Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Daniel S. Ackerman, 59, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to possession with intent to distribute 50 or more marijuana plants, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $1,000,000 fine.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, woman convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person. The sentencing took place on March 23, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
RENO – A Reno man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced on Monday by United States District Judge Anne R. Traum to 60 months in prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release for receiving child sexual abuse material images and videos after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) forwarded a CyberTip to law enforcement. The United States Sentencing Guidelines range for this offense was 151 to 188 months. The government had recommended a 151-month sentence to be followed by Lifetime supervised release.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Uruguayan man pleaded guilty today to agreeing to use an unlicensed money services business to circumvent U.S. sanctions relating to Venezuela by transferring nearly $100,000 from the Dominican Republic into a U.S. bank account.
According to court documents, Irazmar Carbajal De Jesus, 60, agreed to transfer approximately $99,500 delivered in cash in the Dominican Republic to a specified bank account in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The agents told the defendant’s partner that the funds were from a sanctioned person from the Venezuela government who needed help moving them to the United States.
Carbajal and his partner advised that the fee would be 20 percent for this service, which included creating fake invoices to justify the transactions to the banks and the use of several accounts to transmit the funds. Carbajal referred to the funds in coded language, identifying them as a “boy who needs to be taken to school.”
Carbajal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 12 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI Miami Division made the announcement.
The FBI International Corruption Unit in Miami investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Barbara Levy of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nalina Sombuntham for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s International Unit investigates and prosecutes cross-border money laundering schemes involving transnational criminal organizations, cartels, foreign official corruption and related money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system and prosecutes criminal cases and civil forfeiture matters to recover the proceeds of those crimes.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Thelmo Meneses Santos, Jr., 60, of Merced, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for sexually abusing two minors while he was employed by the Armed Forces outside of the United States.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A California man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for sexually abusing two minors while he was employed by the Armed Forces outside of the United States. According to court documents, Thelmo Meneses Santos, Jr., 60, of Merced, sexually abused two minor children multiple times between 2015 and 2023. Santos began sexually abusing both of the minor victims when they were 11 years old. Santos sexually abused the two minors in Japan, where he was employed by the U.S. Army as a civilian employee. During the investigation, Santos gave an interview to law enforcement officers where he admitted to engaging in sexual acts with both minor children. Santos was later arrested in Hawaii by Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) agents. After his arrest, Santos attempted to unlawfully influence one of his victims to falsely recant her report of sexual abuse.
In addition to his sentence of imprisonment, Santos will be required to pay restitution to his victims and to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California; and Special Agent in Charge Michael DeFamio of the Army CID Far East Field Office made the announcement.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI investigated this case.
Trial Attorney Eduardo A. Palomo of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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
Jacksonville, Florida – Noel Daniel Simonca (48, Jacksonville) has been sentenced by United States District Judge Jordan Emery Pratt to 14 years in federal prison for using his cellphone and the internet to attempt to entice an 11-year-old child to engage in sexual activity. Simonca pleaded guilty on October 28, 2025. He was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A woman from the Larchmont area of Los Angeles was sentenced today to 35 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicare out of more than $14 million by submitting fraudulent claims for hospice care and diagnostic testing services that were either unnecessary or not provided at all.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Lori Ann Kimball, 52, Castle Rock, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $3,112,990.13 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
MACON, Ga. – A Mexican national and member of the Sinaloa Cartel, who was involved in a major methamphetamine and cocaine distribution organization out of Monroe, Georgia, and discussed his frustration with no longer receiving “busloads” of illegal drugs and preparing for a visit by the son of Sinaloa’s leader was sentenced to serve more than 15 years in prison for his crime resulting from an Operation Take Back America investigation led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.