Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Editor’s Note: This matter occurred on date indicated but not published at that time due to government shutdown. Press release posted and made available following the return to normal operations.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BECKLEY, W.Va. – Paul Charles Clement, 43, of Hillsboro, pleaded guilty on October 28, 2025, to failure to register as a sex offender, as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), after relocating from Virginia to West Virginia.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from on or about March 8, 2024, through in or around December 2024, Clement resided in the Ronceverte area of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, after relocating from Virginia. Clement knew he was required to comply with the provisions of SORNA because of his conviction on two felony counts of carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 15 years old in Botetourt County, Virginia, Circuit Court on December 2, 2002.

Clement is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) and the West Virginia State Police.

United States Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan T. Storage is prosecuting the case.

SORNA is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. SORNA seeks to strengthen the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs, in part by requiring registered sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or go to school.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:25-cr-89.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Editor’s Note: This matter occurred on date indicated but not published at that time due to the government shutdown. Press release posted and made available following the return to normal operations.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – United States Attorney Matthew L. Harvey is applauding the work of his office during the government shutdown in the Northern District of West Virginia.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners continued the important work of Operation Take Back America, removing drug dealers, firearms offenders, and those who commit crimes against children, from our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Harvey.

During the 43-day lapse in government appropriations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office facilitated more than 70 sentences, secured dozens of guilty pleas, indicted 17 matters, and successfully litigated a trial.

Notable sentences involving drug trafficking include:

• Desmond Davis, 35, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 327 months in federal prison.
• Lenin Erasmo Luna Mota, 53, of Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced to 280 months.
• Malik Summers, 51, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 240 months.
• Odell Epps, 48, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 130 months in prison.
• Frank Brown, 36, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 120 months in prison.
• Gary Duane Cool, 41, of Monterville, West Virginia, was sentenced to 188 months.
• Emmanuel Gibson, 34, of Fairmont, West Virginia, was sentenced to 151 months in prison.
• Theresa Lipkey, 44, of Petersburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 84 months in prison.
• Corey Coffman Kneeland, 35, of Wardensville, West Virginia, was sentenced to 121 months.
• Jennifer Ann Howell, 46, of Moorefield, West Virginia, was sentenced to 90 months.
• Matthew David Viands, 33, of Summit Point, West Virginia, was sentenced to 78 months.
• Mauricio Alvarado-Flores, 39, of El Salvador, was sentenced to 71 months in prison.
• Alexis Alvarado, 38, of Ranson, West Virginia, was sentenced to 60 months.
• Rahim Duncan, 31, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison.
• Crystal Lynn Blakenship, 40, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, was sentenced to 97 months.
• Randy Jones, 42, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 136 months in prison.
• Kimberly Goins, 44, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 78 months.
• Rebecca Keiper, 38, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 78 months in prison.

Prison sentences were secured for those violating firearms laws, to include:

• Bryan Davis, 39, of Williamsport, Maryland, was sentenced to 188 months in prison.
• Alexander Dignazio, 23, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison.
• Garrett Deberry, 28, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was sentenced to 160 months in prison.

The office also secured sentences for those who violated child pornography laws:

• Oliver Matheny, age 51, of Maidsville, West Virginia, was sentenced to 300 months in prison.
• David Cicalese, 44, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, was sentenced to 120 months.
• Joshua Michael Humphrey, 43, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, was sentenced to 88 months in prison.
• Elliot Stache, 37, of Fairmont, West Virginia, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison.

The sentences were presided by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh, U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh, and U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey.

The cases were a part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Mississippi businessman pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to defraud Medicare by paying kickbacks for fraudulent doctors’ orders and then using those orders to bill the government insurer over $19 million through seven different durable medical equipment (DME) supply companies.

According to court documents, Willie De Gibbs, 53, of Toomsuba, Mississippi, and Cutler Bay, Florida, was the sole owner of three DME supply companies and was the beneficial owner of and controlled, sometimes through straw owners, four other DME supply companies. He sought to defraud Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary orthotic braces for beneficiaries that did not request or need them.

Gibbs pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 25, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick Lemon for the Southern District of Mississippi; Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office; and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

FBI and HHS-OIG are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Sara E. Porter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly T. Purdie for the Southern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

RAPID CITY – United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that District Court Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a man from Rapid City, South Dakota, for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance.  The sentencing took place on October 27, 2025.

Demitre Ecoffey, 31, was sentenced to 24 years and four months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Ecoffey was indicted for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance by a federal grand jury in April 2025.  He pleaded guilty on August 13, 2025.

Throughout 2024 and 2025, Ecoffey was purchasing pound quantities of methamphetamine and selling it to others throughout Rapid City and the Pine Ridge reservation.  During his involvement in the drug conspiracy, Ecoffey engaged in dangerous conduct such as high-speed chases through Rapid City and the Pine Ridge reservation, destruction of evidence, and possessing multiple firearms.

“Strong detective work and collaboration by all levels of law enforcement in the state have ensured that our citizens in western South Dakota will be protected from this dangerous individual for the next quarter century or so,” said U.S. Attorney Parsons.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs – Division of Drug Enforcement (BIA), the FBI, Rapid City Police Department and the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET). UNET is comprised of law enforcement from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Rapid City Police Department, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the South Dakota National Guard. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.

Ecoffey was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gregory Neal Hager, 40, of Madison, pleaded guilty on October 7, 2025, to possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on December 7, 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hager’s residence in Madison and seized an external hard drive connected to his desktop computer. A forensic examination of the external hard drive revealed 146 images and six videos of child pornography depicting a pubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. As part of his guilty plea, Hager admitted that the images and videos of child pornography were screen captures from Snapchat conversations between himself and the minor, that he saved the child pornography on the external hard drive, and that he knew the minor was under 18 years old.

Hager is scheduled to be sentenced on January 14, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Hager must also register as a sex offender.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the West Virginia State Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Lesley C. Shamblin is prosecuting the case.

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 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 is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:25-cr-94.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Michael David Barker, 48, of Foster, was sentenced on November 10, 2025, to two years and nine months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,448,571.85 in restitution for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Barker admitted to a scheme to defraud the Boone County Schools system by more than $3.4 million while employed as the maintenance director.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from about November 2019 through December 2023, Barker ordered custodial and janitorial supplies for Boone County Schools from Jesse Marks and his company, Rush Enterprises. These supplies included hand soap, trash can liners, face masks, face shields, and hand sanitizer.

Barker admitted that he and Marks agreed that Rush Enterprises would overbill the Boone County Board of Education for these supplies. As part of this scheme, Barker approved invoices on behalf of Rush Enterprises that significantly inflated the number of products that were actually delivered to Boone County Schools. Barker submitted these fraudulent invoices to the Boone County Board of Education, which relied on them to mail checks to Rush Enterprises using the United States Mail.

Marks deposited the checks from Boone County Schools into the business bank account for Rush Enterprises, wrote himself checks on that account that he cashed at various banks, and personally delivered some of that cash to Barker in manila envelopes. Barker admitted that he spent the cash delivered by Marks to buy vehicles and equipment and make substantial improvements to his residence in Foster.

Marks deducted the cost of the products actually delivered to Boone County Schools from the proceeds of the overbilling scheme. Boone County Schools paid Rush Enterprises $4,310,714.82 from in or about November 2019 through in or about December 2023. Barker admitted that approximately 80 percent of the total payments received by Rush Enterprises, or $3,448,571.85, was based on fraudulent invoices.

Marks, 65, of Rush, Kentucky, sentenced on November 13, 2025, to five years of federal probation, including one year and six months on home detention, and ordered to pay $3,448,571.85 in restitution, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

As a result of the investigation of Michael David Barker, his parents Michael P. Barker, 68, and Lana Barker, 66, both of Foster, pleaded guilty on March 3, 2025, to structuring transactions with one or more domestic financial institutions. Starting on or about November 7, 2023, through on or about November 28, 2023, the couple made or caused to be made 11 cash deposits to their bank accounts in amounts ranging from $8,000.00 to $9,500.00 and totaling $97,215.00. The couple admitted that these transactions were specifically designed to avoid currency reporting requirements. Financial institutions are required to report cash deposits of more than $10,000.00, and federal law prohibits structuring multiple cash deposits to avoid this reporting requirement. The Barkers furthered admitted that they used the $97,215.00, a $30,000.00 bank loan, and $50,000.00 provided by their son to purchase property in Foster. They were each sentenced to one year of federal probation.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Department of Education-Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the West Virginia State Police, and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU), and the assistance provided by the West Virginia Department of Education.

United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Gabriel Price prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-194.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ABERDEEN – United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann has sentenced a Watertown, South Dakota, man convicted of Aggravated Sexual Abuse and Sexual Abuse of a Minor.  The sentencing took place on November 3, 2025.

Gokoh Frank Brown, age 29, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, 20 years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $200.  Brown must register as a sex offender once released from federal prison.

Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2024.  He was found guilty following a jury trial on May 21, 2025.

From January to August 2023, Brown, 27 years old at the time, repeatedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old household member while living on the Lake Traverse Reservation.

This case was investigated by the FBI, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Law Enforcement, and the DCI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert-Webb prosecuted the case.

This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian Country be prosecuted in federal court as opposed to State court.

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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

Brown was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – On November 6, 2025, Timothy Ray Gravley, 42, of Bruno, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl and his brother Jessie Joe Gravley II, 43, of Bruno, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and quantities of fentanyl and heroin.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 17, 2024, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the residences of each brother. At Timothy Ray Gravley’s residence, officers seized a total of 559.69 grams of fentanyl found in multiple bags, a Ruger model LCP .380-caliber pistol, a Umarex/FN model 502 .22-caliber pistol, and $20,131. At Jessie Joe Gravley’s residence, officers seized 250.1 grams of methamphetamine “ice,” 40.18 grams of heroin, 53.7 grams of cocaine, and $19,243.

As part of his guilty plea, Timothy Ray Gravley admitted that he possessed the fentanyl seized at his residence and that he intended to distribute it in and around the Southern District of West Virginia. He further admitted to selling a total of 6.64 grams of fentanyl for a total of $700 in two separate transactions, one on October 10, 2024, and the other on October 15, 2024, each time to a confidential informant in Bruno.

As part of his guilty plea, Jessie Joe Gravley admitted that he possessed the methamphetamine seized at his residence and that he intended to distribute it in and around the Southern District of West Virginia. He further admitted to selling controlled substances to a confidential informant on two occasions in Bruno. On October 9, 2024, he sold 1.81 grams of fentanyl, 24.99 grams of methamphetamine “ice,” and 1.05 grams of cocaine for $680. On October 14, 2024, he sold 2 grams of fentanyl and 29.03 grams of methamphetamine “ice” for $620.

Both Gravleys have criminal histories that include prior felony convictions for drug crimes.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Route 119 Drug Task Force, which consists of members of the Mingo County Sheriff’s Office, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, and the West Virginia State Police.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentences. Assistant United States Attorney JC MacCallum prosecuted the cases.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 2:25-cr-37 (Jessie Joe Gravley II) and 2:25-cr-38 (Timothy Ray Gravley).

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