Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tallahassee, Florida – Deontae Watkins, 44, of Perry, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with the intent to distribute various controlled substances including more than 500 grams of methamphetamine; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and another count of possession with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
After a three-day trial before U.S. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick, a federal jury unanimously convicted Calvin Kemp, age 60, of Gonzales, Louisiana, and Chevez Tywan Robillard, age 33, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud along with multiple counts of aggravated identify theft, announced U.S. Attorney Kurt L. Wall.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Heri Abelardo de Leon Garcia, 32, of Mexico, pled guilty on Tuesday, July 7, to one count of illegal reentry into the United States. First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Homeland Security Investigations Buffalo Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony Patrone made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jalal Nimer Asad, 62, of Lindenhurst, Illinois, was sentenced to five years in the Bureau of Prisons and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution and a forfeiture judgement of more than $4 million for his role in two different but related criminal conspiracies at multiple businesses within the Central District of Illinois involving tax evasion; mail fraud; and the structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Peter Jacobsson, 39, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced on July 9, 2026, in federal court in Lincoln for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine with a prior conviction and use or carry of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – TERRENCE ROBINSON a/k/a Brian Jacobs (“ROBINSON”), age 41, a resident of Carriere, Mississippi was sentenced on July 16, 2026, after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit the interstate transportation of stolen vehicles, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
Source: United States Department of Justice
WASHINGTON – Kenneth Watts, 59, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 60 months in prison in connection with his role in a conspiracy to distribute phencyclidine (PCP), announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Watts was convicted by a federal jury on May 20, 2025, in U.S. District Court on one count of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of PCP. In addition to the 60-month prison term, Judge Jia M. Cobb ordered Watts to serve five years of supervised release.
According to court papers, a two-year investigation by federal and local law enforcement uncovered a narcotics trafficking network operating in the metropolitan area. The network distributed large quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, and PCP and relied on firearms to protect its operations and drug proceeds.
Watts’s role in the conspiracy centered on obtaining bulk shipments of liquid PCP from a supplier in California. On Sept. 23, 2020, Prince George’s County police intercepted a package containing six kilograms of PCP at a FedEx facility in Maryland. The package was addressed to a fictitious name at an address in Temple Hills, Maryland.
Officers conducted a controlled delivery to the address. After the package was dropped off, they observed Watts retrieve it and enter the residence. He emerged carrying a suitcase and drove away. He was pulled over a short distance from the house. Officers recovered the PCP from the suitcase in the truck bed. Laboratory testing confirmed the substance was approximately six kilograms of PCP.
A search of Watts’s cellphone revealed text messages with the California supplier, including the delivery address and a fictitious recipient name. His phone also showed he had messaged a co-conspirator asking him to call “asap” the day before the package arrived. Evidence showed the co-conspirator later contacted Watts when seeking to obtain PCP.
Co-defendant, James Kinard, 48, of Temple Hills, Md., also was found guilty by the jury on May 20, 2025, on the PCP conspiracy count, and additionally found guilty of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Sentencing for Kinard is pending.
Three other co-defendants pleaded guilty before the case went to trial. Melvin Grayson, 52, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, more than 40 grams or more of fentanyl, and more than one kilogram of PCP and was sentenced to 120 months. Tyrone Ragland, 57, aka “Tech,” of the District, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram of PCP and was sentenced to 180 months. Charles Cunningham, 59, of the District, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to 180 months in prison.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Washington Field Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration – Washington Division Office, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department.
The matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nihar R. Mohanty and Iris Y. McCranie.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Carlos Banegas-Contreras, age 47, an illegal alien from Honduras, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for one count of Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud.On October 6, 2025, Banegas-Contreras pleaded guilty to the charge in federal district court.According to investigators, in June of 2023, Banegas-Contreras and others conspired to use fake identification cards to cash 178 fraudulent paychecks totaling $299,474.00 at three check-cashing businesses and at five branches of a local bank. The fraudulent paychecks were designed to look like they had been issued by a building materials supply company in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – TERRELL KELLEY (“KELLEY”), age 34, was sentenced to a ninety-seven (97) month term of imprisonment on July 14, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan. KELLEY was ordered to pay a $600 mandatory special assessment fee and serve a six (6) year term of supervised release upon release from imprisonment, announced United States Attorney David I. Courcelle.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a Memphis woman with preparing false tax returns for others and willfully failing to file her own tax returns.
According to the indictment, between 2021 and 2024, Lynette Hogue prepared and filed with the IRS false and fraudulent income tax returns for clients of the tax preparation business where she worked. These tax returns allegedly contained false and fraudulent items, which generated refunds the clients were not entitled to receive.
According to the indictment, Hogue willfully failed to file her own tax returns for these same years, even though she earned substantial income from her tax return preparation business and was required to file by law.
Hogue is charged with 29 counts of willfully aiding and assisting the preparation and presentation of false tax returns and four counts of willfully failing to file a tax return. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison for each false return count and one year in prison for each count of failing to file a tax return.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee made the announcement.
Trial Attorneys Isaiah Boyd III and Matthew C. Hicks of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.