Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ALBUQUERQUE – A Mescalero man pleaded guilty to child abuse after firing a weapon near two young children and placing them in a situation that endangered their lives.

According to court documents, on August 26, 2025, Emilio Morales, 24, a non-Indian, while intoxicated, fired a handgun multiple times near two minor children and threatened to kill himself while holding the firearm in front of them. When police arrived with weapons drawn, Morales held one child and demanded that officers shoot him. Both children are enrolled members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

Morales pleaded guilty to abuse of a child. At sentencing, he faces 6 to 12 months imprisonment followed by a three-year term of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison made the announcement today.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jackson K. Dering V is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ALBUQUERQUE – A California woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison and will be ordered to pay more than one million dollars in restitution for orchestrating a decades long advance fee fraud scheme that promised victims access to a nonexistent multi-million-dollar fortune.

There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court records, beginning in 2001 and continuing through September 2023, Lanette Bashore orchestrated an advance fee fraud scheme in which she falsely claimed to own or control a multi-million-dollar fortune that was tied up by taxes, legal holds, and other financial barriers. Using a mutual acquaintance to gain victims’ trust, Bashore convinced individuals in New Mexico and elsewhere to send her thousands of dollars up front to “unlock” the purported fortune, promising to repay them with massive returns. In reality, no such fortune existed. Bashore deposited the victim payments into bank accounts she controlled and used the money to fund her personal lifestyle and gambling.

As victims grew suspicious and reported the scheme, the FBI opened an investigation that confirmed Bashore’s fraud through victim interviews and banking records. After being interviewed by agents in 2023, Bashore contacted victims and attempted to persuade at least one of them to falsely characterize her representations about the multi-million-dollar fortune to the FBI, conduct that resulted in an obstruction enhancement at sentencing.

Bashore pled guilty to mail fraud. Upon her release from prison, Bashore will be subject to three years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The settlement requires the largest divestiture of outpatient healthcare services to resolve a merger challenge (by number of facilities) and imposes a $1.1M civil penalty for false certification

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

DENVER – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Felicia Ortiviz, 36, Joe Elijo Herrera, 51, and Alina Serena Ochoa-Luna, 33, all of Denver, were indicted by a federal grand jury. All three defendants face a charge of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death. Ochoa-Luna faces an additional charge of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Ortiviz faces additional charges of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death and distribution of fentanyl to a person under twenty-one-years of age.

According to statements made on the record in court, Herrera allegedly started dealing “blues” to the victim in September 2023, shortly after the victim’s nineteenth birthday.  “Blues” are a common street name for counterfeit M/30 pills which contain illicit fentanyl.  Herrera continued dealing blues to the victim until late January 2024 when Herrera’s girlfriend, Ortiviz, started dealing blues directly to the victim. On the afternoon of February 13, 2024, Ochoa-Luna delivered blues to Ortiviz at the residence where Ortiviz and Herrera lived. That night, Ortiviz distributed blues to the victim at the same residence. The victim then returned to his apartment in a student housing complex and died shortly thereafter. The victim died as a result of the toxic effects of fentanyl.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted at trial, the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of not less than 20 years’ imprisonment and up to life in prison.

The investigation is being conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Denver Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by the Transnational Organized Crime and Money Laundering Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.

CASE NUMBER:         25-cr-00327-WJM       

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SAN ANTONIO – A Mexican national was sentenced in a federal court in San Antonio to 155 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine.

According to court documents, Cesar Sepulveda Esquivel aka Cesar Sepulveda Jimenez, 47, of Piedras Negras, was identified as a supplier for methamphetamine and cocaine in December 2022. A joint investigation resulted in multiple narcotics transactions between Jan. 11 and April 5, 2023.

Esquivel was arrested at his home on May 24, 2023, and was found to be in possession of a 45-caliber handgun, two ounces of marijuana, several grams of methamphetamine, and 10 grams of cocaine. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 13, 2025, and was sentenced Dec. 8 by U.S. District Judge David Ezra.

In 2008, Esquivel was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He served 48 months in prison before being removed to Mexico. Esquivel illegally returned to the U.S. in 2022, continuing to distribute narcotics.

U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The DEA and Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Spears prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Federal agents arrested a Grove City man today who has been charged federally with child pornography and video voyeurism crimes.

Neil Brown, 41, worked at multiple cell phone stores in Columbus and allegedly captured nude photos and videos from customers’ phones.

A cyber tipline received in January 2025 led investigators to search Brown’s digital accounts and devices.

According to charging documents, Brown was employed by Cellular Sales and would take the phones of female customers and search through them for illicit content. Brown then allegedly created videos of the content on his own phone. To date, investigators have identified three victimized customers.

Investigators also discovered more than 75 images and videos of child pornography on Brown’s cell phone. Brown allegedly paid virtual currency on an app to receive videos of child sexual abuse material.

Brown was initially arrested locally and charged with pandering obscenity involving a minor. The federal charges have superseded the local ones, and the local charges have now been dismissed.

The defendant appeared in federal court today at 2:30pm and his case was unsealed at that time.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin and other members of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this case.

A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ANNISTON, Ala. – A native of Mexico has been sentenced for illegally re-entering the U.S. after deportation, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

United States District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced Maximiliano Pablo-Cinto, 41, a citizen of Guatemala, to 18 months in prison. Pablo-Cinto pleaded guilty to illegal re-entry after deportation.

According to the plea agreement, Pablo-Cinto was previously convicted on November 27, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 45 months in prison. On February 7, 2019, Pablo-Cinto was removed from the United States.  He was then arrested on February 7, 2025, by the Albertville Police Department after he failed to appear in court on charges for fraud and identity theft in Albertville, Alabama.  The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deportation Removal Office (ICE/ERO) was notified of the arrest and Pablo-Cinto was later transferred into federal custody.

Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case along with the Albertville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted the case.

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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ST. PAUL – Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala, age 40, was found guilty today in U.S. District Court of Assault on a Federal Officer with a Dangerous and Deadly Weapon and Causing Bodily Injury, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen. 

On June 17, 2025, law enforcement officers attempted to arrest Munoz-Guatemala, a convicted sex offender, on an immigration order.  Agents made a traffic stop of Munoz-Guatemala.  The defendant was uncooperative and refused to follow directions.  After warning Munoz-Guatemala several times, an agent broke the back window so that he could open the vehicle from the inside.  Munoz-Guatemala then accelerated his car.  As he sped away, the agent’s arm became trapped between the seat and the car frame.  Munoz-Guatemala dragged the federal agent for more than 100 yards, while weaving back and forth in an attempt to shake the agent from the car.  The agent was eventually jarred free from the car but suffered significant injuries to his arms and hand.

Munoz-Guatemala is illegally present in the United States. In December 2022, Munoz-Guatemala was convicted in Hennepin County of repeatedly sexually abusing a minor.

The jury found Munoz-Guatemala guilty on December 10, 2025, following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan. The jury found that Munoz-Guatemala assaulted the agent with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and that in doing so Munoz-Guatemala caused the agent bodily injury. 

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bloomington Police Department.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Raphael B. Coburn and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez.