Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice

Former Madera County benefits eligibility worker Leticia Mariscal, 55, of Madera, was arrested today on charges that she stole tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of other people’s CalFresh benefits during a multiyear scheme, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced. CalFresh is a financial assistance program that provides qualifying California residents with monetary benefits they can use to buy food. It was formerly known as the food stamp program.

According to court records, between December 2020 and April 2025, Mariscal improperly used county databases to which she had access through her job to obtain identifying information for individuals who were elderly or deceased. She then secretly approved these individuals to receive CalFresh benefits, printed EBT cards in their names with the benefits deposited thereon and spent the proceeds. Altogether, Mariscal used the identities of more than 15 people to steal benefits totaling more than $40,000. She was placed on leave earlier this year when her scheme was discovered.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Madera County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Mariscal faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for stealing CalFresh benefits. She also faces an additional two years in prison for misusing other people’s identities to commit the crime. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source: United States Department of Justice

           WASHINGTON – John Aaron Gass, 35, a high school history teacher at the District of Columbia International School, was charged by complaint unsealed today in U.S. District Court with production of child pornography and with enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

           FBI agents arrested Gass yesterday at his home in Maryland.

           According to the charging documents, Gass allegedly sexually abused a minor child beginning in the Spring of 2025. He allegedly recorded that abuse. On multiple occasions Gass climbed through the child’s bedroom window at night to sexually abuse her. 

           On Nov. 21, 2025, the FBI received information from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) alleging that Gass met with a minor child on multiple occasions to sexually abuse her and, on at least two occasions, used the victim’s phone to record explicit videos of himself and the child. 

            This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.

            This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Bohlen for the District of Columbia.

            Anyone with further information may contact 1-800-CALL-FBI.

            This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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Source: United States Department of Justice

BOSTON – Kokusai Denki Electric America, Inc., formerly known as Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark, LLC (Comark), a company headquartered in Southwick, Mass., has agreed to pay $2,092,371 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for which it was not eligible.

Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain approved expenses through the PPP. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) administered the PPP in two rounds – the second began in early 2021. To be eligible for a second-round loan, an entity, among other things, had to have fewer than 300 employees, including affiliates’ employees.

As part of the settlement, Comark admitted that, in January 2021, it received a $1,342,232 second round PPP loan. Comark certified that it was eligible for the loan under the PPP regulations in effect at the time of the application and represented that it had 67 employees, including affiliates’ employees. Comark later sought and received forgiveness from SBA of the full amount of that loan. When it applied for the loan and when it applied for forgiveness, Comark did not qualify for the loan because it had more than 300 employees, when considering employees of its affiliates. Prior to 2021 and through 2022, Comark was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., a company based in Tokyo. Between 2021 and through 2022, Kokusai had more than 300 employees, not including Comark’s employees.  

The settlement credits Comark for cooperation under the Department of Justice’s Guidelines for Taking Voluntary Disclosure, Cooperation and Remediation into Account in False Claims Act Matters.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and the U.S. Small Business Administration made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. LaMacchia, Chief of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit handled the matter.

Source: United States Department of Justice

BOSTON – A Quincy man has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to allegedly injecting clients of his business, Rodrigo Beauty Inc., with unapproved botulinum toxin obtained from illegitimate sources outside the United States, resulting in numerous severe cases of botulism.

Rodrigo de Medeiros Siqueira, 33, was charged and agreed to plead guilty to one count of misbranding of a drug after shipment in interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court. Medeiros Siqueira was arrested and charged by complaint in October 2025.

According to the charging documents, beginning in or around August 2022, Medeiros Siqueira offered various cosmetic injection procedures, including the injection of botulinum toxin prescription drugs, to clients of Rodrigo Beauty, despite not being licensed to prescribe, dispense, or administer prescription drugs or perform injections. It is alleged that Medeiros Siqueira falsely represented to clients that he was a licensed medical professional authorized to perform injections and made false statements to clients regarding the identity and source of the botulinum toxin products he was using for their injection procedures. Beginning in or around late May 2025, numerous Rodrigo Beauty clients were diagnosed with botulism, allegedly as a result of injections Medeiros Siqueira performed using unapproved botulinum toxin.

Botulism is a rare and dangerous illness that can result from, among other things, the injection of botulinum toxin. Iatrogenic botulism is caused by botulinum toxin circulating in the blood and spreading beyond the injection site, potentially resulting in life-threatening symptoms, including blurred or double vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, and/or difficulty swallowing or breathing. While botulinum toxin is generally safe when administered by trained medical professionals, improper dosing, administration technique, or use of non-FDA-approved products can result in severe cases of botulism.

The charge of misbranding of a drug after shipment in interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

If you or a family member believe you received services involving illegal injections and/or unapproved drugs or devices from Medeiros Siqueira or Rodrigo Beauty, please complete the questionnaire located on the FDA’s website at: https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/criminal-investigations/oci-vw-assistance-rodrigo-beauty. Information about the status of the case is located on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/united-states-v-rodrigo-de-medeiros-siqueira.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Fernando McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie A. Wright of the Health Care Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Friday admitted possessing images containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his mobile phone and discussing CSAM with others online for years.

Brayden M. Swathwood, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. He also admitted exchanging CSAM with someone in Georgia and claiming in discussions with that person that he was sexually abusing a 4-year-old minor and planned to record that abuse. There is no evidence that Swathwood’s claims about the minor are true.

On Dec. 17, 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in St. Louis conducted a court-approved search of Swathwood’s apartment in St. Louis County and his vehicle. They seized his cellphone and other electronic devices and interviewed Swathwood, who admitted viewing and discussing CSAM online.

Swathwood is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12, 2026. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both prison and fine.

HSI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson 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 Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

On October 23, a New York doctor was sentenced to seven years in prison for causing the submission of over $24 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces. He was also ordered to pay $2,210,384 in restitution.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Alexander Baldonado, M.D., 69, of Queens, received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering laboratory tests, including expensive cancer genetic tests, that were billed to Medicare by two laboratories located in New York.

As part of the scheme, Baldonado authorized hundreds of cancer genetic tests for Medicare beneficiaries who attended COVID-19 testing events at assisted living facilities, adult day care centers and a retirement community in 2020. Baldonado was not treating any of the patients who attended the testing events and, in many cases, did not speak to or examine the patients prior to ordering cancer genetic tests and other laboratory tests for them. Baldonado also billed Medicare for lengthy office visits that he never provided to these patients. Several Medicare patients for whom Baldonado ordered cancer genetic tests and billed for office visits testified at trial that they did not know who Baldonado was and had never met or spoken to him. Baldonado did not contact the patients after the testing events to review the results of the cancer genetic tests, and, in some cases, the patients never received the test results.

In addition to the laboratory testing scheme, Baldonado also received illegal cash kickbacks and bribes from the owner of a durable medical equipment supply company in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The evidence presented at trial showed Baldonado on an undercover video receiving a large sum of cash in exchange for signed prescriptions for orthotic braces.

The medically unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces that Baldonado ordered in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes caused Medicare to be billed more than $24 million. Medicare paid more than $2.2 million based on these false and fraudulent claims.

After a five-day jury trial in February 2025, Baldonado was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud; six counts of health care fraud; one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay, offer, receive, and solicit health care kickbacks; one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive and solicit health care kickbacks; and one count of solicitation of health care kickbacks.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy of the FBI Newark Field Office made the announcement.

HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.

Acting Principal Assistant Chief Rebecca Yuan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted 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

James L. Kenney, 45, of West Sacramento, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between May 2025 and August of 2025, Kenney, his co-conspirator Kevin Leacy, 31, of West Sacramento, and others worked together as part of a drug trafficking organization selling fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin using a motel in West Sacramento. During three controlled purchases in May 2025, law enforcement officers purchased 100 grams of fentanyl and 540 grams of pure methamphetamine from Kenney and Leacy.

In August 2025, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the motel and seized approximately 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl, 2 kilograms of cocaine, as well as methamphetamine and heroin located in rooms used by members of the conspiracy, including Kenney.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the West Sacramento Police Department and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Harman and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew DeMoura are prosecuting the case.

Charges are pending against Leacy. The charges are only allegations; he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Kenney is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on March 26, 2026. Kenney faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum penalty of life in prison, and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

In the first prosecution of its kind, the owners of several Arizona wound graft companies were sentenced to significant terms of incarceration for causing over $1.2 billion of false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and other health insurance programs for medically unnecessary wound grafts that were ordered as a result of illegal kickbacks and applied to elderly and terminally ill patients. On Oct.7 Alexandra Gehrke was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison, and on Oct. 10 her husband, Jeffrey King, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

According to court documents, Gehrke, 39, and King, 46, both of Phoenix, orchestrated a large-scale wound-care scheme from 2022 through 2024. Gehrke solely owned and operated two companies that contracted with medically untrained “sales representatives” to find elderly Medicare beneficiaries throughout Arizona with wounds of any kind. Once the sales representatives identified these patients, many of whom were in hospice care, Gehrke directed the sales representatives to order expensive bioengineered skin substitutes — amniotic membrane allografts made from human placental tissue — to be placed on the wounds. To maximize profits, Gehrke required the sales representatives to order only the largest sizes of grafts available, even if the sizes of grafts — or the use of grafts as treatment — were not medically appropriate or reasonable.

Gehrke referred the patients identified by the sales representatives first to a company she owned, and later in the scheme to a company co-owned by King. Both of these companies were enrolled as Medicare providers and could submit claims to Medicare. Through these companies, Gehrke and King purchased the grafts from a wholesale graft distributor. They also contracted with nurse practitioners to apply the grafts and billed Medicare and other health insurers for the grafts applied. Gehrke and King instructed the nurse practitioners to suspend their medical judgment and apply whatever quantities and sizes of grafts were ordered by the medically untrained sales representatives, regardless of medical necessity.

Gehrke, through the three companies she owned, received over $279 million in illegal kickbacks from the wholesale graft distributor in exchange for ordering its grafts, over $100 million of which she diverted to her personal accounts and tens of millions of which she used to pay illegal kickbacks to the sales representatives. The company co-owned by King received an additional $130 million in illegal kickbacks from the same graft distributor.

The financial incentive for the sales representatives to order large numbers and sizes of allografts, combined with Gehrke and King’s requirement that nurse practitioners apply all grafts ordered, resulted in large grafts applied to small wounds, several grafts applied to single wounds, grafts applied to non-existent wounds and grafts applied to terminally ill patients receiving palliative care, some of whom died within days or the same day of the allograft application.

Over the course of just 18 months, from November 2022 through May 2024, Gehrke, King and their co-conspirators submitted approximately $1,212,005,778 in false and fraudulent claims to health insurance programs, including over $960 million to the federal health care programs Medicare, TRICARE (the health care program for U.S. service members and their families) and CHAMPVA (the health care program for spouses and children of permanently disabled veterans). The federal and commercial health care programs collectively paid $614,945,420 based on these claims.

The government seized substantial assets that Gehrke and King accumulated from the scheme, including $97 million from 28 bank accounts at seven financial institutions; three life insurance annuities exceeding $21 million; four luxury vehicles — a Ferrari 488 Spider convertible, a Mercedes-Benz AMG Roadster, a Mercedes-Benz 4×4 Squared G-Wagon and a Mercedes-Benz GLE — collectively purchased for over $988,000; $367,150 in cash recovered from Gehrke and King’s home and safe deposit boxes and over $348,000 worth of gold and silver bars and coins.

Gehrke and King pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud on Oct. 24, 2024, and Jan. 31, 2025, respectively. In addition to the terms of incarceration, Gehrke and King were ordered to pay restitution and to forfeit fraudulent proceeds obtained personally and through companies they owned and controlled. Gehrke was ordered to pay $614,945,420 in restitution and to forfeit $279,912,916 in fraudulent proceeds, and King was ordered to pay $605,690,110 in restitution and to forfeit $130,813,658 in fraudulent proceeds.

In addition to the criminal case, Gehrke and the wound graft marketing company she owned, Apex Medical LLC, agreed to pay $279,912,916, and King agreed to pay $30 million, related to their respective civil liability under the False Claims Act, resolving allegations that they knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs for medically unnecessary wound allografts, received illegal kickbacks from a wholesale wound allograft distributor in exchange for orders, purchases, and referrals and paid illegal kickbacks to other parties.

The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering or paying anything of value to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare and other federally funded programs. The statute is intended to ensure that the judgment of medical providers is not compromised by improper financial incentives.

The False Claims Act allegations resolved by the civil settlements were originally brought by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. The matters remain under seal while the investigation of other parties continues. The amount of the whistleblower shares of the settlements has not yet been determined.

The FBI, HHS-OIG, Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General investigated the criminal case.  The civil resolutions were the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, with assistance from HHS-OIG.

Trial Attorney Shane Butland of the National Rapid Response Strike Force of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Williams for the District of Arizona are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Bozdech for the District of Arizona is handling asset forfeiture. The civil False Claims Act investigation was handled by Trial Attorney Vanessa Reed of the Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lon Leavitt for the District of Arizona.

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 9 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.

The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement can be reported to HHS at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ST. PAUL – Patrick Carl Timberlake, Jr., a/k/a “King,” age 29, was sentenced Wednesday in United States District Court to 204 months’ imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release for two counts of Distribution of Heroin and Fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.

Timberlake is a drug dealer and a felon who is prohibited from possessing weapons.  In 2019 and 2020, Timberlake sold poison—heroin containing deadly fentanyl—to two drug users who took Timberlake’s poison, overdosed, and died. The U.S. Attorney’s Office extends its profound condolences to the families of the victims of Timberlake and the deadly drug epidemic.

Specifically, on December 4, 2019, Timberlake sold Victim 1 approximately 0.5 grams of heroin that contained fentanyl.  Victim 1 used the drugs Timberlake sold him.  His father later found him unconscious on the bathroom floor and called 911.  Victim 1’s father and emergency personnel attempted to revive Victim 1, but he was pronounced dead.  A medical examiner later determined his death to be the result of the toxic effects of heroin and fentanyl.

On January 20, 2020, Timberlake sold heroin that contained fentanyl to Victim 2.  The next day, emergency services received a 911 call requesting a welfare check on Victim 2 at his parent’s house for a possible overdose.  First responders arrived and found Victim 2 unresponsive on the kitchen floor and pronounced him dead.  A medical examiner later determined his death to be the result of the toxic effects of heroin and fentanyl.

A subsequent investigation determined that Timberlake had been dealing heroin containing fentanyl on a daily basis, first from his apartment in Saint Paul, then from his apartment in Plymouth, and finally from his apartment in Columbia Heights.  The investigation also revealed that another drug customer told Timberlake of Victim 1’s death the day after it happened, to which Timberlake responded: “okay.”  Despite knowing that his drugs had caused the death of Victim 1, Timberlake continued to sell drugs, including to Victim 2, causing his death.  

A search of Timberlake’s apartment in Columbia Heights revealed a Glock 23 .40 caliber handgun, a 30-round extended magazine, and ammunition—all of which Timberlake was prohibited from lawfully possessing due to his prior felony convictions.

United States District Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced Timberlake was sentenced Wednesday on two counts of Distribution of Heroin and Fentanyl to 204 months’ imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. In sentencing Timberlake, Judge Frank spoke about the scourge of fentanyl deaths affecting our country and recognized the heartbreak to both of the victim’s families who lost their loved ones to the fentanyl epidemic.   

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office and Drug Enforcement Administration.  

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley M. Endicott and Nathan H. Nelson prosecuted the case.