Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
TULIO NUNEZ, 25, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to six months of imprisonment and two years of supervised release for offenses related to the theft of U.S. Mail.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas (USAO-KS) and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announce today the results of Operation Iron Sights, a violent crime initiative conducted in the Wichita-Sedgwick County area from July 13 – September 16, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced, today, that a federal grand jury indicted a Harford County man in connection with child sexual abuse charges spanning across three states. Jason Alex Candelaria, 34, of Darlington, Maryland, is charged with production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), online coercion and enticement, and possession of CSAM.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A 56-year-old man has pleaded guilty in federal court to devising a scheme to obtain pandemic government stimulus funds meant to assist small businesses, which he instead used for his personal benefit. The defendant also used role as church board member and treasurer to falsely obtain funds.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Daniel Keith McDougal, 37, of Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for leading a multi-state fraud scheme that targeted a Wyoming financial institution. He was also ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson, follows McDougal’s conviction by a federal jury in August 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A former correctional officer from the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy in which he and other correctional officers used unreasonable and unjustified force against inmates, including pretrial detainees, as a form of punishment and retaliation. Michael Pack, 40, pleaded guilty on March 30 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn to one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 371.
“Michael Pack conspired with other correctional officers to illegally assault and punish inmates in his custody,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “While we recognize that the great majority of law enforcement officers discharge their duties with integrity, this defendant abused his authority and has received an appropriate measure of accountability.”
According to court records, Pack admitted that he and his co-conspirators would strike, assault, and harm inmates they believed or perceived to have engaged in misconduct. As part of this conspiracy, Pack and his co-conspirators would bring inmates to known “blind spots” – areas of the jail that were not captured on surveillance cameras – so that they could use unreasonable and unjustified force against the inmates without being recorded and thus avoid being held accountable for their actions.
Specifically, Pack admitted that he and his co-conspirators repeatedly struck a pretrial detainee, and sprayed him with OC spray to punish him for kicking his cell door. Pack admitted that on another occasion he and his co-conspirators brought another pretrial detainee to an interview room not captured on surveillance cameras. While handcuffed and not a threat, Pack’s co-conspirators struck and assaulted the second detainee using unreasonable and unjustified force against the detainee Pack did not intervene during the assault despite having an opportunity to do so.
Pack further admitted that, as part of the conspiracy, he and his co-conspirators would prepare false reports denying their unreasonable uses of force against inmates and failing to document injuries that inmates sustained during use of force incidents, so that the conspirators would not be investigated or held accountable for their actions.
Specifically, Pack admitted that he was present when his co-conspirators used force against a pretrial detainee in a blind spot interview room. Pack wrote a false report omitting that he and his co-conspirators brought the detainee to the blind spot interview room. Pack also falsely reported that the detainee did not sustain injuries from the incident, despite being present after the assault when the detainee was escorted from the interview room while handcuffed and bleeding from the head.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Moore Capito for the Southern District of West Virginia made the announcement.
The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, Charleston Resident Agency, investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Tenette Smith, former Deputy Chief Christine M. Siscaretti, and former Trial Attorney Sam Kuhn of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Orlando, Florida – A federal jury has found Peter Holly, a 39-year-old lawful permanent resident, guilty of making a false claim of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote and voting by an alien. Holly faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison; a sentencing date has not yet been set. He was indicted on January 28, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a jury has convicted Patrick Wind a/k/a Patrick Azure, age 34, of Fort Thompson, South Dakota, of Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer following a two-day jury trial in federal district court in Pierre, South Dakota. The verdict was returned on October 29, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Scott Bradford announced today that John Kyle Donnahoo, 32, of McMinnville, has pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute a Schedule II Controlled Substance. The charge stems from a February 2023 incident in Yamhill County in which a fentanyl‑laced substance caused the overdose death of one person and serious injury to six others.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, a former U.S. government contractor, was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday for allegedly leaking national defense information by posting the information on a popular social media site, unlawfully retaining other national defense information at his residence, and stealing night vision goggles from the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command.
Ashbacher was charged by an indictment unsealed Tuesday with unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information and with theft of government property.
According to the indictment, beginning in or about 2021, the defendant worked as an employee of a private company that provided security and emergency management services at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command facility in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. To perform the required functions of his employment, Ashbacher held a Top Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access.
As further detailed in the indictment, Ashbacher photographed and removed without authorization videos and photographs containing images of classified military operations and transmitted the materials to a social media site. The classified materials were later re-posted by other users to a second social media site. Ashbacher asked a social media user in a private message to remove some materials and further stated that he was “trying to do some damage control.” A search of Ashbacher’s residence also revealed a classified award write-up that contained additional national defense information, along with a night vision goggle system specific to a military unit within Army Special Operations Command that had been reported missing.
The FBI Charlotte Field Office is investigating the case with substantial assistance from the U.S. Department of the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division.
Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Logan Liles for the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.