Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Daniela Ganassim Ericksen, 47, of Ivins, Utah, was sentenced today after she vandalized petroglyphs on the Bureau of Land Management land located in in Kane County, Utah, in 2024.

The court ordered Ericksen to 12 months’ probation and ordered her to pay a total of $14,853.36 in fines and restitution. Ericksen was also ordered to send a letter of apology to the relevant stakeholder tribes in the area and is prohibited from entering on to Bureau of Land Management land during her probationary period.

According to court documents, on November 23, 2024, Ericksen entered onto U.S. BLM land near the confluence of Buckskin and Wire Pass in Kane County and vandalized archaeological resources, specifically a petroglyph panel. As a result of her illegal conduct, the cost to restore and repair the damage is $11,853.36.

United States Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Land Management.

Assistant United States Attorney Joseph M. Hood of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Spokane, Washington – On October 8, 2025, United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Raymond and Jennifer Hilderbrand, ages 55 and 54, of Spokane Valley, Washington. Earlier this year, the Hilderbrands were found guilty at a jury trial on multiple fraud charges. Raymond Hilderbrand was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison; Jennifer Hilderbrand was sentenced to time served. Both Raymond and Jennifer Hilderbrand will be on supervised release for three years and are required to pay $363,000 in restitution.

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act provided a number of programs through which eligible small businesses could request and obtain relief funding intended to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic for small and local businesses. One such program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, provided low interest loans that could be deferred until the conclusion of the pandemic to provide “bridge” funding for small businesses to maintain their operations during shutdowns and other economic circumstances caused by the pandemic. The EIDL program have provided billions of dollars in aid, the vast majority of which have not been paid back, including hundreds of millions of dollars disbursed within Eastern Washington.

The evidence presented at trial established that the Hilderbrands engaged in an elaborate scheme to obtain money from the Small Business Administration (SBA) to spend on their entertainment business called Powerline Enterprise LLC (Powerline), even though in September of 2021, the SBA had declined to fund a loan for the company.

To execute this scheme, in January of 2022, Raymond Hilderbrand completed a EIDL application in the name of Hilderbrand Auto Services, which was an automotive repair business, owned by the Raymond Hilderbrand, located at 10423 E. Trent Avenue, Spokane Valley. In the application he told the SBA the EIDL funds would be used as working capital for Hilderbrand Auto Services and would not be used for another company. However, in February 2022, when SBA sent $320,000 to Hilderbrand Auto to be used by that business to alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic, the Hilderbrands immediately transferred $311,000 to Powerline. The Hilderbrands then used $295,000 of the EIDL funds to purchase the Trent Avenue property in the name of Powerline, with Jennifer Hilderbrand as the sole owner. 

The Hilderbrands continued to attempt to obtain additional EIDL funds in the name of Powerline by making false representations about the company’s revenue on their EIDL application. The SBA declined the reconsideration of the Powerline EIDL application in early May of 2022. Shortly thereafter, the Hilderbrands requested a modification for the EIDL loan for Hilderbrand Auto. The SBA approved the request, and Raymond Hilderbrand again promised to use the money solely for Hilderbrand Auto. On May 17, 2022, the SBA disbursed an additional $43,000 in EIDL funds to the Hilderbrand Auto bank account, $35,000 of which was immediately withdrawn by check and transferred to Powerline.

“I am grateful for the prosecutors and investigators that worked together to seek justice in this case,” stated United States Attorney S. Peter Serrano. “Their work ensured both Raymond and Jennifer Hilderbrand were held accountable for lies told to obtain funding that was designed for small businesses in need of a lifeline. As a result of the Hilderbrands’ fraud, other small businesses were unable to obtain the help they needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“The investigative efforts of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and its partners, along with the prosecutorial work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, demonstrate the commitment to pursuing, capturing, and prosecuting those who try to defraud the American people,” said TIGTA Special Agent-in-Charge Krystofor Proev.

This case was investigated by the Eastern District of Washington COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force and by TIGTA, SBA OIG, and IRS-CI. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Frieda K. Zimmerman, Jeremy J. Kelley, and Jacob Brooks.

2:23-cr-00114-TOR

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the return of an indictment charging Carlos Felipe Jaramillo Grajales (55, Jacksonville) with making false statements in an application for a U.S. passport, falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen to obtain a Florida driver license (3 counts), falsely claiming that a Social Security number had been assigned to him (4 counts), falsely claiming to be a U.S citizen to vote in an election, voting by an alien in a federal election, and aggravated identity theft (9 counts). If convicted, Grajales faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the passport fraud count, 5 years for each false claim of U.S. citizenship count and each fraudulent use of a Social Security number count, 1 year imprisonment for the voting by an alien count, and a mandatory 2 years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count, which must be served consecutively to any other sentence.

According to the indictment, Grajales is a Colombian citizen who used the name, date of birth, and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen to apply for a passport. He used those same identifiers and claimed to be a U.S. citizen to obtain a Florida driver license on three occasions and to vote in the November 2020 general election.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that William Chadwick, 63, of Akron, Colorado, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of money laundering.  Chadwick was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $228,284.09.

According to the plea agreement, from at least May 2020 and through August 2022, Chadwick laundered proceeds obtained from federal COVID-19 relief programs including Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits, Emergency Rental Assistance proceeds, Paycheck Protection (PPP) loan proceeds and other fraudulent sources on behalf of a woman he met online.  Chadwick engaged in numerous financial transactions, including ATM withdrawals and cryptocurrency transactions, involving wire fraud proceeds.  In total, he laundered approximately $228,284.09. 

“Laundering money which was stolen from the federal government is a crime against every hard-working, tax-paying citizen of the United States,” said United States Attorney Peter McNeilly. “Our office is committed to prosecuting those who look to prosper off fraud against the government.”

“Chadwick laundered fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance funds intended for Americans that were struggling during the pandemic,” said Quentin Heiden, Special Agent-in-Charge, Western Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. “This sentence highlights our commitment to relentlessly investigate fraud in DOL’s unemployment insurance program. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable bad actors who perpetrate these crimes.”

United States District Judge William J. Martinez presided over the sentencing.

The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General and Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Nicole Cassidy handled the prosecution.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The CARES Act created the PPP, a program administered by the SBA that provided loans to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll, and pay for certain other expenses consistent with PPP rules.  Small businesses could subsequently request forgiveness of the loan after certifying the loan was used to pay for eligible costs.    

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Case Number: 1:25-cr-00127-WJM 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Editor’s Note: This matter occurred on date indicated but not published at that time due to the government shutdown. Press release posted and made available following the return to normal operations.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Peter Yang, 34, of Fresno, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

The sentence will be followed by 15 years of supervised, during which time Yang’s access to children, computers, and the internet will be restricted. He was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, and he will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from custody.

According to court documents, between November 2021 and March 2022, Yang communicated with a 15-year-old victim in Missouri on the gaming platform Among Us, and then through Discord and FaceTime calls. Yang coerced the victim into creating and then transmitting sexually explicit images of the victim to Yang. Yang also discussed traveling from California to Missouri to meet the victim in person at a motel near the victim’s residence.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Christian County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri and the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, with assistance from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa prosecuted the case.

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 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 www.justice.gov/psc.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Fort Myers, FL – U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek has sentenced Derick Desir (28, Cape Coral) to 3 years and 10 months in federal prison for his role in a firearm trafficking conspiracy. Desir pleaded guilty on July 23, 2025, to conspiring to make a false statement to a firearms dealer and making false statements to a firearms dealer.

According to court records, in May 2022 Desir joined a conspiracy to “straw purchase” handguns on behalf of others. In June 2022, in coordination with another conspirator, Desir purchased approximately twelve Glock handguns across seven transactions from six different federally licensed firearms dealers in Lee County.  While making these firearms purchases, Desir falsely represented to each firearm dealer that he was the “actual buyer or transferee” of the firearms, when he knew that the firearms he was purchasing would be trafficked to Canada by others. At least five of the twelve handguns purchased by Desir during the conspiracy have since been recovered in Canada during various Canadian law enforcement investigations.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Simon Eth.

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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

James Donald Vance, Jr. Posted Threats to Kill on Bluesky 

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey today announced that Grand Rapids resident James Donald Vance, Jr., age 67, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for posting threatening communications online, including threats to kill the President and Vice President of the United States, and one of the President’s children. Vance was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who described the crime as “grievous conduct” that required a prison sentence to deter others from making similar threats.

In March and April 2025, Defendant James Vance, using the alias “Diaperjdv,” posted several threatening posts on the social media service Bluesky in which he made specific threats to kill four people, including President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance. In one message, he proclaimed that he did not care whether he was shot by Secret Service or would spend the rest of his life in prison for his actions. He pled guilty to two felony offenses: threatening to kill or injure the President and Vice President and interstate threatening communications. Each violation carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

This is the second time in one month that a defendant has been sentenced in the Western District of Michigan for threatening to kill the President. On October 20, 2025, Richard James Spring of Comstock Park was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison and fined $2,000 by U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering in Grand Rapids. Spring pled guilty to threatening to kill President Trump after committing rape

United States Attorney Timothy VerHey stated, “The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy. But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals. When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished.”

“Threats against our nation’s leaders and their families will not be tolerated,” said William Shink, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service’s Detroit Field Office. “Individuals who threaten the President, Vice President or any U.S. Secret Service protectee will be investigated and held accountable for their actions.”

Both matters were investigated by the Grand Rapids office of the United States Secret Service.

 

 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that on October 30, 2025, HERNAN AYALA, 33, of Manchester, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to 348 months of imprisonment, followed by 40 years of supervised release, for child exploitation offenses related to his sexual abuse of a minor.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2024, the Manchester Police Department received a complaint that a minor female had been sexually abused by Ayala.  The minor female reported that Ayala had engaged in sexual conduct with her for more than eight years, and that Ayala had recorded his sexual abuse of her on his cellphone.  On that date, investigators searched Ayala’s residence and seized several electronic devices, including his iPhone.  Analysis of the seized phone revealed numerous videos and images of Ayala engaging in sexual conduct with the minor victim.

Ayala has been detained since his arrest on related state charges on March 9, 2024.  On July 8, 2025, he pleaded guilty in federal court to production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Manchester Police Department, the Glastonbury Police Department, and the Connecticut Center for Digital Investigations.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the State’s Attorney’s Offices for the Judicial Districts of Hartford and Tolland for their cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of this case.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PHOENIX, Ariz. – During this week of enforcement operations from November 8, 2025, through November 14, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona has brought immigration-related criminal charges against 184 defendants. Specifically, the United States filed 107 cases in which aliens illegally re-entered the United States, and the United States also charged 67 aliens for illegally entering the United States.  In its ongoing effort to deter unlawful immigration, the United States also filed 9 cases against individuals responsible for smuggling illegal aliens into and within the District of Arizona. Protecting law enforcement officers is a key part of border vigilance, and federal prosecutors also charged one defendant for assaulting a Border Patrol agent.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Recent matters of interest include:

United States v. Martin Diego Ramirez-Granillo: On November 12, 2025, Martin Diego Ramirez-Granillo was charged by complaint with Transportation of an Illegal Alien and Reentry of Removed Alien.  Ramirez-Granillo was pulled over by an Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper for suspected violations of Arizona law. During the encounter the trooper suspected a human smuggling event and contacted U.S. Border Patrol for assistance.  Border Patrol Agents responded to the scene to conduct an immigration inspection. Ramirez-Granillo and the passenger were determined to be citizens of Mexico, illegally present in the United States.  Ramirez-Granillo was also determined to have previously been removed from the United States.  Case No. 25-06444MJ

United States v. Anthony Shawn Hobbs: On November 13, 2025, Anthony Shawn Hobbs was charged with transportation of illegal aliens for profit.  Hobbs was initially seen driving southbound on Interstate 19 as the only occupant of a Toyota Corolla.  Shortly after, he was observed driving on State Route 82 with multiple visible occupants in the vehicle and the trunk was open and the lid was flapping.  When Border Patrol agents stopped his sedan, he had four illegal aliens in the vehicle. Case No. 25-14313MJ

These cases are 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN). 

A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

CASE NUMBER:             25-06444MJ
                                       25-14313MJ                                     

RELEASE NUMBER:    2025-160_November 14 Immigration Enforcement

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on X @USAO_AZ for the latest news.