Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ANNISTON, Ala. – A Colbert County man was sentenced on a felony charge for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced Michael Shane McDaniel, 57, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to 24 months in prison followed by eight years of supervised release.  In June, McDaniel pleaded guilty to failing to register or update his registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

According to court documents, McDaniel was convicted in 2011 of child molestation in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is required to register as a sex offender under SORNA. Following his conviction, McDaniel registered as a sex offender in Indiana where he resided. In June 2024, and continuing through December 2024, McDaniel moved from Indiana to Alabama and failed to register as a sex offender in Alabama.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 implemented SORNA and established a comprehensive national system for the registration of sex offenders to protect the public. The Act requires anyone convicted of specified crimes to register with the national sex offender registry.

The U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Alabama investigated the case along with the U.S. Marshals Service for the Southern District of Indiana, the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Office (Indiana), and the Colbert County Sheriff’s Office (Alabama). Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  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, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Guatemalan national unlawfully residing in the United States and previously convicted of sexual battery pleaded guilty today in federal court in Cleveland to encouraging and inducing an unaccompanied alien child (UAC) to illegally enter the United States and to submitting a sponsorship application with false statements to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to gain custody of the UAC.

“This defendant directed a 14-year-old child to commit criminal conduct and then obtained custody of the child by defrauding a government program intended to help vulnerable children,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Through Joint Task Force Alpha, the Criminal Division is fully committed to prosecuting those who take advantage of children and lie to undermine the integrity of government programs. We will strive to end the exploitation of these children and stop the manipulation of government programs by fraudsters, smugglers, and others engaged in serious criminal conduct.”

“Mr. Tiul Xi engaged in layers of deception. Committing one federal crime after another, he showed no regard or respect for this girl’s human dignity,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “We greatly appreciate the dedication of the investigative teams with Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Cleveland FBI, to protect minors from being victimized by the likes of these ruthless individuals.”

According to court documents, 26-year-old Juan Tiul Xi helped a 14-year-old female Guatemalan UAC enter the United States illegally with the permission of her family. Tiul Xi helped the UAC and her family find someone from whom the family could borrow money to pay a “coyote” to transport the UAC to the United States. Tiul Xi instructed the UAC to use the name and birth certificate of Tiul Xi’s minor sister to enter the United States so that Tiul Xi could falsely state in his UAC sponsorship application that he was the UAC’s brother. Tiul Xi then made these false representations in an application that he signed under the penalty of perjury. ORR relied on Tiul Xi’s misrepresentations, approved his application to sponsor the UAC, and released the UAC to Tiul Xi’s care in September 2023.

Tiul Xi was indicted on April 17, 2025, and pleaded guilty today to all counts: one count of encouraging or inducing illegal entry for the purpose of financial gain; one count of making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement; and one count of aggravated identity theft. Tiul Xi faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison on the illegal-entry count, up to five years in prison on the false-statement count, and a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence on the aggravated-identity-theft count. Tiul Xi’s sentencing is scheduled to take place on March 19, 2026. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The investigation and indictment were coordinated and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant United States Attorney-detailees from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including ICE/ HSI and CBP/BP and OFO, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 425 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 375 U.S. convictions; more than 325 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

ICE HSI and FBI Cleveland field offices jointly led the investigation with assistance from HSI’s Attaché team in Guatemala. Additionally, HSI’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking in Washington, D.C., and ORR have provided valuable assistance.

Acting Deputy Chief Christian Levesque of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Joint Task Force Alpha detailee/Trial Attorney Spencer M. Perry of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney/Senior Litigation Counsel Carol Skutnik and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Collyer for the Northern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case, with assistance from HRSP Analyst/Latin America Specialist Joanna Crandall.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BOSTON – A Dorchester man has pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.

Rickey Simmons, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. U.S. District Court Senior Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for March 6, 2026. Simmons was charged in January 2025 and later indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2025.

On Jan. 28, 2025, Simmons possessed a Tisas, Model Zig M1911, .45 caliber firearm, eight rounds of .45 caliber ammunition and nine rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, after having been convicted of a felony.

The charge of being a felon in possession provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. 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.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives made the announcement today. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Grady and Allegra Flamm of the Major Crimes Unit are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A native of Mexico has been sentenced for illegally re-entering the U.S. after deportation, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

United States District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced Eberardo Yovany Peralta-Cazales, 34, a citizen of Mexico, to 18 months in prison. Peralta-Cazales pleaded guilty to illegal re-entry after deportation.

According to the court documents, Peralta-Cazales was originally removed from the United States on November 11, 2015.  On September 21, 2023, Peralta-Cazales was found in the United States and removed again on September 29, 2023. Less than a year after his second removal, Peralta-Cazales was arrested in Dekalb County, Alabama, for five counts of Rape Second Degree and four counts of Sodomy Second Degree, all involving a 12-year-old girl. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deportation Removal Office (ICE/ERO) was notified of the arrest and Peralta-Cazales was later transferred into federal custody.   

Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case along with the Dekalb County Sherrif’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara M. Judah prosecuted the case.

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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Funds from White Mountain Trail Collective

 

CONCORD – The former executive director of the White Mountain Trail Collective has pleaded guilty to embezzlement of funds from the organization, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces.

Melanie Luce, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from an organization receiving federal funds.  According to the charging documents and statements made in court,  Luce served as the Executive Director of the White Mountain Trail Collective from 2019 through 2021.  The Collective was a non-profit organization that was funded in part by contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service to aid in the objective of supporting the trails systems in the White Mountains.  Luce embezzled funds through various means including by making unauthorized bank transfers to herself in excess of her approved salary, obtaining and utilizing an unauthorized corporate credit card to transfer funds to a web services company she owned and for personal expenses, and obtaining a loan via a forged corporate resolution.  All told, Ms. Luce embezzled some $91,000 directly from the Trail Collective and caused additional losses of approximately $58,000 to bank that issued the credit card and $44,000 to the lender who provided the loan.  As part of her resolution, Luce has agreed to pay restitution to those victims.

The charges carry a maximum possible sentence of 10 years imprisonment. 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.  The Court scheduled sentencing in this matter for March 23, 2026.

The investigation was led by the United States Departure of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles L. Rombeau is prosecuting the case. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today that it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion. The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality.”

Policy 8040 requires all students, regardless of their religious beliefs, to adopt the Loudoun County School Board’s understanding of “gender identity” — including its practical application that affects all students’ use of intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and changing facilities. At Stone Bridge High School, a female student took advantage of this policy, entered the boys’ locker room, and recorded audio and video of the boys in that locker room. Several boys spoke out about this incident, including two Christian, male students whose religious beliefs require them to use biologically accurate pronouns and use sex-segregated facilities.

Loudoun County determined that these Christian, male students’ religious practice violated school policy, recasting constitutionally protected activity as “sex-based discrimination” and “sexual harassment.” As punishment, Loudoun County suspended the boys for ten days and ordered them to submit to a “Comprehensive Student Support Plan” that further violates the boys’ right to free exercise of religion at school.

The Department’s motion to intervene in S.W. et al. v. Loudoun County School Board is pending before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio woman was sentenced in federal court today to 260 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, Veronica Mejia Menjares aka Vero, 40, sold methamphetamine to an individual three times between March 6 and April 4, 2023. She also sold heroin on two occasions in that period. It was during the April 4 exchange that the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Menjares. A search of her backpack revealed 62.1 grams of heroin, 392.48 grams of crystal methamphetamine, approximately 23.02 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, and one 9mm handgun loaded with a magazine containing 14 rounds.

A federal search warrant on Menjares’s residence resulted in the discovery of four assault rifles, three additional 9mm handguns, and six rifle magazines, one of which contained 18 .556 rounds.

Menjares was indicted for three counts on May 3, 2023. She pleaded guilty on Aug. 6, 2025. U.S. District Judge David Ezra sentenced Menjares to 200 months in prison for the methamphetamine charge, running consecutive to five years in prison for the firearm offense.

Menjares’s criminal record includes three prior convictions for possession of a controlled substance, two convictions for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and two convictions for unlawfully carrying a handgun.

U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The DEA investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Spears prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

           WASHINGTON – Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a multi-state conspiracy that used social engineering to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from victims throughout the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

           Tangeman is the ninth defendant to enter a guilty plea in this investigation. Tangeman pleaded to participating in a RICO conspiracy before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and admitted that he helped to launder at least $3.5 million for members of the enterprise.

           Judge Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for April 24, 2026.

           The Court also unsealed the Second Superseding Indictment, which charges three additional defendants with their roles in the Social Engineering Enterprise (SE Enterprise). Nicholas Dellecave, also known as “Nic,” and “Souja,” Mustafa Ibrahim, also known as “Krust,” and Danish Zulfiqar, also known as “Danny,” and “Meech,” were all charged with RICO conspiracy along with the remaining defendants. Dellecave was arrested in Miami on Dec.3, 2025. Zulfiqar and Ibrahim recently were arrested in Dubai on related charges. 

           According to the Second Superseding Indictment, the enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through at least May 2025. It grew from friendships developed on online gaming platforms and was comprised of individuals based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad.

           Tangeman was a money launderer for the group that also included database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, and residential burglars targeting hardware virtual currency wallets.

           According to court documents, members of the enterprise used stolen databases to target victims for cryptocurrency thefts. They then used the stolen virtual currency to purchase, among other things, nightclub services ranging up to $500,000 per evening, luxury handbags valued in the tens of thousands of dollars that were given away at nightclub parties, luxury watches valued between $100,000 and $500,000, luxury clothing valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, private jet rentals, a team of private security guards, and a fleet of at least 28 exotic cars ranging in value from $100,000 to $3.8 million.

           The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that on Aug. 18, 2024, Tangeman’s co-conspirator Malone Lam, Danish Zulfiqar, and others contacted a victim in the District of Columbia and, through communications with that victim, fraudulently obtained over 4,100 Bitcoin – valued then at $263 million, and valued this week at more than $368 million.

           Tangeman first met the members of the in late 2023 when Lam and others moved to Los Angeles and needed assistance finding rental homes and paying for them with stolen cryptocurrency. Tangeman used a bulk-cash convertor to exchange stolen cryptocurrency for fiat cash to obtain rental homes, some renting for between $40,000 – $80,000 per month. Tangeman also caused false names to be listed on the leases to conceal the ownership of the homes. Tangeman rented homes for the group in Miami as well. During one exchange in August 2024, after the theft from the DC victim, Tangeman helped Lam obtain approximately $3 million in fiat cash in exchange for stolen cryptocurrency for a rental home.

           Following Lam’s Miami arrest on Sept. 18, 2024, Tangeman accessed the home security systems to take screenshots of FBI agents searching the residences. Tangeman also asked another enterprise member to travel to Lam’s Los Angeles home, retrieve digital devices, and destroy them. 

           This case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office. Significant investigative and operational support was provided by the FBI’s Los Angeles and Miami field offices as well as the United States Attorney’s Officers in the Central District of California, Southern District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey.

           The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rosenberg, Co-Chief of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson announced today that a federal grand jury in Asheville has returned a criminal indictment charging Ricky Dean Clinton, 40, with transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity and related offenses. This is Clinton’s second federal indictment in the Western District of North Carolina, both of which are currently pending resolution.

According to allegations in the indictment, between March and June 2025, Clinton knowingly transported a minor victim across state lines with the intent that the minor engage in sexual activity with him. The indictment further alleges that Clinton also crossed state lines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct.

According to court documents, Clinton was indicted in October 2025 for attempting to kill law enforcement officers, specifically United States Marshals Service deputies, United States Marshals Service task force officers, and deputies with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office. The charges stem from an incident on August 12, 2025, where Clinton allegedly shot at law enforcement while they were attempting to arrest the defendant on outstanding state warrants. Clinton also faces additional charges for firearms offenses in connection with this incident, including unlawful use and carry of a firearm in furtherance of crimes of violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Those charges are still pending.

Clinton is in federal custody. If convicted, he faces up to a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine Clinton’s ultimate sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the U.S. Marshal Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Burke County Sheriff’s Office for the investigation that led to Clinton’s initial indictment, and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office for their investigative efforts that resulted in the newest indictment against the defendant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Solheim with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville is prosecuting both cases.

The charges against the defendant are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.

 

 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Flozell Beasley, 73, of Denver, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release after being convicted by a jury of four counts of bank robbery and one count of robbery affecting interstate commerce.

According to the facts established at trial, Beasley robbed two banks, two credit unions, and a taco shop in Denver, between May and July 2023. In each robbery, the defendant dressed like a construction worker and threatened employees with a high-quality replica gun before taking their money and fleeing. On July 11, 2023, the defendant robbed the Vectra Bank at 1001 E 17th Street and left with a GPS tracker hidden inside the money he stole from the bank. He then boarded a nearby RTD bus and was arrested twelve minutes later sitting on the bus with the tracker, stolen money, replica gun, construction vest, and construction helmet in a bag at his feet.

“If you’re thinking of robbing a bank in Colorado, do yourself a favor and find something else to do,” said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly. “We will catch you; we will prosecute you; and you will spend a long time in federal prison.”

“This man is a serial bank robber and a lifelong criminal. He has proven that the only way to keep the community safe is to keep him behind bars,” said Marv Massey, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Denver FBI Field Office. “The FBI Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force and our partners at the Denver Police Department and the Regional Transportation District will continue to work together to target the serial offenders creating fear and havoc in Denver.”

United States District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez presided over the sentencing.

The FBI Denver Field Office handled the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian Dunn and Garreth Winstead handled the prosecution.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Case Number: 23-cr-342-RMR