Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Zachary Guthrie, 32, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa to possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a fine of $250,000.
Source: United States Navy
Marking a significant reorganization of expeditionary public affairs forces, the Navy redesignated Navy Public Affairs Support Element (NPASE) Headquarters as Navy Public Affairs Command (NPAC) and renamed all subordinate units Fleet Public Affairs Centers (FLTPACENs) Jan. 9.
Source: United States Army
strong>FORT IRWIN, Calif. – At the National Training Center, Black Jack Soldiers were reminded of a fundamental truth of modern warfare: the plan rarely survives first contact, and adaptation matters more than adherence.
During NTC Rotation 26-02, Soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division became the Army’s first armored formation to execute a full Transformation in Contact (TiC) rotation – an initiative designed to accelerate learning while units are already in contact with a thinking enemy.
“This rotation validated our warfighting methodology and our organizational changes,” said Col. José Reyes, commander of 2ABCT. “Our Soldiers learned to fight the enemy they saw, not the plan they started with.”
Unlike traditional rotations, TiC deliberately pushed the brigade to integrate emerging systems, evolving formations, and new organizational concepts under realistic combat pressure. The brigade employed multiple formation constructs and 39 modernized or emerging systems throughout the rotation.
To help units integrate unfamiliar capabilities, the Army authorized three days of early experimentation – limited-objective attacks – before the force-on-force fight began. That decision set conditions for rapid discovery and adjustment once the fight intensified.
Across the rotation, 1st Cavalry Division’s wave-based operational framework-detect, suppress, finish, and maneuver-allowed Black Jack to apply pressure across multiple points of contact and maintain tempo against a contemporary enemy.
Small observations drove major decisions.
Before crossing the line of departure, unmanned aerial systems identified enemy armor much closer than expected, forcing immediate changes to the scheme of maneuver. Later, when heavy winds grounded UAS, losses increased-reinforcing both the fragility and the decisive importance of unmanned reconnaissance in modern combat.
Other formations adapted internally.
By consolidating all 120mm mortars under a single headquarters troop, the reconnaissance squadron massed fires faster and more accurately. Leaders said the organizational change improved responsiveness while simplifying maintenance and training by concentrating expertise in one formation.
The opposing force added friction throughout the fight.
The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment aggressively jammed communications, forcing units to execute PACE plans and fight through degraded command and control. A real-world generator failure at a cellular tower further reduced communications for several hours.
Even in that contested environment, division and brigade leaders credited emerging network capabilities-such as Starshield satellite transport and Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) enabled cross-banding radios-with preserving voice and data connectivity across the NTC footprint and sustaining operational tempo.
While Black Jack executed the fight and the division provided the operational framework, the U.S. Army Operational Evaluation Command played a critical enabling role-helping commanders understand what was happening, why it mattered, and what required further experimentation while the rotation was still underway.
“For this rotation, OEC wasn’t just collecting data-we were providing ongoing assessment,” said Bill Rabena, lead OEC operations research and systems analyst. “That allowed leaders to adjust focus and refine learning objectives while the event was still unfolding.”
Historically, operational testing followed a deliberate, linear model: collect data during an event, archive it, and deliver results months later. TiC demanded something fundamentally different.
“The Army is changing rapidly, and the old model was simply too slow and too resource-intensive for where we’re headed,” said Lt. Col. Dan Ferenczy, a senior test analyst with OEC. “Transformation in Contact requires relevance now, not months later.”
Rather than evaluating individual systems in isolation, OEC shifted toward continuous assessment and immediate feedback. Analysts delivered daily reports and structured analysis to senior leaders, highlighting emerging trends, system performance, and formation-level implications without disrupting training or slowing the fight.
A central challenge was translating Soldier experience into decision-quality information without overburdening the formation.
OEC refined division-developed surveys and applied established methodologies-including the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Usability Metric for User Experience (UMUX-LITE) – to capture Soldier assessments across the brigade. Results were standardized on a 0-100 scale, enabling commanders to quickly compare trends across multiple systems and formations.
“Our job is to decompose learning objectives into measurable data without drowning the unit,” Ferenczy said. “Collect too little and you miss the story. Collect too much and you slow the formation.”
Artificial intelligence tools assisted with survey development and analysis, but experienced analysts remained essential.
“AI can help speed things up, but it doesn’t understand context,” Rabena said. “You still need a human in the loop to catch bad assumptions and misleading trends.”
As commander priorities evolved, OEC analysts adjusted databases, survey timing, and collection methods to stay aligned with learning demands. Within 72 hours, OEC delivered additional data collectors, an operations research analyst, and a data manager to reinforce brigade learning objectives.
For Black Jack Soldiers, TiC reinforced a simple truth: modernization only matters if Soldiers can employ new capabilities under pressure and improve in stride.
For the Army, NTC 26-02 demonstrated that operational testing must evolve alongside modernization-shifting from delayed evaluation to continuous learning.
“Transformation in Contact has become a mindset,” Ferenczy said. “The Army is changing fast, and OEC’s core skills-measurement, validation, and Soldier feedback-are more relevant than ever.”
Together, Black Jack and Operational Evaluation Command showed that learning at speed is not just possible-it is essential to adapting faster, fighting smarter, and maintaining advantage against a contemporary enemy.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Seattle – Two Texas men pleaded guilty over the last few weeks to four counts of bank robbery and two counts of attempted bank robbery for their scheme to steal from banks by assaulting and threatening ATM technicians, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Task Force Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Christopher Roberts, and the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), Jessica S. Tisch, announced today the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging JALEN TEAGUE, a/k/a “Bizzle,” a/k/a “Too Official,” and CHELEIA COUNCIL SANDERS, a/k/a “Mercedes,” with racketeering conspiracy and TEAGUE with murder in aid of racketeering in connection with the August 16, 2023, poisoning death of a robbery victim in midtown Manhattan (“Victim-1”).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DEVELL CONLEY, 39, recently residing in West Haven, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 21 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release that followed a prior conviction for distributing narcotics.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
New Orleans – Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) New Orleans Field Office, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Orleans, announced the outcome of a major violent crime abatement operation leading up to the Mardi Gras Season, Operation NOLA Safe. Additionally, the FBI and HSI introduced the creation of the new Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF). The HSTF, whose reach is both national and regional, is purposed with interrupting the illegal trafficking of dangerous drugs and human beings, eliminating Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), and stopping firearms trafficking, all of which pose clear and present threats to the homeland.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Ten defendants have now been sentenced for their roles in a large-scale armed drug trafficking organization resulting from Operation Sweet Silence, a multi-agency investigation resulting in the removal of firearms, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana from the streets of Columbus.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Ten men have now been sentenced for their roles in a large-scale armed drug trafficking organization based in Columbus, Georgia. The prosecution stemmed from Operation Sweet Silence, a multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking in the Columbus area. As part of the investigation, law enforcement recovered firearms, multiple pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine, 232 pounds of marijuana, and $29,000 in cash. Collectively, the sentencings imposed by the court between Aug. 6, 2025, and Jan. 14, 2026, equated to more than 108 years in prison.
“These defendants operated an armed drug trafficking network that distributed large quantities of highly addictive drugs in Columbus, Georgia,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Methamphetamine and cocaine destroy lives, fracture families, fuel violence and are a scourge in our communities. The Justice Department will continue holding those who engage in the armed drug trade to account and ensure safety for our law abiding citizens and families.”
“This case represents the comprehensive efforts being deployed to target and dismantle the most dangerous criminal organizations and hold their members accountable in Columbus and across the Middle District of Georgia,” said U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes for the Middle District of Georgia. “Prosecutors and law enforcement at every level are working together to combat armed trafficking organizations that threaten our community.”
“These ten defendants were key players in an armed drug trafficking organization that poisoned our community with dangerous substances like methamphetamine and cocaine,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Peter Ellis of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. “The sentences imposed reflect the severe consequences for those who choose to fuel this deadly trade. The FBI remains committed to holding accountable those who engage in these violent criminal activities and ensuring the safety of our communities.”
“Drug trafficking organizations don’t just deal drugs — they bring guns, violence, and instability into our neighborhoods,” said Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Field Division. “The significant prison sentence imposed today reflects the serious danger these defendants posed and the harm caused by flooding our communities with methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs.”
According to public documents and statements in court, the drug organization was led by defendant Tommie Mullins, Jr., who was part of the violent Zohannon criminal street gang. Over the course of the conspiracy, Mullins and the drug trafficking organization distributed vast amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana. The court sentenced the defendants to the following penalties in prison:
Tommie Mullins Jr., also known as “TJ,” “Bo,” and “Mini,” 31, of Columbus, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 10, 2026;
Trenton Clemons, 48, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Oct. 7, 2025;
Anthony Champion, 46, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison on Aug. 6, 2025;
Corey Turner, also known as “Lito Red,” 33, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Oct. 7, 2025;
Adrian Palmer, also known as “AP,” 25, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Oct. 7, 2025;
Trenton Thomas, also known as “Bubble,” 25, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison on Oct. 7, 2025;
Javonta Paden, 25, was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison on Aug. 6, 2025;
Christopher Hill, 36, was sentenced to two years in prison on Dec. 17, 2025;
Adrian Pleasants, 29, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on Aug. 6, 2025; and
Darius Jenkins, 24, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison on Oct. 7, 2025.
The federal investigation into the Zohannon gang included court authorized wiretaps on Tommie Mullins’ and other defendants’ phones. Physical surveillance and other investigative techniques confirmed that Mullins, Champion, Turner, Palmer, Hill, Thomas and others all dealt drugs out of Mullin’s Cove Circle residence.
On March 18, 2023, FBI intercepted wiretap calls in which Turner arranged for the sale of a “30 sack,” which law enforcement understood meant narcotics. Surveillance captured Turner briefly stopping by the Cove Circle residence before heading to the location where the drugs were sold.
The defendants persistently repeated this pattern of briefly going to the Cove Circle house before heading to a drug sale, sometimes with Turner and Mullins directing other defendants to conduct drug deals on their behalf. In intercepted calls made between March 6 and March 7, 2023, Mullins and Turner directed Hill to conduct a half-kilogram drug sale to Champion.
In another deal, law enforcement saw Turner leave the Cove Circle house, enter Champion’s vehicle sitting outside the house, and almost immediately exit the vehicle. Champion then drove off. A short time later, a wiretap call captured Champion calling Turner to complain “this ain’t even a whole it’s a half. I’m fixing to bring it back to you and show you.”
Wiretapped calls and physical surveillance also captured defendants Thomas, Paden, Pleasants, and Palmer arranging to fly to Seattle, Washington to purchase and transport 300 pounds of marijuana back to Columbus. Before leaving for Seattle, surveillance showed Thomas meeting with leader Mullins and phone records showed that Mullins spoke to the drug supplier in Seattle only hours after this meeting. Knowing about the planned drug purchase from the wiretap, law enforcement arranged for a law enforcement K9 to be waiting at the airport when Thomas, Palmer, Peasants and Paden flew back from Seattle. After the dog alerted to the odor of narcotics on the luggage belonging to these defendants, law enforcement seized 232 pounds of marijuana. Later, intercepted calls showed Thomas and Palmer setting up deals for 10 pounds of methamphetamine at a time in hopes of recouping some of the money they lost after the marijuana seizure.
A separate airport search netted over $29,000 in cash, which was seized from Mullins as suspected drug proceeds. The investigation further revealed that both Thomas and Palmer used Jenkins to distribute narcotics in street-level quantities. In one call, Jenkins told Palmer “I passed the sample around the hood” and asked whether this was “your price per pound?” A police search of Palmer’s vehicle revealed approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine packaged in 33 separate baggies.
Clemons also sold drugs for and with Mullins. On April 15, 2024, Mullins and Clemons traveled in Mullins’ vehicle from Columbus, Georgia to a music studio in Atlanta. There, Mullins and Clemons met with a co-conspirator who gave them a bag, the contents of which Clemons emptied into a blue suitcase. Later that day, a traffic stop revealed over 4-pounds of almost pure methamphetamine.
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).
The case was investigated by the FBI, DEA, and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, with critical assistance from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office; the Russell County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office; the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office; the Sacramento, California Sheriff’s Office; and the Muscogee County District Attorney’s Office.
Trial Attorney Matthew Mattis of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Hansis for the Middle District of Georgia prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville, Florida – Christopher Allen Hawkins (40, Green Cove Springs) was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard to 16 years and 8 months in federal prison for transporting a 15-year-old child to engage in sexual activity. He pleaded guilty on August 18, 2025. Hawkins was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender. Hawkins was arrested on May 30, 2025.