Source: United States Airforce
Moody AFB Airmen recently integrated military working dogs into their SERE training. The realistic scenarios pushed aircrews to apply core survival skills under pressure while evading active pursuit, better preparing them for modern personnel recovery operations.
Source: United States Navy
SAN DIEGO – In a decisive move to restore and expand organic ship repair capabilities, the Navy officially reestablished Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, San Diego (SIMA SD) on June 1. This strategic West Coast command will develop Sailors as advanced intermediate-level (I-level) maintenance technicians and in Fleet Technical Assist (FTA) roles, directly addressing the Navy’s critical need for self-sufficiency at sea.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 148 border-related cases this week, including charges of bringing in aliens for financial gain, reentering the U.S. after deportation, and importation of controlled substances. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California is the fourth-busiest federal district, largely due to a high volume of border-related crimes. This district, encompassing San Diego and Imperial counties, shares a 140-mile border with Mexico. It includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing, connecting San Diego (America’s eighth largest city) and Tijuana (Mexico’s second largest city).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
After a five-day trial, a federal jury in the Southern District of Indiana convicted Sinmi Asomuyide, 33, a former Kokomo Police Department officer today of charges related to his on-duty sexual assault of a 14-year-old and related obstruction.
“Police officers are entrusted with extraordinary authority and responsibility to protect the public. The defendant’s reprehensible actions betrayed that trust,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This verdict sends a clear message: officials who abuse their power and violate the constitutional rights of children will be held accountable.”
“While this administration strongly supports the men and women of law enforcement who are steadfastly committed to making our communities safe, we will not tolerate those who abuse the powers entrusted to them,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas Wheeler II for the Southern District of Indiana. “The defendant used those powers to sexually abuse a 14-year-old girl and then lied and destroyed evidence to cover up his crimes. The jury saw through his lies and held him accountable for his crimes,”
“The defendant used his position of trust and the appearance of assistance to isolate and assault a child, then took steps to obstruct the investigation by destroying records and lying to law enforcement. These actions reflect a complete disregard for the law, the victim, and the public trust,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. O’Malley of the FBI Indianapolis Field Office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue justice for victims and hold offenders fully accountable.”
In particular, jurors found Sinmi Asomuyide, 33, guilty of willfully depriving the victim, who was then 14 years old, of her constitutional rights by sexually assaulting her. The jury found that the defendant’s conduct included kidnapping and abusive sexual contact of a child under the age of 16.
Jurors also found Asomuyide guilty of lying to the Indiana State Police in attempt to cover up the assault by denying having sexual contact with the victim and lying about the presence of other corroborating evidence. Jurors also found Asomuyide guilty of deleting a messaging application he had been using to communicate with the minor victim prior to the sexual assault in attempt to cover up the assault.
Asomuyide faces up to life in prison at sentencing.
The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Blackett for the Southern District of Indiana and Senior Sex Crimes Counsel Tara Allison are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
In Three Months, Operation Results in 1100 Arrests, Nearly 1000 Illegal Firearms Seized, and Seizure of Over 2700 Pounds of Various Drugs
The Department of Justice today announced the results of Operation Spring Cleaning, a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the FBI to combat gang-related threats and enhance public safety. The operation coordinated with federal, state, and local law enforcement and targeted the illegal flow of firearms and narcotics in our communities. The operation began on March 1 and ended May 31.
In total, Operation Spring Cleaning led to over 1100 arrests, over 600 charges filed, and almost 600 search warrants conducted. The operation also resulted in the seizure of:
“When our neighborhoods are safe from the scourge of deadly drugs, individuals and families can prosper,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Trump Administration has made significant progress in removing this poison from our streets, a key step in our commitment to making America safe again.”
“This FBI understands that communities across our country have been ravaged by gangs and the firearms and narcotics they flood our streets with,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Operation Spring Cleaning represents our total commitment to crushing this kind of violent crime and eliminating the criminal networks who facilitate them – with over 1,000 arrests, 1,000 firearms seized, and 3,000 pounds of narcotics removed from our neighborhoods. Righteous operations like this show this FBI is only getting started and will continue delivering the most prolific run of crime reduction in U.S. history.”
Drugs seized by FBI Sacramento Field Office during Operation Spring Cleaning
Guns seized by FBI Philadelphia Field Office during Operation Spring Cleaning
Guns, drugs, and money seized by FBI Los Angeles Field Office during Operation Spring Cleaning
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Applied Partners LLC was sentenced today to pay a $500,000 fine and complete a two-year term of probation for the company’s illegal handling of regulated asbestos containing material (RACM) at a site in Saginaw, Michigan.
The company had previously pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act’s asbestos work practice standards for its role in demolishing a structure in 2019. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can lead to cancers like mesothelioma and lung cancer or noncancerous conditions like asbestosis.
According to court documents, Applied Partners acquired a defunct industrial site in Saginaw in 2018 with the intention of demolishing and scrapping structures on the property before reselling it. In fall 2019, despite knowing that RACM remained in a structure called the Power House, Applied Partners directed another company to begin demolition.
Between about Sept. 19 and Oct. 24, 2019, employees of the company performing the demolition used heavy machinery to break apart brick walls and to pull down at least one large facility component covered in RACM from the upper floors of the structure. The demolition was done in violation of numerous asbestos work practice standards. Demolition ceased once regulators performed sampling and informed Applied Partners that it would need to perform remediation of remaining RACM before demolition could continue.
“Applied Partners knowingly disregarded asbestos work practice standards designed to protect human health,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “Today’s sentence demonstrates that public health is among our highest priorities, and we will prosecute those who violate environmental laws.”
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, Environmental Investigation Section, assisted with the investigation.
Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Hemann for the Eastern District of Michigan, and EPA Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel Samuel Cardick prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Army
More than 65 members of the 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment Association (2-1 Cavalry Association) gathered to honor and remember their fallen comrades during a ceremony May 29, 2026, at Memorial Chapel at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as part of the association’s 2026 reunion.
The ceremony paid tribute to Black Hawk troopers who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the nation, as well as those who have recently passed away. As each name was read aloud, association members placed a flower on a wreath to remember, pay their respects, and ensure none are ever forgotten.
Following the event, association members were given a tour of the installation and visited the Frontier Army Museum, where Buffalo Soldier reenactor George Pettigrew spoke about the history of the Buffalo Soldier regiments and their lasting legacy to the Army.
Source: United States Army
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas — Students and faculty from Fort Hays State University, in Hays, Kansas, and the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning, in Winchester, Virginia, were at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May 27, 2026, to share data gleaned from motion-triggered wildlife cameras and obtain video and photographic footage for multiple projects associated early exploration of the area. The location was a stop along the route surveyed by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the early 1800s during the Corps of Discovery expedition.
Snapshot USA
Snapshot USA is an ongoing survey project of the Smithsonian Institution to monitor wildlife using game cameras, conducted by ecologists from universities and organizations across the country. For the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, Snapshot USA collaborators are resurveying the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition Trail, focusing on the area within 80 kilometers of the original trail. The current data will eventually be compared with observations noted in Lewis and Clark’s journals to see how wildlife species distributions and habitats have changed since then.
Snapshot USA collaborator Dr. Lorelei Patrick, associate professor in biological sciences at FHSU and associate curator of mammals at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, connected with Fort Leavenworth Natural Resources Specialist Neil Bass to participate in the Lewis and Clark project. She said the collaboration for project participation was easy to accomplish, with FHSU students already conducting wildlife surveys on post, and the fact that the installation is located within the boundaries specified for the project. The Corps of Discovery expedition passed through the area in the summer of 1804.
“I thought it was important and good to share our camera data with a larger entity that could use it, and thus show the good stewardship that the Army provides and has been providing at Fort Leavenworth for almost 200 years,” Bass said about participating in the project.
FHSU scientists have been collecting data from wildlife cameras set up on Fort Leavenworth for their own studies and the Snapshot USA Lewis and Clark Trail project. While the university’s study is focused on medium-sized mammals, such as raccoons, skunks and opossums, FHSU graduate student Elizabeth Horinek said the cameras have also been picking up several white-tailed deer and coyotes, as well as some squirrels and a bobcat.
Virtual reality project
Students from the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning are travelling to several sites along the Lewis and Clark trail this summer to collect footage for multiple video projects, tying into the Smithsonian’s project as well as working on another supported by the Lewis and Clark Trail Association.
The Shenandoah students recorded interviews with Patrick and Bass and got footage of Patrick and Horinek checking one of the trail cameras on the floodplain by Sherman Army Airfield, then they trekked to the fort’s champion pecan tree near the river to take 360-degree views, video and photographs.
During the summer of 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition made note of pecan trees seen on the shore of what would later become Fort Leavenworth when travelling on the Missouri River.
“When we’re going back to the Lewis and Clark history, Lewis and Clark actually mentioned those pecan trees in their journals on the July 1, 1804, journal entry, and so (the students) could then look at these historic trees that are actually mentioned in the journal for this original assessment that they’re kind of following and mimicking as part of the Lewis and Clark (Trail Association),” Bass said.
Bass said at least one of the pecan trees on Fort Leavenworth is large enough, and thus old enough, to have possibly been among the trees spotted by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
“It’s very possible that that tree and some others — there’s probably at least two trees out there that could (have been) actually standing when Lewis and Clark came by, were actually big trees when Lewis and Clark went by — and then some of those others probably were seedlings.”
Shenandoah Immersive Media Specialist Lee Graff, project lead for “Lewis and Clark VR,” a virtual reality student production funded by the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance, said he and a group of students travelled across the country two years ago to interview historians and capture footage at significant sites. Now he is travelling with a crew of work-study students to several sites along the trail, from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Oregon coast, for a second iteration and expansion of the project.
“(On the first trip), we did the story of Lewis and Clark, the expedition. Now we’re wanting to talk a bit more about the scientific stuff — the plants, the animals, flora, fauna and geography that they encountered that white people from the east had never seen before,” Graff said. “And we’re interviewing people about Native (American) perspectives, first on Lewis and Clark, second on American westward expansion in general, to add that to a 2.0 version of the experience that more fully tells the stories associated with that, because one of the things Lewis and Clark did is, as they traveled up the Missouri River, they encountered more than 50 different tribal groups and clans (and) did diplomacy with them. Some went better than others.”
Graff said the “Lewis and Clark VR” project isn’t part of a class, but it is allowing the work-study students to have an immersive experience in their field of study as they travel across the country, without compensation for their time but with meals and lodging paid for.
For more information on the “Lewis and Clark VR” project, including how to view the first iteration for free, visit https://www.su.edu/scil/projects/lewis-and-clark-vr/.
For more information on the Snapshot USA Lewis and Clark Resurvey project, visit https://nationalzoo.si.edu/conservation/lewis-clark-resurvey-snapshot-250th.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal grand jury in the District of New Mexico returned a superseding indictment charging Wilfrido Saenz, 29; Ignacio Jaramillo, 22; and his brother, Ismael Jaramillo, 35, all of New Mexico, for their roles in a scheme to transport aliens and later murder a witness to that crime.
According to court documents, between June 2021 and April 2024, Saenz, Ignacio Jaramillo, and Ismael Jaramillo conspired to transport illegal aliens. Saenz and Ignacio Jaramillo are also charged with conspiracy to kill a witness in April 2024 in retaliation for providing law enforcement information about the scheme to transport illegal aliens.
“The superseding indictment in this case highlights the dangers associated with human smuggling,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The criminal networks engaging in this do not care about the people they are smuggling. They only care about money and themselves. They endanger lives and will commit heinous crimes if they believe their network has been exposed and their livelihood is on the line. Through Joint Task Force Alpha working with the District of New Mexico, DOJ will prosecute this case to the end with the victims at the forefront of seeking justice.”
“Human smuggling operations fuel violence, exploit vulnerable people, and threaten the safety of communities on both sides of the border,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico. “The allegations in this case reflect the ruthless nature of these criminal organizations and the lengths they are willing to go to protect their operations. Alongside our dedicated law enforcement partners, our office remains unwavering in our commitment to disrupt these networks and hold those who orchestrate them fully accountable.”
“Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) efforts to dismantle human smuggling organizations directly enhance public safety by disrupting criminal networks that endanger lives and exploit vulnerable individuals,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ryan McRae of the HSI El Paso Field Office. “By targeting those who profit from illegal smuggling, HSI protects communities from associated violence and criminal activity, ensuring safer neighborhoods. HSI will not tolerate individuals who attempt to obstruct justice or intimidate those who cooperate with law enforcement.”
“The charges announced today send a clear message: individuals who engage in organized criminal activity, exploit vulnerable people, or resort to violence to obstruct justice will face the full weight of the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office. “The FBI and our partners remain steadfast in our commitment to community safety, combating violent crime, and bringing justice to victim’s families.”
Saenz, Ignacio Jaramillo, and Ismael Jaramillo are charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens while Saenz and Ignacio Jaramillo are charged with conspiracy to retaliate against a witness resulting in her death. If convicted of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, Saenz and Ignacio and Ismael Jaramillo each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. If convicted of conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, Saenz and Ignacio Jaramillo face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Saenz and Ignacio Jaramillo are also charged with two counts each of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Saenz had previously been convicted of alien smuggling, fraudulently obtaining a motor vehicle, and possession of drug paraphernalia, among other offenses. Ignacio Jaramillo was previously convicted in New Mexico of aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon, a third-degree felony and aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, a fourth-degree felony. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Trial Attorney Danielle Hickman of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy Castellano and Maria Armijo for the District of New Mexico are prosecuting the case.
These charges and prosecution are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The 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. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
HSTF Region II CORE 7 is comprised of agents and officers from HSI, FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), IRS Criminal Investigation, Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations (OFO), U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and Air and Marine (AMO), Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Joint Task Force North (JTF-N), U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with assistance from HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force.
The investigation and indictment were supported 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 U.S. 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 458 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 408 U.S. convictions; and more than 357 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
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
Tallahassee, Florida – John Caleb Allen, 26, of Bristol, Florida, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for two counts of attempted murder of a federal agent; two counts of forcibly assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon; two counts of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; two counts of transfer of a machinegun; possession of an unregistered or unmarked silencer; and making a false statement to a federal firearm licensee.