Further, on March 9, 2009, Williams and other Black P-Stones members shot at the home of a rival gang member in retaliation for a previous altercation.  The rival gang member and another individual were inside of the home during the shooting, and one bullet nearly struck one of the people inside. 

Williams was charged in a superseding indictment on Dec. 9, 2013, and pleaded guilty on April 15, 2014, to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of possessing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.  

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Safe Streets Peninsula Task Force, with the assistance of the Newport News Police Department, James City County Police Department, and the Virginia State Police.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Louis A. Crisostomo and Marianne Shelvey of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt of the Eastern District of Virginia.

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NORFOLK, Va. – Jeffrey Chadwick Wright, 25, of Warrenton, NC, pleaded guilty today to travel in furtherance of a criminal activity, namely underage prostitution.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Charles May, Acting Executive Assistant Director for the Atlantic Operations, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, made the announcement after the plea was heard by United States Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller.

Wright was indicted on May 8, 2014 by a federal grand jury on charges of sex trafficking of children; travel in furtherance of criminal activity; and concealment of evidence.  Wright faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on November 14, 2014 before United States Chief District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

Wright, then on active duty in the U.S. Navy, assisted a 17 year old HIV positive female in running away from her foster home in Hampton Roads.  Wright then paid for backpage.com advertisements for escort services for the 17 year old in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.  Wright was arrested on state charges on March 3, 2014, when he and the victim were discovered by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in base housing on Naval Station Norfolk. 

This case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the Virginia Beach Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi and Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher A. George are 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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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Kelvin L. Brown (a.k.a. “Doom”), 34, of Newport News, was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of participating in a decade-long conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine.  Brown also was convicted of two counts of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

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

According to court records and evidence at trial, Brown was arrested by Newport News police on Sept. 13, 2013 in a barricaded apartment with a firearm, a scale and cocaine.  The evidence showed that Brown and his co-conspirators distributed crack and powder cocaine in the Newport News area beginning in the early 2000s, and they possessed firearms in order to protect the drug conspiracy and its proceeds.  Brown also made threats against a cooperating witness during the course of the case.

Brown will be sentenced on Dec. 8, 2014.  On the drug conspiracy conviction, Brown faces a mandatory term of five years and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.  On the two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, Brown faces a combined mandatory minimum term of 30 years in prison.  On the felon-in-possession conviction, Brown faces a maximum of ten years in prison.

This investigation was led by FBI and the Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the Newport News Police, Virginia State Police, and Newport News Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.  Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard J. Zlotnick and Trial Attorney Joseph K. Wheatley from the Organized Crime and Gang Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division 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. 4:13-cr-110.

RICHMOND, Va. – A former employee of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) pleaded guilty today to stealing over $239,000 in funds that were intended for educational programs to combat underage drinking.  

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after the guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney.

Steven Hammond, Jr., 29, of Richmond, Virginia, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with theft from a program receiving federal funds.  Hammond faces a maximum of ten years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 14, 2015.

“Hammond embezzled money that was intended to help save lives and improve public safety by combatting underage drinking,” said U.S. Attorney Boente.  “I commend our partners in state and federal law enforcement for their cooperative efforts to unravel this fraud and hold the defendant accountable.”

“This is a simple case of greed by someone who abused the public trust for his own benefit,” said Attorney General Mark Herring.  “Cooperation between state and federal partners was key to resolving this case, as it so often is.  The public should be reassured that the scam was detected, shut down, and the person responsible is being held accountable.  We will not allow people like this to defraud taxpayers and undermine the public’s confidence in our hardworking public servants.”

According to court documents, Hammond used his position as education coordinator at ABC to divert to himself funds that were intended to combat underage drinking through enforcement and education programs and conferences.   Beginning as early as 2009, Hammond began defrauding ABC by having the department write checks of less than $5,000 to various acquaintances he claimed would operate an educational program.  The acquaintances would then cash the checks on Hammond’s behalf, usually in exchange for a small return.  The investigation revealed Hammond stole more than $239,000 in funds that were intended for the programs to combat underage drinking. 

When an internal ABC audit in the spring of 2013 discovered Hammond’s scheme, he was placed on leave and additional financial controls were put into place.  The case was initially investigated by the Virginia State Police and The Virginia Office of Attorney General, which has authority to prosecute crimes involving the handling of funds by a state agency or the theft of state property.  Because the embezzled funds also involved federal grants, the Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the investigation.

This case was investigated by the FBI, Virginia State Police and Office of Attorney General.  Michael Jagels, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Virginia Assistant Attorney General, 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-227.

NORFOLK, Va. – Kenny E. Toy, 54, the former Afloat Programs Manager at the United States Navy Military Sealift Command, was sentenced today to serve 96 months in prison for receiving bribes.

United States Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Acting Executive Assistant Director Charles T. May Jr. of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Atlantic Operations and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after sentencing by United States Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia.

On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with one count of bribery.  According to the statement of facts filed with Toy’s plea agreement, Toy was employed as the Afloat Programs Manager in the N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate at the Military Sealift Command, which is the leading provider of transportation for the United States Navy.  In approximately November 2004, Toy joined an extensive bribery conspiracy that spanned five years, involved multiple co-conspirators, including two different companies, and resulted in the payment of more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things of value, to Toy and to Scott B. Miserendino Sr., a former government contractor who performed work for the Military Sealift Command.

At his plea hearing, Toy admitted that he accepted monthly cash bribes of approximately $3,000, as well as a flat screen television and a paid vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, from co-conspirators Dwayne A. Hardman, Roderic J. Smith, Michael P. McPhail, and Adam C. White, all of whom were employed at a government contracting company referred to as Company A in court documents.  Toy also admitted that he accepted a $50,000 cash bribe in May 2009 from Hardman and another co-conspirator, Timothy S. Miller, both of whom were employed at a government contracting company referred to as Company B in court documents.  In exchange for the bribes, Toy provided favorable treatment to Company A and Company B in connection with Military Sealift Command related business.

As part of his guilty plea, Toy also admitted to engaging in a scheme to conceal his criminal activity.  Toy admitted to causing more than $88,000 to be paid to Hardman in an attempt to prevent Hardman from reporting the bribery scheme to law enforcement authorities.

Toy was also ordered to serve a supervised release term of three years following his prison sentence, and ordered to forfeit $100,000.

Earlier this year, four other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme.  On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman, the co-founder of Company A and Company B, pleaded guilty to providing bribes to Toy and Miserendino.  On Feb. 19, 2014, McPhail, a former employee at Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.  On April 4, 2014, White, a former vice president at Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.    On March 5, 2014, Smith, the former president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials.  On June 23, 2014, United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan sentenced Smith to 48 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $175,000.

On May 23, 2014, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Miserendino and Timothy S. Miller, a businessman whose company sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command.  The indictment charges Miserendino with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of criminal investigations and to commit tampering with a witness, and one count of obstruction of criminal investigations.  The indictment charges Miller with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.  Trial is set for Sept. 30, 2014, before Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

Charges contained in an indictment are merely allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS and DCIS.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department.

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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Kenneth A. Brauckmann, 51, of Springfield, Virginia, was sentenced today to 132 months in prison for attempting to coerce and entice two children to engage in illegal sexual activities.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Brauckmann pleaded guilty on May 13, 2014.  According to court documents, in November 2013, Brauckmann used a social networking website to contact a user he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, who was in fact an undercover Fairfax County police detective.  Through online and text messages with the user, Brauckmann made arrangements to engage in sexual activities with her and her 13-year-old friend in his car.  Brauckmann repeatedly requested nude photographs of the two girls.  On Nov. 4, 2013, Brauckmann drove to a movie theater in Fairfax County, where he believed the two girls would meet him, and was arrested.

In court documents, Brauckmann admitted that he had engaged in similar illicit behavior with actual female children from whom he requested sexual encounters and nude photographs, and that, from January 2005 through his time of arrest, he engaged in multiple sexual conversations with others claiming to be girls between 13 and 16 years old.

This case was investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department and ICE-HSI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya D. Song prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. 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.justice.gov/psc.

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-166.

RICHMOND, Va. – Rasheeda McConnell, 33, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of conspiring to commit bank fraud and six counts of bank fraud.

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 the verdict was accepted by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney.

McConnell was indicted on March 4, 2014, by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and bank fraud charges.  According to court records and evidence at trial, McConnell was part of a group that stole business checks from commercial mailboxes and used them to make counterfeit checks.  The group then recruited people to cash the checks from areas where the homeless or unemployed would congregate.  McConnell drove conspirators for several of these transactions and also attempted to recruit cashers via email and social media.

McConnell faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on each count of conviction when she is sentenced on October 27, 2014.  Five co-defendants previously pled guilty in this case and are awaiting sentencing.   Christopher Eugene Pope is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15, 2014; Devante Carson is scheduled to be sentenced on August 27, 2014; Kevin Lavon Smith, and Rodney Keith Barnes, II, are scheduled to be sentenced on September 8, 2014; and Brandon Jermaine Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on October 17, 2014.  Another co-defendant, Damion Latoras Foster, remains at large.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, and Chesterfield County Police Department as members of the Metro-Richmond Identity Theft Task Force.  Other member agencies of the Task Force include: the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the U.S. Department of State, Richmond Police Department, and Henrico County Division of Police.  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. – The former chief of medicine at Stafford Hospital was indicted by a federal grand jury today on 45 counts charging the defendant with operating a chronic pain management practice through which she illegally distributed a wide range of prescription drugs to over 100 patients.

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; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Charles E. Jett, Stafford County Sheriff; and Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent, made the announcement.

Nibedita Mohanty, 56, of Stafford, Virginia, was indicted on one count of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances; one count of distributing and dispensing a controlled substance resulting in the death of a patient; two counts of distributing and dispensing controlled substances resulting in serious bodily injury (nonfatal overdoses); thirty-eight counts of distributing and dispensing controlled substances; two counts of aiding and abetting health care fraud; and one count of aiding and abetting money laundering.

Mohanty faces a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison, and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $10 million fine, if she is convicted of the major drug trafficking charge relating to the death of a patient after consuming oxycodone.

According to the indictment, Mohanty was a physician and served as the Chief of Medicine at Stafford Hospital from June 2009 to February 2013.  Starting in 2008, Mohanty represented herself as a chronic pain management doctor and treated over 100 patients.  In April 2013, the Virginia Board of Medicine suspended Mohanty’s medical license, and in September 2013, Mohanty surrendered her license for a period of three years.

According to court records, Mohanty distributed controlled substances, often for excessive dosages, to patients outside the bounds of professional practice and with no legitimate medical purpose, in exchange for cash sums paid by these patients for visits.  Mohanty also issued a number of prescriptions for controlled substances—such as oxycodone, fentanyl and morphine—despite knowing that her patients were abusing, misusing, distributing or selling the controlled substances.

In May 2011, for example, Mohanty prescribed 760 oxycodone 30 mg tablets, 120 OxyContin 80 mg tablets and 120 Dilaudid 8 mg tablets to a single patient, identified as V.W. in the indictment.  On June 1, 2011, V.W. consumed a portion of the oxycodone dispensed by Mohanty, allegedly causing V.W.’s death.  In addition, as a result of Mohanty’s prescriptions, other patients allegedly suffered serious bodily injury through nonfatal overdoses.

The indictment further alleges that Mohanty prescribed medications containing buprenorphine, a Schedule III controlled substance, for substance abuse and withdrawal, even though she did not have the requisite DEA license to do so.  In addition, Mohanty wrote prescriptions knowing that patients would attempt to fill the prescriptions using their health insurance, thereby causing fraudulent claims to be submitted to the patients’ insurance companies.

As alleged in the indictment, Mohanty received cash payments from her patients, and she used those payments to support a lavish lifestyle and maintain a large home, which included a swimming pool, for which she paid $32,000 cash in numerous denominations stuffed in envelopes.

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

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-256.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Salvatore Lopiccolo, age 35 of Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his participation in a drug conspiracy.

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

Lopiccolo was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 14, 2013, and on April 21, 2014, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute analogues, cocaine, cocaine base, methylone, marijuana, psilocybin and drug paraphernalia.

In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, the defendant admitted he conspired with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a variety of drugs and drug analogues from Bonsai Pipe and Tobacco. Multiple controlled purchases of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, methylone, psilocybin, drug analogues and drug paraphernalia were made from Bonsai, the defendant, and Bonsai employees.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Virginia State Police Tri-Rivers and Peninsula Task Forces the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the York-Poquoson County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt 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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Lauri Love, 29, of Stradishall, England, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on charges of conspiracy, causing damage to a protected computer, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; John R. Hartman, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); and Stephen Niemczak, Special Agent in Charge, Computer Crimes Unit at the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), made the announcement.

According to the indictment, beginning around October 2012, Love and his conspirators accessed without authorization protected computers belonging to DOE, HHS, U.S. Sentencing Commission, FBI’s Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, Deltek, Inc. and Forte Interactive, Inc. Love and his conspirators gained unauthorized access to the protected computers by exploiting a known vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion, a software program designed to build and administer websites and databases. The vulnerability, which has since been corrected, allowed Love and his conspirators to access protected areas of the victims’ computer servers without proper login credentials—in other words, to bypass security on the protected computers.

After gaining unauthorized access to the protected servers, Love and his conspirators obtained administrator-level access to the networks using custom file managers, which allowed the conspirators to upload and download files, as well as create, edit, remove and search for data. Love unlawfully obtained massive amounts of sensitive and confidential information stored on those computers, including more than 100,000 employee records with names, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and salary information, along with more than 100,000 financial records, including credit card numbers and names. Love’s actions caused total losses in excess of $5 million.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, in conjunction with the Inspectors General for the United States Department of Energy, United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the United States Postal Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan K. Dickey and Jay V. Prabhu are prosecuting the case.

Love faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison if convicted of the offenses charged in Virginia. He also faces a mandatory additional two years in prison if convicted of aggravated identity theft.  Love also is the subject of separate indictments on related charges in the District of New Jersey and the Southern District of New York.

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-258.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Three defendants were arrested today on charges of providing material support to al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization that is conducting a violent insurgency campaign in Somalia.  Two additional defendants are fugitives in Kenya and Somalia.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Frank Montoya, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office, made the announcement.

A superseding indictment was issued on June 26, 2014, by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, charging the defendants with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and 20 counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.  The indictment was unsealed after the following arrest warrants were executed today:

            Muna Osman Jama, 34, was arrested at her home in Reston, Virginia;

            Hinda Osman Dhirane, 44, was arrested at her home in Kent, Washington;

            Farhia Hassan was arrested at her residence in the Netherlands;

            Fardowsa Jama Mohamed is a fugitive in Kenya and the subject of a pending arrest warrant;                        and

            Barira Hassan Abdullahi is a fugitive in Somalia and the subject of a pending arrest warrant.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on each count in the indictment.

The Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin, commonly known as al-Shabaab, is a terrorist group conducting a violent insurgency campaign in Somalia.  In 2008, the U.S. government designated al-Shabaab as a foreign terrorist organization, and in February 2012, the leaders of al-Shabaab and the terrorist group al-Qa’ida publicly announced the merger of the two groups.

According to court records, defendants Muna Osman Jama and Hinda Osman Dhirane were the leaders of an al-Shabaab fundraising conspiracy operating in the United States, Kenya, the Netherlands, Somalia and elsewhere.  Jama and Dhirane allegedly directed a network composed primarily of women who provided monthly payments that were coordinated, facilitated and tracked by the defendants to their conduits in Kenya and Somalia.  According to court records, Jama was principally responsible for sending money to Kenya through her conduit, defendant Fardowsa Jama Mohamed, while Dhirane was primarily responsible for sending money to Somalia through her conduit, defendant Barira Hassan Abdullahi.

According to court records, the defendants would refer to the money they sent overseas as “living expenses,” and they repeatedly used code words such as “orphans” and “brothers in the mountains” to refer to al-Shabaab fighters, and “camels” to refer to trucks needed by al-Shabaab.  The money transfers often were broken down into small amounts as low as $50 or $100, and the funds were intended for use by al-Shabaab insurgents operating in Somalia.

This case was investigated bythe FBI’s Washington, D.C. and Seattle Field Offices.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also played an essential role in coordinating the arrests and searches with foreign authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Gillis and Trial Attorney Danya E. Atiyeh of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case in the Eastern District of Virginia.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle also provided assistance.

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-230.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Eric Pridgen, 31, of Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for participating in a conspiracy to distribute narcotics as part of the Thug Relations gang.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent; and Richard W. Myers, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

Pridgen pleaded guilty on March 12, 2014.  According to court documents, Pridgen was involved with several other individuals, including his brother Herbert Pridgen, in distributing large quantities of powder cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in the Denbigh section of Newport News.  This drug dealing involved the use of firearms and often turned violent.

Eric Pridgen was preceded in sentencing by Robbie Bowles, 29, of Newport News, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for participating in the drug conspiracy and discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking offense; Ronnie Rooks, 29, of Newport News, who received 10 years in prison for the drug conspiracy; and Herbert Pridgen, 27, of Newport News, who received a sentence of 11 years in prison for the drug conspiracy.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, Virginia State Police and Newport News Police Department.  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. 4:13-cr-54.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Francisco L. Bituin, 58, of Sterling, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to paying bribes to a GSA official in exchange for the official’s assistance in obtaining government contracts for Bituin’s engineering firm.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Robert C. Erickson, Jr., Acting Inspector General for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA); and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Bituin is the owner of FLBE, Inc., an engineering firm located in Herndon, Virginia, that has received over $30 million in government contracts since 2003.  In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Bituin admitted to paying bribes to a GSA employee who was in a position to recommend FLBE for GSA-managed contracts.  The bribes included a $3,750 golf club membership and $2,000 in cash passed by the defendant to the GSA employee during lunch at a Tysons Corner, Virginia restaurant.  On another occasion, Bituin offered the GSA employee other things of value in exchange for his assistance in obtaining GSA contracts, including access to a retirement home in Las Vegas, the down payment on a home in Virginia, and 5% of the equity in FLBE.

Bituin faces a maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 7, 2014.

This case was investigated by GSA’s Office of the Inspector General and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Nathanson 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-236.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Two defendants were sentenced today for participating in a violent armed robbery crew that operated in northern Virginia.

Calvin Leon Lewis, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.  Ray Allen Dicks, Jr., 26, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiring to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Earl L. Cook, Alexandria Chief of Police; Stephan M. Hudson, Prince William County Chief of Police; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.

On April 21, 2014, Lewis pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his participation in the Nov. 14, 2013 robbery of the US 1 Tobacco store in Woodbridge, Virginia, and in the Nov. 17, 2013 robbery of a Safeway grocery store in Alexandria, Virginia.  During the US 1 Tobacco robbery, a store clerk was shot in the head and suffered serious injuries.

After a jury trial on May 13, 2014, Dicks was found guilty of conspiring to commit the Safeway robbery.  According to court records and evidence adduced at trial, three armed and masked men robbed the Safeway in Old Town Alexandria while another waited nearby in a getaway vehicle.  On March 28, 2013, two other defendants—Artemus Lamarr Riley and Louis Anthony Jackson—pleaded guilty for their involvement in the Safeway robbery, as well as three other robberies in King George County, Virginia.  Riley and Jackson were each sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to pay $17,134.00 in restitution.

This case was jointly investigated by FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Alexandria City, Prince William County, and Washington Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from the King George County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia T. Giles and Rebeca H. Bellows 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-15.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Anoushirvan Sarraf, 48, of Rockville, Maryland, the owner and operator of Aphrodite Advanced Esthetic & Skin Care Clinic (Aphrodite) in McLean, Virginia, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and 2 years of supervised release.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Antoinette V. Henry, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and M. Douglas Scott, Arlington Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

On May 6, 2014, Sarraf was convicted of 13 counts related to his involvement in a scheme to illegally import thousands of vials of non-FDA-approved chemotherapy drugs, injectable cosmetic drugs and devices into the United States.  According to court records and evidence at trial, Sarraf partnered with Gallant Pharma International Inc. (Gallant Pharma), an unlicensed wholesale prescription drug distributor headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, in exchange for a deeply discounted price on non-FDA-approved cosmetic drugs and devices.  Over a period of several years, Sarraf used those cosmetic drugs and devices on hundreds of Aphrodite patients without the patients’ knowledge or consent.

Sarraf allowed Gallant Pharma to use his medical license to order non-FDA-approved chemotherapy drugs and injectable cosmetics from around the world.  Most drugs were shipped first to the United Kingdom, where a trans-shipper would repackage the drugs and send them to the United States in smaller packages addressed to Aphrodite, bearing false customs declarations.  When the drugs arrived at Aphrodite, a member of the conspiracy would open the boxes, take what they wanted for Aphrodite, and call individuals from Gallant Pharma to retrieve the remainder.  Many of the shipments involved “cold-chain” drugs subject to strict temperature controls (which were not followed by the conspirators), and the use of these drugs posed serious potential harm to chemotherapy and cosmetic patients throughout the United States.  During the three years that the partnership lasted, more than 17,000 units of non-FDA-approved pharmaceuticals passed through Aphrodite and were sold by Gallant Pharma for more than $10.33 million.

Ten co-defendants previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced for their involvement in the scheme.  An eleventh co-defendant, Eva Montejo Pritchard, 49, of Rockville, Maryland, who served as Aphrodite’s office manager, was also convicted on May 6, 2014, and will be sentenced on July 25, 2014.  On July 8, 2014, James Quinn, 73, of the United Kingdom, who is alleged to have served as the trans-shipper for the conspiracy, was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, when he attempted to enter the United States.  Quinn is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria next week.

This case was investigated by FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, DEA’s Group 33 Diversion Task Force, ICE-HSI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Arlington County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsay Kelly, Maya Song and Jay Prabhu 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. 1:13-cr-00130.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Thuy Tien Le, 41, of Sterling, Va., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for preparing false income tax returns and committing wire fraud, in connection with her operation of a tax return preparation business called T2 Advantage Services, LLC.  Le was also ordered to pay $456,305 in restitution to the IRS and other victims, and to forfeit to the government the proceeds of her crimes.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Le pleaded guilty on April 30, 2014.  According to court documents, from 2005 through 2013, Le owned T2 Advantage Services, LLC, a tax return preparation business she operated from her home in Fairfax, Va.  Le prepared federal income tax returns for her clients and led them to believe she had electronically filed legitimate returns with the IRS.  Prior to filing, however, Le altered the returns by adding false itemized deductions in order to generate large income tax refunds.  Le prepared and filed false income tax returns in this manner for more than 100 taxpayers, without their knowledge or consent, and caused more than $450,000 in fraudulently generated income tax refunds to be deposited electronically into bank accounts she controlled.

This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Nathanson 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-138.

RICHMOND, Va. – Samuel G. Mamudu, 26, of Henrico, Virginia, was sentenced today to 216 months in prison, followed by an additional 24 months for a supervised release violation, for the October 9, 2013, armed robbery of the Prince Jeweler’s Jewelry Store, located inside the Chesterfield Towne Center Mall, committed while the defendant was on federal supervised release.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

On March 12, 2014, after a two day trial, Mamudu was found guilty of interference with commerce by robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a), and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).  According to court records and evidence at trial, Mamudu entered into the Prince Jeweler’s jewelry store, located in Chesterfield Towne Center Mall, brandished a firearm, robbed the clerk of several items of jewelry, and fled the scene.  Several days later, Mamudu was identified as the armed robber and arrested by the Chesterfield County Police Department with several of the stolen pieces of jewelry in his possession.  At the time of the armed robbery, Mamudu was on a period of federal supervised release following a 2010 conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Chesterfield County Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorneys Erik S. Siebert and Peter S. Duffey 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-227.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Antonio J. Fuller, 23, of Newport News, Va., was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of participating in a racketeering conspiracy, murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, firearm charges and a drug conspiracy involving crack cocaine.

            The racketeering conspiracy included the murders of Andre Horton and Andre Julius Johnson on May 17, 2009 and the murder of Christian Hatch on Nov. 4, 2009, as well as the attempted murder of other individuals occupying Hatch’s apartment at Mariner’s Landing in Newport News.  The murder of Christian Hatch involved rival gang members.

            Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Richard W. Myers, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after the verdict was accepted by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

            Fuller was indicted on July 17, 2013, along with co-defendants Kevin Ashby and Mustafah Kalil Muhammad.  According to court documents, Fuller, Ashby and Muhammad were part of a criminal organization known locally as “Thug Relations.”  The gang members protected their criminal enterprise and activities through murder, attempted murder, witness intimidation, robbery and narcotics distribution.

            Fuller faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 27, 2014.  Muhammad pleaded guilty in April 2014 and will be sentenced on July 23, 2014.  Ashby pleaded guilty in March 2014 and was sentenced to life in prison on June 26, 2014.

This investigation was led by FBI and the Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the Newport News Police and the Virginia State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Howard J. Zlotnick and Lisa R. McKeel, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt from the Organized Crime and Gang Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Section, 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. 4:13-cr-72.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Michael Eisner, 32, of Mastic, New York, entered a guilty plea today in connection with several different fraud schemes that Eisner conducted while he was a practicing attorney and licensed member of the Virginia State Bar.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Valerie Parlave, 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.

Eisner was indicted on May 15, 2014 by a federal grand jury, and he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Eisner faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison when he is sentenced on October 31, 2014.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Eisner admitted to defrauding financial institutions and his own clients of approximately $4.8 million in intended losses.  When defrauding financial institutions, Eisner took advantage of the lag time between when a victim financial institution realized that one of Eisner’s checks or credit card payments was fraudulent and when Eisner could obtain real money from that victim.  For example, Eisner and co-conspirator Mark Head, who pleaded guilty on Jan. 29, 2014, opened an account at Fidelity Cash Management in K.C.’s name, but without K.C.’s knowledge or permission.  Head and Eisner then used that account to issue several large checks to Eisner’s law firm when, in reality, K.C.’s brokerage account never had more than $20 in it.  Eisner deposited the checks at various Bank of America branches in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., and he quickly withdrew approximately $350,000 before Bank of America realized that the checks were fraudulent.

In another scheme, Eisner obtained automobile loans from financial institutions, which he purportedly paid off using phony checks.  Before the financial institutions realized the checks were phony, they released the automobile titles to Eisner.  And before the financial institutions could reclaim title, Eisner worked to sell the automobiles to CarMax so that he could keep the proceeds despite not having valid title to the car.

In addition to these schemes to defraud financial institutions, Eisner admitted to defrauding his own clients of money he was supposed to have kept in trust.  For example, around October 2009, A.T. hired Eisner to represent him in a bankruptcy-related legal matter.  Eisner was supposed to have kept more than $300,000 of A.T.’s money in a trust account in connection with that bankruptcy.  In reality, Eisner used A.T.’s funds for his own personal benefit.

In or about January 2013, Eisner signed an affidavit consenting to the revocation of his license to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  In that affidavit, Eisner acknowledged that he never deposited client funds into a trust account and, in fact, did not have a trust account during the time he conducted this scheme.

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-167.

NORFOLK, Va. – Robert Harold Scott, Jr., 27, of Virginia Beach, Va., was convicted today by a federal jury on 28 counts involving child pornography and destruction of records charges.

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

Scott faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment when he is sentenced on November 12, 2014.

A superseding indictment against Scott was returned on March 5, 2014, by a federal grand jury for five counts of conspiracy to produce child pornography; eight counts of production of child pornography; eight counts of receipt of child pornography; five counts of use of an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity; and two counts of destruction of records.

According to court records and evidence at trial, Scott assumed the online identity of “Mike Pyro.”  He 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 sometimes would extort the women by threatening to publish sexually explicit videos.  In May 2013, Scott was convicted in Virginia Beach Circuit Court for felony extortion and larceny based on similar facts.  In addition to the adult parties, Scott was found to be conspiring to and producing child pornography with at least five different women.  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.  Five different women complied, in return for the promise of money.  Three 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.  In total, law enforcement identified seven minor victims involved in the sexual abuse and production, with the youngest being one year old and the oldest being five years old.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth M. Yusi and Jay V. Prabhu are prosecuting 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 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.

WASHINGTON – Dwayne A. Hardman, 44, co-founder of two government contracting companies that sought business from the United States Navy Military Sealift Command (MSC), and Adam C. White, 40, former vice president and co-owner of one of Hardman’s government contracting companies, were sentenced for bribery and conspiracy.  On July 9, 2014, Hardman was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  White was sentenced today to serve 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Hardman was ordered to forfeit $144,000, and White was ordered to forfeit $57,000.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Office, Acting Executive Assistant Director Charles T. May Jr. of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office made the announcement today after sentencing by United States Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents, Hardman and White participated in a five-year bribery scheme in which they and several co-conspirators provided more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things, to two public officials working for MSC, in an illegal effort to influence those public officials to provide favorable treatment to Hardman and White’s companies in connection with United States government contracting work.

On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with bribery.  According to the plea documents, Hardman was the co-founder of two government contracting companies, referred to as Company A and Company B, located in Chesapeake, Virginia that sought contracting business from MSC, which is the leading provider of transportation for the United States Navy. At his plea hearing, Hardman admitted that beginning in March 2005, he and other Company A employees, provided approximately $3,000 in cash bribes per month to two MSC public officials, Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the MSC’s N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, and Scott B. Miserendino Sr., a former government contractor who performed work for the MSC.  Those Company A employees included Roderic J. Smith, the former president, co-owner and co-founder of Company A; Adam C. White, a former vice president and co-owner of Company A; and Michael P. McPhail a former project manager and co-owner of Company A.  Hardman also admitted that in May 2009, he and Timothy S. Miller, co-founder of Company B, provided $50,000 in cash bribes to Toy and Miserendino.  In addition to the cash bribes, Hardman stated that he and his co-conspirators provided Toy and Miserendino flat screen televisions, a paid vacation to Nags Head in North Carolina, a personal loan and installation of hardwood floors in Toy’s residence.

In exchange for these bribes, Toy and Miserendino provided favorable treatment in connection with MSC-related business to both Company A and Company B.  During the bribery scheme, Company A received approximately $3 million in MSC-related business, and Company B received approximately $2.4 million in MSC-related business.

As part of his guilty plea, Hardman also admitted that, in approximately November or December 2010, Hardman threatened to report the bribery activities to law enforcement authorities if his co-conspirators did not provide him money.  In total, Hardman admitted that he received approximately $85,000 from his co-conspirators, including Smith, Toy and Miserendino, in exchange for not reporting the bribery scheme to law enforcement authorities. 

On April 4, 2014, White pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery.  At his plea hearing, White admitted that from approximately April 2005 until approximately March 2006, he personally contributed approximately $26,000 in cash bribe payments for Toy and Miserendino, and White was aware that other co-conspirators, including Hardman, Smith and McPhail, were also contributing cash and other things of value to be provided to Toy and Miserendino in exchange for their official assistance in providing MSC-related business. 

Earlier this year, three other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme.  On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Hardman, White, and others.  On Feb. 19, 2014, McPhail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.  On March 5, 2014, Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials. 

On June 23, 2014, United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan of the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Smith to 48 months in prison followed by 1 year of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $175,000. 

On May 23, 2014, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Miserendino and Miller.  The indictment charges Miserendino with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of criminal investigations and to commit tampering with a witness, and one count of obstruction of criminal investigations.  The indictment charges Miller with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.  Trial is set for Sept. 30, 2014, before Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia. 

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

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI, NCIS, and DCIS.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Sathish Kumar Chandhun Rajendran, 36, of Sterling, Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday to engaging in unauthorized access to government servers that hosted a Fannie Mae website used to support federal mortgage loan modification programs.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Michael P. Stephens, Acting Inspector General for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA-OIG); and Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.

Rajendran pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized access to a protected computer causing damage.  Rajendran faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on October 3, 2014.  In the plea agreement, Rajendran also agreed, for a period of three years following his conviction, to refrain from participating as an employee, contractor or subcontractor in any government contract requiring clearance.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Rajendran worked at Fannie Mae as an Information Technology term employee and was assigned to the development of the CheckMyNPV.com website.  This website was established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development in conjunction with the government’s Making Home Affordable (MHA) Program.  The online tool on this website, operated by Fannie Mae under the auspices of the MHA, allowed citizens to determine the net present value of their homes and check their eligibility to participate in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), a federal program designed to avoid mass foreclosures.

After being terminated from employment in August 2013, Rajendran repeatedly used administrator credentials to log into government servers and make unauthorized changes to the CheckMyNPV website, including disabling the website’s online tool for checking HAMP eligibility.  As a result of these actions, Rajendran caused damage and loss to the website in the amount of $30,000 to $70,000.

This case was investigated by the FHFA-OIG and SIGTARP.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander T.H. Nguyen 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-233.

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WASHINGTON - Joshua Vandyk, a U.S. citizen, and Eric St-Cyr and Patrick Poulin, Canadian citizens, have each pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder monetary instruments, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Patrick Poulin, 41, pleaded guilty today, Vandyk, 34, pleaded guilty on June 12, and St-Cyr, 50, pleaded guilty on June 27.  The three defendants were indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on March 6, and the indictment was unsealed on March 12 after the defendants were arrested in Miami.

According to the plea agreements and statements of facts, Vandyk, St-Cyr and Poulin conspired to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of property believed to be the proceeds of bank fraud, specifically $2 million.  Vandyk, St-Cyr and Poulin assisted undercover law enforcement agents posing as U.S. clients in laundering purported criminal proceeds through an offshore structure designed to conceal the true identity of the proceeds’ owners.  Vandyk and St-Cyr invested the laundered funds on the clients’ behalf and represented that the funds would not be reported to the U.S. government.

“This investigation highlights the Justice Department’s commitment to worldwide enforcement of federal laws designed to ensure that U.S. taxpayers fully disclose and report all foreign income and assets,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ronald A. Cimino of the Justice Department's Tax Division.  “The Tax Division is committed to using every tool available to hold these wrongdoers accountable.”

“These three defendants played a shell game by creating offshore entities designed to help their U.S. clients evade taxes and other legal requirements, and they used that same shell game to launder purported criminal proceeds,” said U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia.  “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to penetrate and combat these schemes wherever they occur.”

“Individuals who assist others in laundering criminal proceeds will be held accountable for their own criminal actions,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation Chief Richard Weber.  “The defendants in this investigation had a blatant disrespect for the laws and laundered purported criminal proceeds through offshore structures to conceal the identity of the proceeds’ owners. IRS Criminal Investigation has ramped up its presence in the international arena and will aggressively pursue those who commit financial crimes.”

According to court documents, Vandyk and St-Cyr lived in the Cayman Islands and worked for an investment firm based in the Cayman Islands.  St-Cyr was the founder and head of the investment firm, whose clientele included numerous U.S. citizens.  Poulin, an attorney at a law firm based in Turks and Caicos, worked and resided in Canada as well as the Turks and Caicos.  His clientele also included numerous U.S. citizens.  Vandyk, St-Cyr and Poulin solicited U.S. citizens to use their services to hide assets from the U.S. government, including the IRS.  Vandyk and St-Cyr directed the undercover agents posing as U.S. clients to create an offshore corporation with the assistance of Poulin and others because they and the investment firm did not want to appear to deal with U.S. clients.  Vandyk, St-Cyr and Poulin used the offshore entity to move money into the Cayman Islands and used Poulin as a nominee intermediary for the transactions. 

According to court documents, Poulin established an offshore corporation called Zero Exposure Inc. for the undercover agents posing as U.S. clients and served as a nominal board member in lieu of the clients.  Poulin transferred approximately $200,000 that Poulin, St-Cyr and Vandyk believed to be the proceeds of bank fraud from the offshore corporation to the Cayman Islands, where Vandyk and St-Cyr invested those funds outside of the United States in the name of the offshore corporation.  The investment firm represented that it would neither disclose the investments or any investment gains to the U.S. government, nor would it provide monthly statements or other investment statements to the clients.  Clients were able to monitor their investments online through the use of anonymous, numeric passcodes.  Upon request from the U.S. client, Vandyk and St-Cyr liquidated investments and transfer money, through Poulin, back to the United States.  According to Vandyk and St-Cyr, the investment firm would charge clients higher fees to launder criminal proceeds than to assist them in tax evasion. 

The case was investigated by special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation.  Trial Attorneys Todd Ellinwood and Caryn Finley of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kosta Stojilkovic of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.  The Justice Department and the IRS would like to thank the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force for their assistance in this investigation.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at the division website.

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RICHMOND, Va. –  On July 7, 2014, Ivan Patino Sanchez , 35, a Mexican National who resided in Richmond, Virginia was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment, and on July 8, 2014, Felipe Alvarado Gonzalez, 46, a Mexican National who resided in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment for their respective roles in a violent criminal organization that specialized in manufacturing and distributing fraudulent identifications.  Both Patino Sanchez and Alvarado Gonzalez previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Engage in Racketeering and Conspiracy to Launder Money.  Patino Sanchez had also pleaded guilty to Interference with Commerce by Robbery.  Because both defendants are illegally within the United States, they face deportation following the service of their prison sentences.

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), made the announcement after the sentences were handed down by Senior United States District Judge James R. Spencer.  In both cases, Judge Spencer granted the United States’ request for an upward variance, and sentenced the defendants above the calculated guideline ranges. 

According to court papers, these defendants were 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. 

On February 16, 2012, United States District Judge James R. 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 their previous guilty pleas, Patino Sanchez and Alvarado Gonzalez admitted to their respective roles in helping the FDE restart its criminal activities in the United States following the 2010 arrests described above.  Beginning at some point prior to February 2012, Manuel Hidalgo Flores, also known as “Chino,” “Chimuelo” and “Julio,” began managing the organization’s operations in the United States, supervising 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, Patino Sanchez served as the manager of the Richmond, Virginia cell, and Alvarado Gonzalez managed the Pawtucket, Rhode Island 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.  Upon identifying a specific client, a runner would relay identifying information and photographs from the client to the printer via cellular telephone or other method.  The printer would, in turn, use a computer and printer to create fraudulent identification documents for the client, depending on the nature of the order received from 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.  In the current case, Patino Sanchez admitted to his role in targeting a competitor in the Richmond, Virginia area on October 6, 2013.  This defendant, along with others, identified a competitor (referred to as “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.  L.G. then met with the co-defendant at a designated location.  At the same time, Patino Sanchez, along with other FDE members, was surveilling the transaction.  The defendants planned to follow competitor L.G. after the transaction to find where he (L.G.) produced fraudulent identification documents.  The group intended to assault L.G. and steal L.G.’s printing equipment by means of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury.  Through this planned conduct, FDE members hoped 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, competitor L.G. was detained during a traffic stop and the FDE members fled the area.  According to his plea documents, Patino Sanchez 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.  In the current case, 9 defendants are awaiting sentencing, with their hearings scheduled before Judge Spencer over the next two months. 

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.  ICE HSI received assistance from the Virginia State Police, Chesterfield County Police Department, and Henrico County Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gill and Trial Attorney Maria Gonzalez Calvet, of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, are 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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RICHMOND, Va. – Toray Chemical Korea, Inc., formerly doing business as Woongjin Chemical Co., Ltd., a South Korean chemical company, agreed to pay a criminal penalty of over $2 million to resolve an attempted theft of trade secrets investigation, announced Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a criminal information today against Toray Chemical and a two-year deferred prosecution agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  The one-count information charges Toray Chemical with attempted theft of trade secrets.  As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, Toray Chemical agreed to pay a $2,058,000 penalty for its illegal activity, implement an enhanced compliance and ethics program, continue to cooperate with the government’s investigation and remediate past problems.

“These criminal charges reflect the Eastern District of Virginia’s continued commitment to protecting one of this country’s greatest assets—the innovation and ingenuity of the American people,” said U.S. Attorney Boente.  “The terms of the deferred prosecution agreement in this case should send a strong message to businesses in the United States and around the world that substantial cooperation with law enforcement is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate that a company is truly committed to addressing the criminal conduct of its executives and ensuring that such conduct does not occur in the future.”

According to court documents, Toray Chemical, formerly doing business as Woongjin Chemical, endeavored to develop Arawin®, a meta-aramid fiber designed to compete with a product called Nomex®.  Meta-aramid fibers are used in a variety of applications, including protective fabrics, electrical insulation and lightweight structural support for commercial aircraft.  Nomex is produced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont), one of the largest chemical companies in the United States.

From January 2011 through November 2011, Woongjin Chemical sought to improve its Arawin product by hiring and attempting to hire as consultants former DuPont employees with knowledge of Nomex technology, in particular the process for manufacturing Nomex paper.  To that end, two former DuPont employees met with Woongjin Chemical executives in South Korea.  During this visit, Woongjin Chemical engineers repeatedly asked the former DuPont employees to disclose aspects of the Nomex manufacturing process, including details about the short-cut fiber, known as floc, used to make Nomex paper.

One of the former DuPont employees offered to confirm the specific length and conditions used to produce floc by speaking with a current DuPont employee when he returned to the United States.  Although the former DuPont employee did not obtain the information Woongjin Chemical requested when he returned to the United States, the company continued to seek information about DuPont’s process for manufacturing Nomex paper.  Indeed, a Woongjin Chemical executive directed another employee to obtain a sample of Nomex floc from a DuPont distributor or customer by legal or illegal means.  Shortly thereafter, Woongjin Chemical executives learned that FBI agents interviewed the two former DuPont employees regarding the potential theft of DuPont trade secrets.

The deferred prosecution agreement acknowledges Toray Chemical’s extraordinary cooperation with the government’s investigation, including an extensive, thorough and swift internal investigation, producing relevant documents from outside the United States, and collecting, analyzing, organizing and, in many instances, translating voluminous evidence and information for the United States.  In addition, the agreement highlights that Toray Chemical has already undertaken remedial measures, including suspension of and ultimate refusal to renew contracts with certain consultants and implementation of new policies and procedures for key employees.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Richmond Field Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Lee Martin and Michael S. Dry 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. 3:14-cr-93.

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RICHMOND, Va. – Carlos A. Cooke, age 38, of High Point, North Carolina, Virginia, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. 

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

In the Statement of Facts signed as part of his guilty plea, Cooke admitted that from 2007 to 2013 he distributed between 5 and 15 kilograms of cocaine from North Carolina to dealers in Henrico and Urbanna, Virginia.  He would negotiate on the telephone to supply those dealers with distribution quantities of cocaine, typically as high as 375 grams at a time.  Tomeka Wimbush, age 36, of Martinsville, Virginia, would transport the drugs to the Virginia dealers, and then return with the proceeds, which she gave to Cooke.  Wimbush was sentenced on August 5, 2014 to 51 months in prison.  

This case is part of an 18-month OCDETF investigation, Operation Carolina and Back, that targeted Cooke and his Virginia customers.  In addition to Cooke and Wimbush, 8 Henrico dealers and 1 Urbanna dealer have pled guilty to drug trafficking charges.  Darryl Delaney, a Henrico dealer, was sentenced to 156 months’ imprisonment; Gordon Shelton, also a Henrico dealer, was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment.  The other Henrico dealers, Stevenson Silencieux, Charles Kates, Kevin Lee, Kelley Brown, Eric Wingate and Donte Beard, are awaiting sentencing.  Charles Epps, the Urbanna dealer, is also awaiting sentencing. 

            This case was investigated by the Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Henrico Police Division.  David T. Maguire, Assistant United States Attorney and Matthew C. 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 No. 3:14-cr-030.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – James Quinn, 73, of Surrey, United Kingdom, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for his alleged involvement in the illegal shipments of non-FDA approved prescription drugs to co-conspirators in the United States.   Quinn, along with two companies in the United Kingdom and Switzerland that he controls, were charged with five felony counts and he is due to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady for arraignment on Aug. 18, 2014.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Antoinette V. Henry, Special Agent in Charge of FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI); Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and M. Douglas Scott, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Quinn served as a supplier of non-FDA-approved drugs through his Switzerland-based company, Atlantic Pharmaceuticals AG, and he served as a trans-shipper of non-FDA-approved drugs through his United Kingdom-based company, World Medical Limited.  The indictment alleges that, as a trans-shipper, Quinn received non-FDA-approved drugs from countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates, broke those shipments into smaller packages, affixed false customs declarations and sent the packages to the United States on behalf of co-conspirators who sold non-FDA-approved drugs to medical practices across the United States.  Quinn’s co-conspirators are alleged to have included Gallant Pharma International Inc., which pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to 12 felony offenses on Dec. 2, 2013, and Pharmalogical Inc. (d/b/a Medical Device King), whose co-owners, William Scully and Shahrad Rodi Lameh, are awaiting trial on a 73-count indictment in the Eastern District of New York.

Quinn and his companies, World Medical Limited and Atlantic Pharmaceuticals AG, were charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with the following offenses: conspiracy, which is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison; importation contrary to law, which is punishable by a maximum term of 20 years in prison; two counts of felony introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, each of which are punishable by a maximum term of three years; two counts of misdemeanor introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, each of which are punishable by a maximum term of one year;  and unlicensed medical wholesaling, which is punishable by a maximum term of ten years.

The investigation was conducted by FDA-OCI, DEA’s Group 33 Diversion Task Force, ICE-HSI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Arlington County Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsay A. Kelly, Maya Song and Jay Prabhuare prosecuting the case.

Criminal 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. 1:14-cr-277.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Christopher Cunningham, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to a wire fraud scheme in which Cunningham solicited investments, typically from elderly clients, based on fraudulent promises and representations.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Kathy A. Michalko, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Cunningham admitted to conducting an investment fraud scheme from approximately 2005 to 2011.  During that time, Cunningham worked as an investment adviser, and in that position, he solicited investments from clients, who typically were elderly.  Among other things, Cunningham promised these clients guaranteed returns and made certain false representations, including that he was not being personally compensated in connection with their investments and the money could be paid back in a single day if needed.  Once he obtained the money from these clients, however, Cunningham used it to fund his private companies and for his personal use. Cunningham repaid very little of his clients’ investments, and as a result of his fraud, investors lost more than $1,000,000.

Cunninghamfaces a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison when he is sentenced on October 3, 2014.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service with the assistance of the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Division of Securities and Retail Franchising.  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-225.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Seven Colombian nationals were extradited to the United States to face charges relating to the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent James Terry Watson.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for 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.

“With the extradition of these suspects, we are one step closer to ensuring that justice is served for the kidnapping and murder of an American hero,” said Attorney General Holder.  “Special Agent Watson gave his life in the service of his country.  We owe him, and his family, a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay.  The Justice Department will never waver in our commitment to ensure that those who commit acts of violence against our best and bravest can be caught and held accountable.”

“DEA Special Agent James ‘Terry’ Watson was a brave and talented special agent who represented everything good about federal law enforcement and our DEA family,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “We will never forget Terry’s sacrifice on behalf of the American people during his 13 years of service, nor will DEA ever forget the outstanding work of the Colombian National Police and our other law enforcement partners.  Their efforts quickly led to the arrest and extradition of those accused of committing this heinous act.”

All of the defendants were indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on July 18, 2013.  Gerardo Figueroa Sepulveda, 39; Omar Fabian Valdes Gualtero, 27; Edgar Javier Bello Murillo, 27; Hector Leonardo Lopez, 34; Julio Estiven Gracia Ramirez, 31; and Andrés Alvaro Oviedo-Garcia, 22, were each charged with two counts of second degree murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to kidnap.  Oviedo-Garcia was also charged with two counts of assault.  Additionally, the grand jury indicted Wilson Daniel Peralta-Bocachica, 31, also a Colombian national, for his alleged efforts to destroy evidence associated with the murder of Special Agent Watson.

The defendants arrived in the United States on July 1, 2014, and made their initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, today before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas Rawles Jones Jr.  A detention hearing is scheduled for July 9, 2014, before United States Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis.

According to the indictment, Figueroa, Valdes, Bello, Lopez, Gracia and Oviedo-Garcia were part of a kidnapping and robbery conspiracy that utilized taxi cabs in Bogotà, Colombia, to lure victims into a position where they could be attacked and robbed.  Once an intended victim entered a taxi cab, the driver of the taxi cab would signal other conspirators to commence the robbery and kidnapping operation.

The indictment alleges that on June 20, 2013, while he was working for the U.S. Mission in Colombia, Special Agent Watson entered a taxi cab operated by one of the defendants.  Special Agent Watson was then allegedly attacked by two other defendants – one who stunned Special Agent Watson with a stun gun and another who stabbed Special Agent Watson with a knife, resulting in his death.

On July 1, 2014, the Government of Colombia extradited the defendants to the United States.  

This case was investigated by the FBI, DEA and DSS, including the Office of Special Investigations and the Regional Security Office at Embassy Bogatà, 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 Stacy Luck of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary from 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.

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

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RICHMOND, Va. – John Morrell Palmer, III, 55, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to Conspiring to Commit Wire Fraud.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia;Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent; Gary Barksdale, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge M. Hannah Lauck.

Palmer faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on October 2, 2014, by Senior United States District Judge Robert E. Payne.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Palmer admitted that from 2009 through 2013, he conspired with an unindicted co-conspirator, the President of an unnamed grocery retail chain, to submit fraudulent documents to The Kellogg Company and SuperValu, a grocery wholesaler through which Kellogg sold product to retailers.  SuperValu awarded the grocery retail chain approximately $1.8 million in deductions against its running account with SuperValu as a result of the fraudulent submissions.  Kellogg reimbursed SuperValu for the awarded deductions. The unindicted co-conspirator paid cash to Palmer in the total amount of approximately half the value of the fraudulently obtained deductions.

This case was investigated by the Virginia State Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore 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-85.

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RICHMOND, Va. – Manuel Hidalgo Flores, 40, a Mexican National who resided in Pawtucket, Rhode Island was sentenced earlier today to 135 months’ imprisonment for his role in a violent criminal organization that specialized in manufacturing and distributing fraudulent identifications.  Hidalgo Flores previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Engage in Racketeering, Interference with Commerce by Robbery, and Conspiracy to Launder Money.  Further, the defendant is illegally within the United States and faces deportation following the service of his prison sentences.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement after the 135 month sentence was handed down by Senior United States District Judge James R. Spencer.

According to court papers, this defendant is 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 which originally operated in the United States beginning prior to 2008 and continuing through November 18, 2010, 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, United States District Judge James R. 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, after his conviction by a jury for racketeering, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to produce and transfer false identification documents.

In connection with his previous guilty plea, Hidalgo Flores admitted to his role in restarting and leading the FDE’s continued criminal activities in the United States following the 2010 arrests described above.  Beginning at some point prior to February 2012, Hidalgo Flores, also known as “Chino,” “Chimuelo” and “Julio,” began managing the organization’s operations in the United States, supervising 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.

Within each cell supervised by Hidalgo Flores, the cell 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.  Upon identifying a specific client, a runner would relay identifying information and photographs from the client to the printer via cellular telephone or other method.  The printer would, in turn, use a computer and printer to create fraudulent identification documents for the client, depending on the nature of the order received from 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.  In the current case, Hidalgo Flores admitted to his role in targeting a competitor in the Richmond, Virginia area on October 6, 2013.  This defendant, along with others, identified a competitor (referred to as “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.  L.G. then met with the co-defendant at a designated location.  At the same time, Hidalgo Flores, along with other FDE members, were surveilling the transaction.  The defendants planned to follow competitor L.G. after the transaction to find where he (L.G.) produced fraudulent identification documents.  The group intended to assault L.G. and steal L.G.’s printing equipment by means of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury.  Through this planned conduct, FDE members hoped 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, competitor 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.  In the current case, 11 defendants are awaiting sentencing, with their hearings scheduled before Judge Spencer over the next two months.

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.  ICE HSI received assistance from the Virginia State Police, Chesterfield County Police Department, and Henrico County Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gill and Trial Attorney Maria Gonzalez Calvet, of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, are 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.

NORFOLK, Va. – Cameron Allen, 27, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced today to 46 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.  Dymond Chappelle, 19, of Portsmouth, Va., was also sentenced today to 20months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Charles May, Acting Executive Assistant Director for Atlantic Operations, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, made the announcement after sentencing by Chief United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

Chappelle pled guilty on May 12, 2014, and Allen pled guilty on May 13, 2014.   According to court documents, from January 2013 to March 2013, Allen, Chappelle, and three co-conspirators executed a fraud and identity theft scheme through which they stole approximately $87,000 from Navy Federal Credit Union.  A co-conspirator illegally obtained 291apartment lease applications, each of which contained the applicant’s personal information such as name, date of birth, social security number, and bank account information.  Using this personal information, Chappelle and Allen were able to gain access to their accounts.  They persuaded other individuals with NFCU accounts to serve as “hosts” for fraudulent transactions often by telling them that they lost their ATM card and needed help getting cash.  Chappelle, Allen or one of their co-conspirators called NFCU under a victim’s identity and requested electronic funds transfers to the host accounts.  The hosts then withdrew the money and provided it to Chappelle, Allen or a co-conspirator.  The members of the scheme accessed the accounts of 21 individuals.

This case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Norfolk Police Department.  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 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.

RICHMOND, Va. – Javier Flores Mendez, 24, of Tenancingo, Mexico, pleaded guilty today to sex trafficking a 16-year-old girl and transporting her into the United States for prostitution.

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 (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, made the announcement after the guilty plea was accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Novak.

Flores was indicted on April 1, 2014 by a federal grand jury on charges of transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity and sex trafficking of a child.  Flores faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison on the transportation charge and a 15-year mandatory minimum term on the sex trafficking charge.  Both offenses carry a potential maximum penalty of life in prison.  Flores will be sentenced on Nov. 5, 2014 by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer.

As outlined in court records, the defendant’s hometown of Tenancingo is known inside and outside of Mexico 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.  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 for victims who are being trafficked from Tenancingo is Queens, New York.

According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, in March 2013, Flores approached a then 15-year-old girl who was selling roasted corn at a food stand in Puebla, Mexico.  After striking up a conversation with the girl, Flores 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 they later went on several dates.  In May 2013, Flores persuaded the girl to come live with him in Tenancingo, which is approximately three hours away by car from Puebla.  Flores took the girl on a shopping trip to buy her clothes, shoes, makeup, jewelry and undergarments.  At first, Flores treated the victim well, though he always controlled her movements and activities and did not give her a key for the hotel room where they initially lived.  After about a week, however, Flores began threatening that he would kill the girl 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 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.  Flores and the girl were returned to Mexico, and the girl went back to live with her family in Puebla.  Flores and the victim had no contact for several months.

In September 2013, Flores re-established contact with the girl, starting a pattern of conversations in which he repeatedly apologized for his prior behavior and asked for forgiveness.  After multiple conversations, the girl agreed to leave her home in Puebla and live with Flores in Tenancingo.  Flores again started off treating the girl well, but after about a week, Flores controlled her movements and access to people, and repeated the same threats that he would kill her if she did not do what he said or attempted to leave.

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 ten 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, the vehicle was stopped for speeding by a Henrico County police officer in Richmond.  At that time, Flores and the minor were put into immigration detention and this investigation followed.

This case was investigated by ICE-HSI.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian R. Hood and Heather L. Hart 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. 3:14-cr-40.