Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Memphis, TN – Marico Washington, 55, of Memphis, has been charged with operating a boat for commercial gain in violation of a Captain of the Port Order. United States Attorney, D. Michael Dunavant, announced the charges today. According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury earlier this month, a Captain of the Port Order was hand-delivered to Washington on September 16, 2023. The order directed…
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA-FSIS”)’s Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit, William Griffin, announced today that U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos has imposed civil penalties on defendants FIRST GOLD COAST CORPORATION d/b/a GOLD COAST TRADING COMPANY (“First Gold”), KWABENA ASAMOAH ADJEI, CHRISTOPHER AHENKORA, and MICHAEL AHENKORA for violating a previously entered judicial consent decree requiring the defendants to comply with food safety laws at their meat and poultry business.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that U.S. District Judge Eric C. Schulte has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. The sentencing took place on June 22, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that CARL ERIK RINSCH, a Los Angeles-based director and writer, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff to 30 months in prison for fraudulently stealing $11 million from a subscription video-on-demand streaming service (“Streaming Company-1”) in connection with a planned science-fiction television show called “White Horse,” and then laundering that money.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Baltimore, Maryland – A Maryland man learned his fate in federal court, today, for making online threats. U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson sentenced Raymond Pumphrey, 47, of Brooklyn, to 15 months, followed by three years of supervised release, for making threats transmitted by interstate communication in connection with the cybercrime.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Memphis, TN – Courtney Richardson, 36, was sentenced to 34 months in prison for attempting to hit a federal agent with his vehicle. D. Michael Dunavant, of the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.According to court documents and statements made in court, on December 5, 2025, law enforcement officers and agents on the Memphis Safe Task Force attempted to execute an arrest warrant on Richardson at the Waterford Place Apartments in Memphis when Richardson got…
Source: United States Navy
NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO – Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) returned to its homeport of Naval Base San Diego on June 27, 2026, following 11-months of sustained operations at sea to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations.
Source: United States Navy
Imagine a military aircraft sustaining heavy structural damage in a remote, forward-deployed combat location. If the repairs are outside the scope of standard squadron-level maintenance and shipping the aircraft to a depot is not an option, how does the fleet rapidly repair and return that critical asset to the fight?
Source: United States Department of Justice
BOSTON – A New Jersey man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that was used to transmit funds derived from criminal offenses and which were intended to be used to promote and support unlawful activity.
Source: United States Army
Back to
Representatives of Togo’s National Civil Protection Agency conducted a major training preparation meeting with disaster-relief experts from North Dakota and civil affairs Soldiers assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) in Lome, Togo, June 12, in advance of a practical exercise.
This gathering was part of Operation Lignite Coast 2026, the overall training event conducted June 8-18, focused on improving the Togolese government’s ability to respond to a variety of emergency situations.
Operation Lignite Coast 2026 was a training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. This meeting included civilian state employees of North Dakota’s disaster-response community, North Dakota National Guard Soldiers and several officials from the NCPA. Its purpose was to define specific tasks, duties and roles among the relevant players for a practical exercise in the field that would culminate the overall event. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINALTogolese Lt. Col. Yoma Baka, director general for the NCPA, presented the majority of the workshop’s content, providing attendees with a common understanding of the exercise.
“This particular meeting was especially significant as the schedule led up to a culminating practical exercise in the field,” said U.S. Army Capt. Euston Harp, team chief for Civil Affairs Team Togo, Alpha Company, Civil Affairs Battalion, SETAF-AF. “It identified specific tasks, duties and roles among the relevant players in the training scenarios.”
Harp emphasized that the NPCA already possesses a solid foundation for conducting civil affairs, humanitarian aid and incident response, but like disaster-relief professionals in the U.S., they understand there is always room to improve. This training maintains readiness and identifies gaps in their processes prior to an actual emergency.
“With continued training with partners in the North Dakota National Guard, their capacity for readiness will continue to improve even more,” Harp said.
According to Sherry Adams, North Dakota state health officer and Southwestern District Health Unit executive officer, the Togolese began the initial groundwork for planning Lignite Coast in December 2025. In February 2026 and later in April, advanced teams from the Peace Garden State met with counterparts in Togo to refine training content, which required considering the subsequent emergencies that could follow precipitating events, like floods and other natural disasters.
“As part of that planning, we determined what we could do best to support the Togolese in their mission … specifically for disaster preparedness and working with the NCPA [Togo’s equivalent of the Federal Emergency Management Agency],” Adams said. “With almost every disaster, they face the potential for a disease outbreak, such as cholera, so involving their health ministry is a huge component of their preparedness.”
Togo and North Dakota have worked together as partners through the National Guard’s State Partnership Program for more than 12 years. American participants consisted of North Dakota civilian state employees and Soldiers assigned to the North Dakota National Guard.
“The overall goal is always building capacity and relationships with our partners in Togo, and specifically for this trip, with the NCPA,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Al Roehrich, Lignite Coast lead planner for the North Dakota National Guard and deputy director of the North Dakota Domestic Operations Branch. “The Togolese are very confident in what they do, but they do see the U.S. and the North Dakota National Guard as subject matter experts. When we bring in people from multiple agencies like the Department of Emergency Services and different outreach programs from North Dakota State University, it allows us to connect our private and public industry with their private and public industry, so if there’s something they can’t resource in Togo, sometimes other agencies can.”
Roehrich noted that partnerships, like those fostered in the SPP, also benefit and further develop U.S. disaster-relief professionals. When interactions with partners occur overseas, they allow American military and civilian personnel to see different points of view while factoring in different complications (such as food scarcity and power grid issues beyond urban centers), which are not always pressing concerns in the U.S.
Operation Lignite Coast 2026 was a training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. This meeting included civilian state employees of North Dakota’s disaster-response community, North Dakota National Guard Soldiers and several officials from the Togo’s NCPA. Its purpose was to define specific tasks, duties and roles among the relevant
VIEW ORIGINAL“This experience gives us some shared understanding of how other countries operate because when you get outside of the United States, everything is different,” Roehrich said.
Roehhrich concluded by pointing out improvements to U.S. readiness, among other benefits of working with overseas partners.
“These interactions allow our people to bring their expertise to another part of the world,” Roehrich said. “For the North Dakota National Guard, it’s a wonderful opportunity for younger Soldiers and senior leaders to travel and learn the world from a different perspective while building partner capacity.”
About SETAF-AF
U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.
Follow SETAF-AF on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn & DVIDS