Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A Weber County man was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and ordered by the court to pay $9,983 in restitution to the victim’s family after he distributed fentanyl to another person who was later found dead as a result of fentanyl intoxication.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A 13-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Anthony J. Carone, Frank V. Carone, Crystal Chen, and Yan Po Zhu, also known as “Andy Zhu,” for their roles in a bribery scheme that capitalized on funding meant to address New York City’s migrant crisis. The charges include fraud, bribery, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and tax fraud. All four defendants were arrested today and will be arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Earlier this month, Ernest Larry Tabaha, 65, of Fort Defiance, AZ, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan to 87 months in prison, followed by 180 months of supervised release. Tabaha previously pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenager on the Navajo Nation.
Source: United States Department of Justice
A 13-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Anthony J. Carone, Frank V. Carone, Crystal Chen, and Yan Po Zhu, also known as “Andy Zhu,” for their roles in a bribery scheme that capitalized on funding meant to address New York City’s migrant crisis. The charges include fraud, bribery, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and tax fraud. All four defendants were arrested today and will be arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Irv Duff, 35, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty yesterday in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, on charges of shooting and killing 26-year-old Darnell Gibson, in Southwest D.C., on August 1, 2023, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court, sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person. The sentencing took place on June 22, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today, that six aliens unlawfully in the United States face indictment, stemming from a local drug investigation. The illegal aliens, along with a seventh defendant, are charged with several crimes in connection with a drug trafficking organization (DTO) operating in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Butler revealed that he was involved in a nihilistic violent extremist (NVE) network, whose members seek to corrupt and exploit vulnerable populations, including minors. Butler was the administrator of an online offshoot of the “764” NVE group that operated across multiple social media channels and whose members engaged in extortion of minors, coercive self-harm, harm to animals, and the production and dissemination of CSAM.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
On June 22, the Department of Justice, Civil Division, issued payments to 629 Plaintiffs in Feindt v. United States and Hughes v. United States who brought claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) as a result of the 2021 jet fuel spills at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, located at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (2021 Red Hill Spills). Settlements totaling approximately $17 million were approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii on May 19.
“This Justice Department is proud to announce the efficient resolution of claims relating to the Red Hill jet fuel spills that harmed American servicemembers and their families,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “These latest settlements prove our commitment to ensuring justice for our Nation’s heroes who repeatedly risk greatly to safeguard our freedoms.”
“These settlements are the latest example of the United States’ good faith efforts to resolve the over 6,500 FTCA claims arising from the 2021 Red Hill Spills,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The settlements represent a fair and just resolution of claims and we look forward to paying additional claims once they are approved.”
In 2024, following extensive discovery, the claims of 17 Plaintiffs went to trial. Based on the results of that trial, the Civil Division has reached settlements with approximately 3,600 civilian Plaintiffs, including the 629 Plaintiffs who recently received payment.
The Civil Division continues to process settlements and has filed several additional motions for settlement approval, which are pending with the Court for approval or with the Treasury Department for payment. The Civil Division is prepared to file additional motions for settlement approval as soon as Plaintiffs provide sufficient proof of eligibility and signed releases. Currently, there are more than 300 Feindt and Hughes Plaintiffs that have met all settlement criteria and need only provide a signed release.
Additionally, the Civil Division is waiting on sufficient proof of settlement eligibility from approximately 400 Feindt and Hughes Plaintiffs who accepted the United States’ settlement offer as long ago as October 2025. Once these documents are provided, the Civil Division will file additional motions for settlement approval and, once they are approved, pay additional claims.
Source: United States Army
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State Partnership Program representatives from North Dakota, officials of Togo’s National Civil Protection Agency, and civil affairs Soldiers assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) took part in a tabletop exercise in Lome, Togo, June 11.
The TTX culminated a three-day academics portion, “Exercise Let’s Prepare 2026,” a disaster-relief training package designed to improve the Togolese government’s ability to respond to a variety of emergency scenarios. The academic portion was part of Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training experience conducted June 8-18.
U.S. instructors consisted of a team from the Peace Garden State, who were a mix of civilian state personnel and National Guard Soldiers. North Dakota and Togo have been partners through the National Guard’s SPP for over 12 years.
This TTX culminated a three-day academics portion within Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINAL“Togo has been eager to learn from the U.S. military,” said U.S. Army Capt. Euston Harp, team chief for Civil Affairs Team Togo, Alpha Company, Civil Affairs Battalion, SETAF-AF. “The information these government officials have received during this training period will enable the Togolese government to improve its capacity in providing incident response and assuming greater responsibilities as a partner in the region.”
CA Team Togo’s part in the TTX involved offering key expertise and best practices to leverage core specializations in disaster response and humanitarian aid, as well as civil-military coordination and civil integration.
Harp explained that the TTX’s goal was evaluating response abilities and applying classroom instruction in a discussion-based environment, which would help identify potential planning gaps, clarify organizational roles and improve team coordination.
The TTX’s final portion consisted of groups of key leaders from Togo’s NCPA presenting solutions to three notional incidents. These scenarios included a large traffic accident on a bridge, a group of capsized, large-capacity canoes (carrying up to 60 people), and a cholera epidemic occurring in the aftermath of a flood. In composing their briefs, the teams employed the training they’d received over the previous three days. Building on the course’s content, delivering these presentations also helped prepare for a practical training exercise the groups would undergo the following week.
This TTX culminated a three-day academics portion within Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINALSherry Adams, North Dakota state health officer and Southwestern District Health Unit executive officer, has worked in emergency preparedness and response since 2004, and she is certified by North Dakota and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an incident command instructor. She has made 15 trips total to Africa throughout her career, having taught incident command in Benin, Ghana and previously in Togo.
“What always impresses me every time I come to Africa, is how serious students are to understand, learn and train — and they do such a professional job,” Adams said. “For example, the TTX groups took the time to make very detailed maps as part of their briefs, which wasn’t required, and that’s why I love to teach over here. By using all the right terms, the maps they drew, and the diagrams they had, they demonstrated that they truly learned … and as an instructor, it just makes you really happy when you see your students do so well.”
This TTX culminated a three-day academics portion within Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINALAdams explained that her normal job responsibilities in North Dakota are quite different, but these trips to Africa put her in her “happy place” with a break from her normal routine and the opportunity to teach emergency preparedness.
“I love planning and preparing, and when I go to a country that has very few resources and I see how they make the most of everything, it really puts everything in perspective,” Adams said.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Al Roehrich, a lead planner for the North Dakota National Guard and deputy director of the North Dakota Domestic Operations Branch, pointed out that one of the intended benchmarks with partnership programs is to strengthen them to a point where they are on “cruise control,” and that every completed event moves the program with Togo closer to that level. He also noted that North Dakota’s relationships with various Togolese agencies remain strong while collectively building partner capacity to manage both domestic and regional security.
This TTX culminated a three-day academics portion within Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINAL“They always appreciate it when we come over here, but they also get the benefit of going to the U.S. in small teams to visit North Dakota to see our training and how we conduct business,” Roehrich said. “We have a lot of the same problems, especially from an emergency services perspective. They might not deal with blizzards and snowstorms like we do in North Dakota, but we both have fires and floods, so we still see a lot of the same issues. This is shared learning at the end of the day.”
Roehrich emphasized that the overall goal always focuses on building capacity and relationships with partners in Togo, particularly with the NCPA on this trip. While North Dakota’s emergency preparedness experts provided the lead content for instruction during Lignite Coast, the opportunity to confer among colleagues generally positions both sides for better success going forward.
This TTX culminated a three-day academics portion within Operation Lignite Coast 2026, an overarching training event conducted June 8-18, 2026, focused on improving the Togolese government’s capacity to handle a variety of emergency scenarios. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski)
VIEW ORIGINAL“We always look to build upon capacity from past events and exercises,” Roehrich said. “We conduct annual exercises with all of our partner countries, and Togo’s NCPA has been a great partner in emergency preparedness and disaster response in 2026. Any time we can get partners together to talk about ways to improve, it always makes us better collectively because we also learn a lot from their best practices that we can bring back to North Dakota and possibly implement them in our own procedures.”
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.
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