Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

MIAMI – Two men were each sentenced on Oct. 30 to 57 months in federal prison for their roles in two separate but related schemes involving the sale of diverted and misbranded pharmaceutical drugs, including medications used to treat HIV and cancer.

According to court documents, Boris Arencibia, 52, and Jose Armando Rivera Garcia, 45, both of Miami, purchased high-priced prescriptions medications from illicit street sources—including patients who sold their prescriptions instead of taking the drugs and individuals who obtained prescriptions through fraud. These medicines require carefully controlled storage conditions to remain effective, but the diverted drugs were stored without any safeguards.

“Diverted drugs put patients’ lives at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “These defendants pushed tainted and repackaged medications into pharmacies across the country, knowing full well the danger. Our Office will continue to work with FDA, HHS-OIG, and the FBI to protect patients and hold accountable anyone who turns the healthcare system into a criminal marketplace.”

After purchasing the drugs, members of the conspiracy repackaged them and falsified paperwork to make it appear as though the medicines were supplied directly by manufacturers or legitimate wholesalers. The conspirators marketed the drugs through fake pharmaceutical distribution companies and shipped them to pharmacies across the U.S., where unsuspecting patients purchased them. In some cases, bottles contained incorrect medications, vitamins, or even pebbles—endangering patients’ health.

The first case, indicted in 2019, involved a conspiracy of 20 defendants.  All but one fugitive have now been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 30 months to 14 years. Arencibia was among those who procured large quantities of diverted drugs from street sources and sold them to other conspirators. Rivera Garcia established a corporation, LDD Distributors, which received the drugs from Arencibia and sold them to a wholesale distributor operated by another defendant. Arencibia and Rivera Garcia each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, for using financial transactions to conceal the source and ownership of proceeds from the misbranded drugs.

The second case, filed in 2025, charged Arencibia and Rivera Garcia with operating a pharmaceutical wholesale company that marketed diverted drugs to pharmacies nationwide using falsified documentation to conceal the medicines’ true origins and conditions. Arencibia and Rivera Garcia pleaded guilty to trafficking in medical products with falsified documentation.   

In total, Arencibia and Rivera Garcia sold approximately $28 million worth of diverted pharmaceuticals between the two schemes.

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles sentenced Arencibia and Rivera Garcia to 57 months in prison in the 2019 case, to be served concurrently with the 43-month prison terms imposed in the 2025 case.

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida; Acting Special Agent in Charge Kelly McCoy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI), Miami Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Jesus Barranco of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

The 2019 case was investigated by FDA-OCI and FBI Miami, and the 2025 case was investigated by HHS-OIG.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Tamen prosecuted the 2019 case, and Trial Attorney Jacqueline Zee DerOvanesian of the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section prosecuted the 2025 case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case numbers 19-cr-20674 and  25-cr-20154.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Manassas man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, on Jan. 30, 2024, law enforcement searched the residence of Jeffrey Martinez, 21, and recovered 29,490 dark-blue fentanyl pills, weighing approximately 4.13 kilograms, and 20,114 light-blue fentanyl pills, weighing approximately 2.22 kilograms. The pills were marked “M-30” to mimic Oxycodone. Also from the residence, investigators also recovered approximately $4,980, 2.18 kilograms of marijuana, 107 grams of cocaine, a scale, and four firearms.

The same day, law enforcement conducted a stop of a vehicle Martinez was traveling in and arrested him. From Martinez and the vehicle, investigators recovered approximately $1,600, a handgun and approximately 1,200 fentanyl pills marked “M-30.”

Lindsey Halligan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Amzallag and Ryan Bredemeier prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:25-cr-248.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Ocala, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Marlon Jefferson Fajardo-Paiz (33, Guatemala) has pleaded guilty to possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and illegal re-entry by a previously deported alien. Fajardo-Paiz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on the CSAM offense and 2 years on the immigration charge. Fajardo-Paiz is currently detained pending the resolution of the criminal case.  

According to the plea agreement, Fajardo-Paiz is a citizen and national of Guatemala. He was previously removed from the United States on July 20, 2018, and has never received permission from the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security to apply for readmission to the United States. On April 24, 2025, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Fajardo-Paiz during an investigation of a Cybertip relating to the upload of CSAM. Fajardo-Paiz told investigators he had participated in viewing, downloading, and transmitting CSAM. A subsequent search of Fajardo-Paiz’s phone revealed at least 20 items of CSAM.

This case was investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, 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

This case was investigated by the Marion County Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Tajmir Wyles (New Jersey, 31) has pleaded guilty to robbery of a postal mail carrier and receipt, possession or concealment of stolen property of the United States. Wyles faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to court documents, on May 15, 2023, Wyles robbed a postal letter carrier of his master keys while he was delivering mail at a shopping center. After a physical altercation over the keys, Wyles successfully fled the scene with the keys. In July 2023, Wyles was arrested in Dallas, Texas. Wyles was found with a binder of checks, stolen from the Middle District of Florida, as well as the master keys stolen in May 2023.  

This case was investigated by the Unites States Postal Inspection Service in Tampa, Florida, and Fort Worth, Texas, the Tampa Police Department, and the Dallas Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilyssa M. Spergel.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Jordan Johnson, 28, of Washington, D.C., today, to 30 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for involuntary manslaughter. Additionally, Judge Xinis ordered Johnson to pay $12,000 of restitution to the family. The sentence is in connection with a fatal car crash on the Clara Barton Park that claimed the life of a 23-year-old man.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Chief Scott Brecht, United States Park Police (USPP).

On March 20, 2022, at about 4:45 a.m., Johnson was driving on the Clara Barton Parkway, in Montgomery County, Maryland, when he struck two vehicles that were in the roadway. Both cars were involved in a separate crash.  Victim 1 was one of the individuals involved in the original car crash, but died on impact when struck by Johnson’s vehicle.  Victim 1 was pronounced dead at the scene.

Immediately following the crash, Johnson and his passenger walked away from the scene towards Washington, D.C., where Johnson resides.  Law enforcement responded to the scene of the collision and broadcasted a description of Johnson and his passenger to local law enforcement agencies.  Then USPP spotted them approximately a half mile away from the crash scene. 

Johnson’s passenger told law enforcement officers that as she and Johnson walked away from the crash site, she saw the victim on the ground bleeding. Johnson later told law enforcement that they left the scene because he knew authorities would identify him from the paperwork associated with the apartment complex that he borrowed the car from.

A USPP crash reconstructionist concluded that Johnson traveled between 95 and 99 miles per hour in the five seconds prior to the crash. The posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour. As result of the speed he was driving, Johnson was unable to observe and perceive the vehicles stopped ahead.  Additionally, Johnson drove recklessly during the entirety of his recorded trip, spanning approximately 40 minutes prior to this crash.  The crash reconstructionist concluded that Johnson’s high rate of speed was a major contributing factor to the crash.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the USPP for its work in the investigation.  Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys LaShanta Harris and Ellen Nazmy who prosecuted this federal case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Kimani Brennen Fletcher (26, Covington, GA) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fletcher faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to court documents, between April 15, 2024, and April 22, 2024, co-conspirators of Fletcher placed telephone calls to victims in which they falsely and fraudulently identified themselves as members of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The victims were told they had outstanding warrants and needed to pay money to avoid arrest. Fletcher posed as a bail bondsman and picked up money from these victims in the Middle District of Florida. Once Fletcher received the fraud proceeds, he provided the money to his co-conspirators. In total, Fletcher obtained approximately $40,800 in fraud proceeds.       

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Hillsborough County Sherrif office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilyssa M. Spergel.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Greenbelt, Maryland – Today, U.S. District Judge Lydia K. Griggsby sentenced Jeffrey Boston, 43, of Washington D.C., to four years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Charles Doerrer, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – Baltimore Field Division, and Chief David Morris, Cheverly Police Department.

According to the plea agreement, on May 22, 2024, a Cheverly police officer responded to a 911 welfare-check call at a Cheverly, Maryland, intersection.  Upon arrival to the scene, the officer approached Boston who was laying on his back on the grass near a bench.  The officer tapped on Boston’s chest a few times, then took Boston’s arm and shook it, before asking him if he could hear him. Boston responded by lightly groaning, so the officer called in an ambulance to police dispatch.

Then the officer asked Boston if his chest hurt and again Boston grumbled in the affirmative.  The officer then reached down and began repositioning Boston on his side to help him with his breathing.  As the officer moved Boston, he discovered a black firearm partially visible in Boston’s waistband on his right hip.  The officer removed the handgun and eight rounds of ammunition.  Additionally, the firearm had a chambered round.  Boston, who has at least one prior felony conviction, is prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition.

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.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the ATF and Cheverly Police Department for their work in the investigation. U.S. Attorney Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Oki who prosecuted the case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that HUGO RODRIGUEZ, a/k/a “Juice,” was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken to 15 years in prison for his role as “Duarte,” or leader, of the violent gang Own Every Dollar (“OED”). 

“Too many New York neighborhoods are plagued by gang violence and drug trafficking,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “New Yorkers deserve better.  The women and men of our Office will continue to target gun violence and drug trafficking.”

As alleged in the Indictment and statements made in public filings and public court proceedings:

RODRIGUEZ served as the “Duarte” of OED, a subset of the Trinitarios gang based in and around the Washington Heights area of Manhattan.  The prosecution in this case has involved the convictions of 22 members of OED for five murders, more than 10 attempted murders, multiple robberies, and the control and operation of an extensive drug trafficking network that sold large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine.

RODRIGUEZ served time for New York state convictions involving a shooting and the possession of dangerous contraband while in jail.  While on parole after his release, he attempted to murder a gang rival in broad daylight in Washington Heights on August 12, 2021.  He also engaged in a gunpoint robbery on February 14, 2022, in Washington Heights, in which a victim was pistol-whipped, and trafficked narcotics, including heroin, while on parole.

Since his August 1, 2022, arrest in this case, he has been detained pretrial in federal prison.  During that time, he has been sanctioned for fighting, testing positive for methamphetamine, and possessing an 11-inch shiv.  He has also been separately prosecuted and convicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for a jail assault.

For much of his time in OED, RODRIGUEZ held the role of “Duarte,” which is the highest leadership role in the gang.

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In addition to the prison term, RODRIGUEZ, 29, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the New York City Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force.  Mr. Clayton also thanked the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, the New York State Police, and the NYPD Task Force Officers assigned to this Office for their assistance in the investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah L. Kushner, Kevin Mead, Ashley C. Nicolas, and Alexandra Messiter are in charge of the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BENTON, Ill. – A district judge sentenced a registered sex offender to 35 years’ imprisonment after he admitted to distributing child pornography and obscene material to a minor.

Edward J. Bates, 57, most recently of Olney, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm, one count of distribution of child pornography, two counts of attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor, and one count of offense by a registered sex offender. Following imprisonment, Bates will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.

“The only thing worse than child sex offenses is an armed repeat offender,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “This 35-year sentence underscores our commitment to seeking the most significant sentences possible for those who endanger kids.”

According to court documents, Bates distributed child pornography in Richland County on January 26, 2022. In April 2023, he transferred sexually explicit material to a 10-year-old minor. On June 4, 2024, Bates was found in possession of two firearms and ammunition as a felon.

Bates was previously convicted of two separate child pornography offenses and was therefore required to register as a sex offender. The Government seized a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, a .38 caliber revolver and ammunition.

The Richland County, Illinois, Sheriff’s Office, the Missouri Highway Patrol, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sanders prosecuted the case.