Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Manuel De Jesus Jandres Martinez, 33, of El Salvador, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to depredation of government property, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. He was then sentenced to time served and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Seattle – A 41-year-old Woodinville, Washington man has been indicted for 30 federal felonies related to his scheme to steal from financial institutions where he worked and then launder the money through other banks, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A North Carolina man was sentenced today to 42 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for the possession of child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, Blace Arthur Nalavany, 59, of Winterville, North Carolina, possessed images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Nalavany pleaded guilty to the charge on March 11.
According to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Nalavany was an associate professor of social work at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and a licensed clinical social worker, at the time of his arrest. His research publications include research into children who had experienced child sexual abuse. According to evidence in the case, the crime Nalavany was convicted of was committed at his home and was not connected to his employment or to any work as a licensed clinical social worker.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Charlotte Field Office, Greenville Resident Agency and the FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit investigated the case in collaboration with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen K. Haughton for the Eastern District of North Carolina 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
BOSTON – A Brazilian national, unlawfully residing in the United States on an expired visa, has been arrested in Florida and charged in connection with the armed robbery of a cash courier in Framingham, Mass. last November, which resulted in the theft of approximately $200,000.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that the Genesee Valley Club has agreed to pay $1,050,000 to resolve allegations that it improperly obtained a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which it was not eligible to receive. This action is part of the Trump Administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Harrison County man was sentenced for selling fentanyl and methamphetamine while carrying firearms, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced. Matthew Ryan Lester, 34, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and more than 40 grams of fentanyl, and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – A Maryland woman received a federal-prison term in connection with her role in a multi-million-dollar money laundering scheme. Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced Fatoumata Boiro, 32, of Largo, to two years in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiring to engage in a large, multi-member, money laundering conspiracy.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Deirdre Walsh, the former Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), has agreed to pay $20,000 to resolve allegations that she violated post-government employment restrictions during the one-year cooling off period after she left the ODNI.
“The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to enforcing the restrictions imposed on officers and employees of the Executive Branch after they leave the government, especially those who held senior positions, in order to protect the integrity of the Executive Branch,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This resolution should work to deter individuals from attempting to exert undue influence on their former agency.”
“The collaboration between our IC OIG investigators and Department of Justice partners on this case exemplifies effective interagency oversight,” said Intelligence Community Inspector General Christopher Fox. “This outcome reinforces the critical importance of working across agency boundaries to strengthen national security. Regardless of position or title, we will hold people accountable.”
The United States alleged that within the first year after leaving employment at the ODNI, Walsh contacted an ODNI employee on behalf of her employer, a government contractor, regarding a request for equitable adjustment (REA) valued at approximately $18 million. Her employer’s senior leadership had identified Walsh as part of a “pressure campaign” in connection with the REA on or around the same day that Walsh contacted the ODNI employee. This conduct violated Walsh’s post-government employment restrictions under 18 U.S.C. § 207(c), which prohibits any former senior officer or employee of the Executive Branch from knowingly making, within one year of her termination and with the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before any officer or employee of the department or agency in which she served within one year before such termination, on behalf of any other person, in connection with any matter on which she seeks official action by any officer or employee of such department or agency. Under 18 U.S.C. § 216(b), a person who violates Section 208 is liable for a civil monetary penalty, and Walsh has agreed to pay a $20,000 civil penalty to resolve the allegations that her conduct violated her post-government employment restrictions.
The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the Intelligence Community Office of the Inspector General.
The matter was handled by Trial Attorney Robin Overby of the Civil Division.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville, Florida – Ignatio Mateos-Herrera (33, Mexico) has been charged by federal indictment with illegal reentry into the United States by a previously deported alien. If convicted, Mateos-Herrera faces up to two years in federal prison and subsequent deportation and removal from the United States.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Jacksonville, Florida – Ignatio Mateos-Herrera (33, Mexico) has been charged by federal indictment with illegal reentry into the United States by a previously deported alien. If convicted, Mateos-Herrera faces up to two years in federal prison and subsequent deportation and removal from the United States.