Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An indictment was unsealed yesterday in the District of Vermont charging a Dominican national and a U.S. citizen with conspiring to smuggle foreign nationals from Mexico and Central and South America into the United States via the U.S.-Canada border.

According to court documents, Francisco Antonio Luna Rosado, 27, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, and Jesus Hernandez Ortiz, 37, of Puerto Rico, are charged with one count of conspiracy to illegally bring aliens to the United States and 12 counts of illegally bringing aliens to the United States for the purpose of private financial gain related to a Sept. 17, 2023, smuggling event. Luna Rosado is also charged with two counts of transactional money laundering for engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from smuggling activities. 

Image captured during the movement of alien groups that Luna Rosado allegedly guided through the Canadian and Vermont border to his human smuggling drivers.

Luna Rosado allegedly directed smuggling operations from at least Aug. 2022 through at least March 2024, coordinating the illegal transport of aliens across the U.S.-Canada border into northern Vermont. Aliens arrived by airplane, from their origin country to southern Canada. Luna Rosado then used live shared cellular location data to guide the aliens across the Canadian border to northern Vermont. From northern Vermont, Luna Rosado used an approximate 70-person encrypted chat platform to communicate and arrange for drivers, including Hernandez Ortiz, to pick up aliens at the northern border. The drivers then drove the aliens from Vermont to New York City. Upon arrival in New York City, the aliens paid Luna Rosado in U.S. currency. Luna Rosado deposited and withdrew this money into and through the U.S. financial system, in amounts exceeding $10,000.

Images of the rented Home Depot van, which Hernandez drove during an alleged smuggling event, that law enforcement stopped.

Text messages between Luna Rosado (left side in blue) and Hernandez (right side in green), with translations into English, discussing the alleged smuggling operation.

Text messages between Luna Rosado and aliens during an alleged smuggling event.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt for the District of Vermont and Chief Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia of the Swanton Sector of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made the announcement.

Agents from the Swanton Sector Intelligence Unit assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol Newport Station and the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Derby Line Office led U.S. investigative efforts, with assistance from HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force.

Trial Attorneys Jake Drucker and Emily Cohen of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, Trial Attorney Chelsea Schinnour of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Chet Kirkham and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles for the District of Vermont are prosecuting the case.

The investigation and charges are supported 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, Narcotics and Forfeiture 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 435 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 385 U.S. convictions; more than 330 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

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 and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

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

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

FREDDY ALEXANDER MORALES TEJADA, 25, a citizen of El Salvador last residing in Vernon, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to nearly four months of imprisonment, time already served, for illegally reentering the United States after being deported.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a permanent injunction against Chicago area tax return preparer Stacy Thomas, formerly known as Stacy Sorrel, both individually and doing business as Rapid Tax Refunds LLC, Rapid Tax Refund Pros LLC, and Rapid Refunds Income Tax Service Inc. The injunction bars Thomas from preparing tax returns for others, working for or having any ownership stake in any tax preparation business, and advising anyone about the preparation of a tax return or setting up business as a preparer. Thomas agreed to the terms of the injunction.

According to the complaint, Thomas prepared and filed tax returns that falsely understated her customers’ federal income tax liabilities by fabricating, among other things:

• Fictitious residential energy credits;
• Fictitious or inflated Schedule C business expenses; and
• Exaggerated or completely fabricated charitable deductions.

As a result of the court’s order, Thomas must post a copy of the injunction at all locations where she conducts business and post a link to the injunction on her business’s website.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Wu of the Civil Division’s Tax Litigation Branch made the announcement. Tax Litigation Branch attorney Kimberly Parke handled this matter.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information.

In the past decade, the Department of Justice has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Civil Division, Tax Litigation Branch with details.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle announced today that Chinese national, JIAXIN TIAN(“TIAN”), age 29, of New Orleans, was indicted on February 6, 2026, for Receipt of Materials Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252(a)(2) and (b)(1). If convicted, TIAN faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five (5) years and a maximum sentence of twenty (20) years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, a term of supervised release of no less than five (5) years and up to life, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced a Baltimore man to prison today, in connection with a federal investigation that led to law enforcement seizing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine. Marvin Miller, 38, received an eight-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Today, the Justice Department announced that it reached a landmark agreement with the State of Alabama to address allegations of discrimination against children in foster care with disabilities, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This first-of-its-kind agreement ensures that young Alabamians in or transitioning out of the foster care system have the tools they need to be successful as adults and advances the commitment of this Administration to foster children and families set forth in President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14359, entitled, “Fostering the Future for American Children and Families.”

“Children in foster care should not be treated differently because of their circumstances,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We applaud Alabama for reaching this agreement so that all students may benefit from an education that equips them for a promising future.”

The settlement agreement requires that students with disabilities in foster care who are placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs) attend school in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs and that students educated on site at PRTFs are provided with equal educational opportunities.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt, and additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s Educational Opportunities Section’s work to combat disability discrimination is available at www.justice.gov/crt/educational-opportunities-section.

Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at www.civilrights.justice.gov/.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Georgia man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island to charges related to his role in a wide-ranging lottery and sweepstakes scam that defrauded senior citizens in Rhode Island and several other states out of at least one million dollars, announced United States Attorney Charles C. Calenda.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A licensed real estate broker and two other defendants were arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging they fraudulently sold a $1.5 million Burbank house – whose owner had his home sold out from under him – by using the stolen identifies of that victim homeowner and that of a purported buyer to obtain a near-$1 million loan. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, FL – Timothy Smith has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday to six years and six months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aiding and assisting in the filing of false and fraudulent tax returns. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $274,000, the proceeds of the criminal conduct, and ordered Smith to pay restitution in the amount of $1,637,829.64.64 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Smith entered a guilty plea on September 26, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announceme