Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville, Florida – Jennifer Susan Cruz (41, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to assaulting officers conducting an immigration operation. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Anthony Belford was arraigned last week on federal charges of cyberstalking after allegedly using social media accounts to post more than a dozen messages with nude images generated by artificial intelligence and racist comments during a three-month online harassment scheme.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Moore had previously pleaded guilty to knowingly and intentionally distributing an amount in excess of 50 grams of meth. This investigation was part of HSTF which brought together local and federal partners to eliminate criminal gangs in our streets. The investigation of this case was carried out by Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe County’s Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the United States Marshals.
Source: United States Army
WIESBADEN, Germany – U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden participates in the 2026 Hessentag in Fulda, joining the festivities with a recruiting container and information booth.
The Hessentag is Germany’s oldest and largest state festival, first established in 1961 to foster a sense of community in the newly formed state of Hesse.
Each year, a different Hessian city hosts this ten-day event, which features a vibrant mix of culture, business, entertainment, and politics. This year the 63rd Hessentag takes place June 12 to 21 in Fulda.
Visitors can enjoy concerts and shows by well-known national and international artists, exhibitions from ministries, the military, clubs, and local businesses, as well as a wide variety of regional foods and drinks.
Garrison Wiesbaden is represented by ten volunteers who, alongside colleagues from the 2nd Signal Brigade and United States Army Europe and Africa, bring a diverse range of backgrounds — from full-time employees and trainees to dual students — offering visitors a chance to learn more about the U.S. Army as an employer and partner.Together, these German civilian employees are showcasing their training and career paths.
Four of the young professionals attending the event are:
Anouk König– metal worker apprentice building ramps and handrails; plans to become a technician.
Laura Oesterheld– office management apprentice rotating through Human Resources, the Housing Office, and the Public Affairs Office; aims to earn aBusiness Administratorqualification.
Niko Perez– former metal worker now managing locking systems for up to 20,000 doors; values steady hours and training options.
Vanessa Scherf– dual civil engineering student gaining international experience and learning both German and U.S. construction law.
“The U.S. Army in Wiesbaden is also a part of Hesse and we want to show that on the yearly Hessentag,” said Thomas Schulze, Workforce Development Program Manager. “We are very thankful that the Bundeswehr provides that opportunity as it is a great partner.”
This presence highlights the strong connection between the U.S. Forces and the Hessen community. Through interactive displays and engagement,U. S. Army GarrisonWiesbaden aims to foster understanding, showcase opportunities, and demonstrate its role as an integral part of life in Hessen.
“The Hessentag offers us exposure to a wide audience. Many visitors are unaware that Local Nationals work in the Garrison Wiesbaden,” said Schulze.
Currently, the garrison workforce at USAG Wiesbaden is comprised of more than 79%local national hires.
“I decided to apply to the U.S. Army because it was important to me not just to sit in an office, but to interact with people—to provide employee support,” explained Oesterheld.“I also wanted to work for an organization that stood for certain values, and the U.S. Army truly is a very family-oriented employer. And I love the variety the Army offers.”
Working as a Local National at USAG Wiesbaden combines secure, collective-agreement-backed pay and regular bonuses with an exceptional work-life balance featuring 30 vacation days, regular hours, and extra time off on American holidays.
Additionally, employees enjoy unique cultural perks like on-post gym access, American food, and a diverse, international environment that offers excellent career growth, apprenticeships, and dual-study programs.
“There’s also a real sense of appreciation here,” Oesterheld added. ”Once you’ve done your job and built up trust, you’re given the independence to work on your own. It’s a goodatmosphere and simply a different kind of employer—an exceptional one. It bridges two worlds—and it’s simply not a boring job.”
Persons interested in working with the U.S. Army can stop by the recruitment both at during the Hessetage or visit: https://portal.chra.army.mil/mnrs
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A New Jersey man was sentenced today to 350 months in prison for distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a dark web site dedicated to discussing and trafficking in CSAM.
“The court’s sentence today holds Drew Holzlein accountable for his role in helping run a community on the dark web dedicated to trafficking in visual depictions of minors being subjected to horrific acts of sexual abuse,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Those who engage in this disgusting conduct will be investigated and prosecuted. The clear message in this case and others just like it is that Holzlein and his co-conspirators will not skate by because of the anonymity afforded by the dark web. We will still find you.”
“By serving as a moderator on a dark web forum devoted to the dissemination of child sexual abuse material, the defendant did not merely enable exploitation — he curated and sustained a marketplace of depravity,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey. “This sentence marks a critical measure of accountability and affirms my Office’s unwavering commitment to vindicating the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable. We will persist in our efforts to expose and dismantle these clandestine networks, wherever they operate.”
“This offender provided access to a platform where multiple perpetrators conspired to create and share CSAM,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “The arrest of this moderator led FBI Newark and the FBI Child Exploitation Operational Unit to investigate and disrupt the activities of additional child exploitation offenders and abusers. The FBI will continue to track down these criminals, ensure that they are held accountable for their crimes, and secure justice for their victims.”
According to court documents, Drew Holzlein, 57, of Manchester, New Jersey, was a member and moderator of a website on the dark web that was dedicated to the proliferation of CSAM. From approximately 2019 until his arrest in January 2024, Holzlein was an active participant on this site and shared thousands of sexually explicit images of nude, prepubescent minors with the site’s many users. A search of Holzlein’s home in January 2024 recovered multiple electronic devices containing images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of prepubescent children. Holzlein was interviewed during the search and admitted to law enforcement that he was an active member on this dark web site for years and served as a moderator on the site. Holzlein was previously convicted in New Jersey of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit and the FBI Newark Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorney William G. Clayman of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Belgiovine for the District of New Jersey 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, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – DARWIN NOE MENDOSA-CRUZ, age 29, a citizen of Honduras, was charged by bill of information on June 8, 20206 with illegal reentry of a removed alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. ‘ 1326(a), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville – Christopher Michael Lawhon (36, South Carolina) has been charged by federal indictment with production and attempted production of child sex abuse material (CSAM). In a separate indictment, Tajareia Lawon Aikee Blackwell (25, North Carolina) was charged with transportation of CSAM. If convicted, Lawhon faces a minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison. Blackwell faces a minimum penalty of 5 years, up to 20 years, in federal prison.
Source: United States Department of Justice
A Louisiana nurse practitioner was sentenced today to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release for causing over $12 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests. She was also ordered to pay $1,508,868.25 in restitution.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Scharmaine Lawson Baker, 59, of Fulshear, Texas, a licensed nurse practitioner and Medicare provider, received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks in exchange for ordering expensive cancer genetic tests. Lawson Baker held herself out as an expert in Medicare regulations — authoring books on medical necessity and patient-provider relationships — while actively violating those very standards.
From October 2018 to October 2019, Lawson Baker worked as an independent contractor for a company that claimed to provide telehealth services. In her role, Lawson Baker signed hundreds of orders for medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests after brief phone calls with the patients, typically lasting less than 30 seconds, and without examining the patients. In a recorded call admitted at trial, a telehealth company’s phone operator told Lawson Baker that she would be “rolling in money” by signing the orders, and Lawson Baker responded with “Honey, I am not complaining.” The evidence at trial also showed that Lawson Baker ordered ovarian and cervical cancer tests for male patients, demonstrating that she was acting as a rubber stamp to get paid instead of providing real medical care. Lawson Baker never reviewed the results of any of the tests she ordered, including when the results showed that patients actually had variants predisposing them to certain cancers.
In total, Lawson Baker caused over $12.1 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, and the laboratories involved in the scheme received over $1.5 million in reimbursements from Medicare for the unnecessary testing Lawson Baker ordered. In exchange for signing these orders, Lawson Baker accepted kickbacks and bribes from the telehealth company — payments she later failed to disclose in her bankruptcy petition.
After a three-day jury trial in July 2025, a federal jury found Lawson Baker guilty of six counts of health care fraud.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division; U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle for the Eastern District of Louisiana; Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office made the announcement.
HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Samantha E. Usher and Gary A. Crosby II of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses for the Eastern District of Louisiana prosecuted the case. Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section assisted in the prosecution.
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.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Philip Taylor Sobash, 36, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for sexually exploiting minors.
“Philip Sobash enticed seven minors to produce and send him child sexual abuse material, and then distributed five of those minors’ sexually explicit images online,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant took advantage of teenage girls. His depravity caused them long-lasting psychological trauma. The Department will pursue cases just like this to protect children from sexual exploitation.”
“Protecting children from sexual predators is among the highest priorities of our office and the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek for the Middle District of Tennessee. “Holding Sobash accountable for all of his offenses against all his victims is vitally important to the safety of children in our community and across the country.”
“The FBI’s commitment to protecting children from abuse knows no bounds,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “We work relentlessly with our partners to hold perpetrators of the sexual exploitation of minors to account, and others engaging in criminal activity targeting the vulnerable should take today’s sentencing as a warning that they too will be forced to face the consequences of their actions.”
According to court documents, between October 2018 and May 2019, Sobash, then a practicing physician, engaged in an online sexually explicit relationship with Minor Victim 1, who resided in the Middle District of Tennessee. This online relationship began after they connected on a dating website that facilitates “sugar daddy” relationships. After their communications moved to text message, Minor Victim 1 informed Sobash that she was 17 years old and sent him a photo of her driver’s license, which confirmed her age.
Sobash requested that Minor Victim 1 produce and send him sexually explicit images of herself and provided her thousands of dollars in cash and gifts to entice her to do so. Over the course of more than seven months, Sobash received hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos of Minor Victim 1, most of which constituted child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
In addition to sexually exploiting Minor Victim 1, Sobash admitted to sexually exploiting six other minors, aged 16 and 17, between 2017 and 2020. At Sobash’s direction, Minor Victims 2 through 7 created CSAM, which they sent to him. Sobash distributed CSAM depicting Minor Victims 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6, resulting in those victims’ images being sold online under their names.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit investigated the case with the assistance of FBI Nashville, Clarksville Resident Agency, and the U.S. Secret Service.
Trial Attorney Adam Braskich of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica R. Morrison for the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the 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
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – United States District Court Chief Judge Raúl Arias-Marxuach sentenced Daniel García-Martín to a term of 15 months imprisonment, 2 years supervised release, a $5,500 fine, and forfeiture of firearms and ammunition for firearms violations related to possession of firearms by a convicted felon. García-Martín was arrested on October 17, 2025, and pleaded guilty on March 19, 2026.