Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division for their work litigating Miot v. Trump on behalf of the U.S. Government, which permitted the termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Pensacola, Florida – Arzalea Teshean McLaughlin, 37, Benjamin Eugene Mack, 54, and Roger Cornell Daniels, 38, all of Crestview, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and cocaine base, conspiracy to unlawfully use a communications facility, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tallahassee, Florida – Justin Luis Ruiz, 21, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced in federal court to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of production of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography, two counts of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Mike Escobar, also known as “Risky,” 43, a member of the Little Hood gang in Anaheim, California; James Mendez, also known as “Buck,” 47, a Sureño gang member from Garden Grove, California; and Kevin Trejo, also known as “Minor,” 38, a member of the Jeffrey Street gang in Anaheim, California, were each sentenced yesterday to life in prison for their trial convictions of murder in aid of racketeering relating to their association with the Mexican Mafia.
The Mexican Mafia, also known as “La Eme,” is a U.S.-based prison gang that has immense control over Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, directing illegal activities from prisons and collecting a portion of the proceeds from drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and other crimes committed on the streets.
According to the evidence presented at the 10-day trial that occurred in October 2023, the defendants, in August 2017, murdered the victim, a member of a Costa Mesa, California, street gang and associate of the Mexican Mafia. At the time of his murder, the victim was involved in trafficking drugs and collecting taxes from other Orange County gangs on behalf of a Mexican Mafia leader in charge of criminal activities, who was in prison. The Mexican Mafia leader who ordered the murder is scheduled for trial in August 2027.
“Gang members directing murders from behind bars will be charged and prosecuted just like those who pull the triggers,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case charged both the shooters and the perpetrator who ordered the murder. The Criminal Division will maintain its commitment to eradicate gangs at all levels and make America safe.”
“We will never tolerate violence ordered by imprisoned gangsters operating from behind bars,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “Yesterday’s life sentences demonstrate our commitment to holding these thugs accountable until their dying day.”
“Gang members committing violent acts of murder on the streets of America violates everyone’s sense of safety and security in our neighborhoods,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “Three more members of the Mexican Mafia who steal from society and degrade our communities are off the streets for the rest of their lives thanks to the joint efforts of the Orange County Violent Gang Task Force and the Homeland Security Task Force.”
On the night of the murder, Escobar, Mendez, and Trejo tricked the victim into driving with them to a residential neighborhood in Orange, California. There, they shot him seven times in the back and once in the head.
Crime Scene Photos from the Night of the Murder
The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; the Orange Police Department; the Santa Ana Police Department; the Placentia Police Department; the Orange County District Attorney’s Office; and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Grace Bowen and Christopher Matthews of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Staples for the Central District of California are prosecuting the case, with substantial assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Scally for the Central District of California.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Tallahassee, Florida – Justin Luis Ruiz, 21, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced in federal court to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of production of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography, two counts of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
Source: United States Department of Justice
The owner of an Orange County-based fruits-and-vegetables food truck that law enforcement believes is the highest-redeeming vendor of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits among nearby fruit-and-vegetable stores and large grocery stores, has been indicted on food stamp fraud charges, the Justice Department announced today.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Percy Jackson, of Memphis, Tennessee, who was on federal supervised release after federal convictions for two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm in Tennessee, will spend the next 235 months in federal prison for committing the same crime, this time in Arkansas.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas man who was a leader within two drug trafficking organization was sentenced today by United States District Judge Richard F. Boulware II to a total of 12 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release for his role in importing substantial quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl into the Las Vegas area, and then selling those drugs to others within Las Vegas and throughout the United States. The government requested a sentence of 300 months.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
TUCSON, Ariz. – Eric Garcia, 31, of Tucson, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez to 19 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Garcia previously pleaded guilty to one count of Abusive Sexual Contact with a Child.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Calabasas man was sentenced today to 324 months in federal prison for running what prosecutors called a “DoorDash for drugs” service that delivered illicit narcotics to buyers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and resulted in two fatal fentanyl overdoses.