Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: US FBI

FRESNO, Calif. — On Feb. 27, 2025, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against Sergio Zacarias Lopez, 57, a Mexican citizen residing in Fresno, charging him with bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and illegal re-entry of a removed alien, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced. The indictment was unsealed following his arrest today.

According to court documents, between January 2016 and June 2023, Zacarias Lopez abused his position as the accounting supervisor and controller to defraud a family-run Fresno fruit wholesaler. Zacarias Lopez would write multiple company checks payable to “cash” and then deposit them into his own personal bank account through local ATMs. He signed the fraudulent checks using the signatures of other employees with signatory authority, including one of the founders of the company. Through this scheme, Zacarias Lopez embezzled more than $1 million before he was eventually detected by one of the banks and terminated by the company. To secure his accounting role in the first place, Zacarias Lopez stole a valid social security number and used that along with other falsified employment documents to conceal his lack of legal status. The indictment also states that Zacarias Lopez was previously removed from the United States in 2000 and has not been permitted to return to the United States.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fresno Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin Lee is prosecuting the case.

If convicted of bank fraud, Zacarias Lopez faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. If convicted of aggravated identity theft or illegal re-entry of a removed alien, he faces a penalty of two years in prison. 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: US FBI

FRESNO, Calif. — Carlos Jordan Lopez, 29, of Fresno, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to 10 years in prison for possessing with intent to distribute approximately 107 pounds of fentanyl and approximately 39 pounds of cocaine, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.

According to court documents, on Sept. 8, 2023, Lopez was stopped for a traffic infraction while driving northbound on Interstate 5 near Shields Avenue in Fresno County. A subsequent search of the trunk revealed a spare tire loaded with 28 packages containing approximately 485,000 fentanyl pills. Officers also located a bag that contained 18 “bricks” of cocaine powder.

This case was the product of an investigation by the California Highway Patrol, the California High Impact Investigation Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Gilio and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Lewis prosecuted the case. 

Source: US FBI

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On March 13, 2025, a federal grand jury returned four separate indictments against Brown Brotherhood Gang Members Leo Alphonzo Alonso-Medina, 32, of Vallejo; Jeremiah I’amafana Salanoa, 22, of Vallejo; Doroteo Suastegui, 47, of Vallejo; and Carlos Osvaldo Higuera-Aldana, 22, of Dixon, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.

According to court documents, the Brown Brotherhood gang is a subset of the Sureño gang and has been a frequent target of investigations of the Vallejo Police Department and the Solano County Violent Crime Task Force. The primary criminal activities of this gang have included murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, burglary, and stolen vehicles. The current investigation began in February 2024 and led to searches and arrests on Feb. 27, 2025. FBI agents and task force officers arrested these four members of the Brown Brotherhood gang on that day for federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.

Contraband seized from search warrants executed on Feb. 27, 2025.

The indictment against Leo Alphonzo Alonso-Medina charges counts of distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, unlawful dealing in firearms, and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Alonso-Medina faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The indictment against Jeremiah I’amafana Salanoa charges three counts of distribution of fentanyl, one count of distribution of methamphetamine, and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. If convicted, Salanoa faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The indictment against Doroteo Suastegui charges counts of distribution of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and unlawful dealing in firearms. If convicted, Suastegui faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. 

Finally, the indictment against Carlos Osvaldo Higuera-Aldana charges three counts of distribution of methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. If convicted, Higuera-Aldana faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

These cases are the product of investigations by the FBI Violent Crime Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Fairfield Police Department, the Vacaville Police Department, the Vallejo Police Department, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, and the Solano County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Hitt, R. Alex Cárdenas, and Adrian Kinsella are prosecuting these four federal cases.

Any sentence imposed 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 defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information, please visit Justice.gov/OCDETF.

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – A San Gabriel Valley woman pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for stalking a victim then impersonating him and his wife to further stalk government employees at a United States consulate in Vietnam, which she threatened to bomb.

Natalie Nguyen, 39, of Pasadena, pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and one count of threat by interstate commerce to kill another person and to damage and destroy buildings by fire and explosives.

Nguyen has been in federal custody since February 2024.

According to her plea agreement, Nguyen stalked a victim – identified in court documents as “T.H.” – from April 2023 to February 2024, sending emails threatening to kill him and his wife. One of the emails contained screenshots of a text conversation about paying a hitman $15,000 to kill the victim’s wife.

Nguyen also began stalking five employees at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. At times, she impersonated T.H.’s wife, including in an August 2023 email in which she threatened to “bomb the [expletive] consular in Ho Chi Minh City.”

In October 2023, Nguyen – impersonating T.H. and using T.H.’s email account without permission – sent an email to three government employees at the U.S. consulate stating, “i wil [sic] kill every [expletive] one of you who has been delaying issuing my wife visa.”

In January 2024, Nguyen – impersonating T.H.’s wife – sent a message to U.S. officials through an online portal stating, “Device will be detonated at America consular in Saigon and in San Francisco. All of you will be exploded for causing my separation with my husband for this last year. Everything will be exploded around new year or after.”

The following month, Nguyen impersonated T.H. and sent an inquiry to a U.S. Embassy online portal threatening to explode grenades around the time of the lunar new year at the consulate. Several minutes later, Nguyen, impersonating T.H., sent an email to the Vietnamese consulate stating, “i have a grenade set to be exploded this lunar new year at the consulate. my wife is ready.”

United States District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett scheduled a June 18 sentencing hearing, at which time Nguyen will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the stalking count and up to 10 years in federal prison for the threats count.

The FBI investigated this matter with assistance from the Diplomatic Security Service.

Assistant United States Attorney Diane Roldán of the Violent and Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.

Source: US FBI

Four men were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of conspiring to distribute various drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and ketamine on Darknet marketplaces. The arrests are the latest in the Justice Department’s ongoing JCODE efforts (Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement) to address the growing number of illicit vendors operating on the Darknet providing large quantities of harmful substances to thousands of people across the United States.

On April 1, 2025, a federal grand jury returned an indictment which outlines 116 overt acts that were done in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy and which charges Davit Avalyan, Hrant Gevorgyan, Hayk Grigoryan, and Gurgen Nersesyan for their roles in operating the drug distribution network which operated approximately ten Darknet vendors on 17 different markets.

According to the indictment, various vendors operating under the names JoyInc, LaFarmacia, WhiteDoc, JanesAddiction, DaShop, WhiteRepublic, Tomorowland, PlanetHollywood, DopeValley, and Major2Minor sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to drug customers on darknet markets in exchange for cryptocurrency. The defendants then allegedly shipped the drugs throughout the United States via the United States Postal Service. According to the indictment, the defendants fulfilled drug orders through the various vendor accounts by packaging the drugs into parcels and by delivering those parcels to post offices and mailboxes in Los Angeles County and elsewhere.

JoyInc is believed to have been operating since at least 2018 and is one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to ever operate on the Darknet.

An example of vendor JoyInc on the Drughub marketplace selling ketamine, MDMA, and bulk options of cocaine on September 4, 2024, is depicted below.

In addition to Wednesday’s arrests, agents served multiple federal search warrants and found evidence to include large amounts of cash and distribution amounts of suspected drugs.

The defendants were arrested Wednesday morning in the cities of Glendale and Sherman Oaks without incident, and all four had an initial appearance Wednesday afternoon before a federal magistrate in United States District Court in Los Angeles.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, Avalyan, Gevorgyan, Grigoryan and Nersesyan face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

The Justice Department established the FBI-led JCODE team to lead and coordinate government efforts to detect, disrupt, and dismantle major criminal enterprises reliant on the darknet for trafficking opioids and other illicit narcotics, along with identifying and dismantling their supply chains.

This case was worked jointly with the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hawthorne Police Department, the Costa Mesa Police Department and the Internal Revenue Service; Criminal Investigation. During yesterday’s arrests and searches, assistance was provided by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney James Santiago of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section is prosecuting this case.

Source: US FBI

SANTA ANA, California – A former San Gabriel Valley resident pleaded guilty today to selling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of fake sports and celebrity memorabilia to customers, including a fake “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” photograph containing forged signatures from several of the show’s stars.

Anthony J. Tremayne, 58, formerly of West Covina but who now lives in Rosarito, Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

According to his plea agreement, from at least 2010 until December 2019, Tremayne was in the business of selling memorabilia containing purportedly genuine signatures of famous athletes, musicians, actors, and other celebrities. Tremayne advertised nationwide the memorabilia with purportedly genuine signatures. 

Relying on Tremayne’s statements that the signatures were genuine, customers sent Tremayne money to purchase the memorabilia and have it mailed to them. When Tremayne mailed the memorabilia to his customers, he sometimes included a “Certificate of Authenticity” form, certifying that the signatures were real.

In fact, Tremayne forged the signatures, and the authenticity certificates were bogus.

Tremayne admitted in his plea agreement to selling more than $250,000 and up to $550,000 of fake memorabilia to his customers.

For example, in November 2019, Tremayne mailed a “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” photograph containing forged signatures of three of the show’s 22 personalities, which he purported to be genuine signatures. Tremayne sold the fake memorabilia to a buyer – who happened to be an undercover FBI agent – in Anaheim in exchange for $200.

United States District Judge James V. Selna scheduled an August 11 sentencing hearing, at which time Tremayne will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer L. Waier of the Orange County Office is prosecuting this case.

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – United States Attorney Bill Essayli today announced the formation of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated toward the eradication of homelessness within the seven-county jurisdiction of the Central District of California.

This task force will be comprised of federal prosecutors from the Major Frauds Section, the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and the Civil Division’s Civil Fraud Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be the FBI, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG), and IRS Criminal Investigation.       

The Central District of California is comprised of approximately 20 million residents within the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

Los Angeles County alone contains a homeless population of more than 75,000, of which more than 45,000 are within the city limits of Los Angeles. The total homeless population of the remaining six counties of the district exceeds 20,000.

Despite voter-approved initiatives and billions of dollars spent on tackling this issue, homelessness remains a crisis, especially in Los Angeles County. Last month, a court-ordered audit found that homelessness services provided by the city and county of Los Angeles were “disjointed” and contained “poor data quality and integration” and lacked financial controls to monitor contracts for compliance and performance. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government sent $100 million in emergency aid to Los Angeles County to address homelessness. Last month, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded more than $200 million to address homelessness in Los Angeles.

“California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse. Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent. If state and local officials cannot provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them. If we discover any federal laws were violated, we will make arrests.”

Partnering with federal law enforcement agencies, the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force will investigate crimes related to the misappropriation of federal tax dollars intended to alleviate homelessness in the Central District of California. The task force will prioritize a review of federal, state, and local programs receiving federal grants and funding. The task force will also investigate fraud schemes involving the theft of private donations intended to provide support and services for the homeless population.

“Any exploitation of the homelessness crisis via the theft of funds intended to improve conditions cannot and will not be tolerated,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is proud to join the newly formed task force and will continue to investigate fraudulent schemes and corrupt officials who misappropriate government funding or private donations intended to aid those in need.”

“The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General is proud to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our federal law enforcement partners as part of the Homeless Fraud and Corruption Task Force,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Lawler with HUD-OIG. “This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to protecting vulnerable communities, ensuring accountability, and promoting integrity in programs intended to serve those most in need.”

“IRS Criminal Investigation is uniquely poised to track any funds granted through various federal programs,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of IRS Criminal Investigation in Los Angeles. “We look forward to working with our federal partners to ensure taxpayer and donor funds are spent in accordance with their original intended purposes.”