Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Humzah Mashkoor, 20, of Westminster, Colorado, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to concealing the nature, source, or ownership of funds with the knowledge or intent that such funds would be provided to a foreign terrorist organization.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jackson, TN – Cameron Treon Banks, 30, of Trenton, Tennessee, has been sentenced to 240 months in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. D. Michael Dunavant, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.In December 2021, Banks was found in possession of five firearms, 387 grams of methamphetamine, 10 grams of marijuana, and $1,282 in U.S. currency at a residence in Bradford, Tennessee. The investigation revealed that Banks is a convicted felon and…
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Murrell Deela, a former Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) officer, pleaded guilty today to sexual abuse involving a minor and to lying to federal investigators.
“Rather than serve and protect those within the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, the defendant used his position of power to sexually assault a minor entrusted to his care, and then he lied and attempted to conceal his crime,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The minor victim suffered harm that cannot be quantified, but this Justice Department will hold accountable those who violate positions of public trust and prey on the citizens they have sworn to protect.”
“The outcome reflects the victim’s courage in coming forward,” said Special Agent in Charge Jutin Gerken of the FBI Billings Field Office. “Any abuse of authority, especially against a minor, causes lasting harm and is a betrayal of everything law enforcement stands for. The FBI will continue working to ensure accountability for those who exploit positions of trust to harm others.”
According to records filed in the case, on Aug. 7, 2024, Deela, then 29 years old, was on duty and acting in his official capacity as a BIA officer in the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, when he encountered the minor. The minor victim was apprehended and placed in the back of Deela’s patrol vehicle. Instead of driving the teenager to her family’s house, Deela drove the minor to an alternate location. Deela then proceeded to engage in sexual acts with the minor victim without the victim’s consent. The minor victim disclosed the victimization the following day, and the FBI’s analysis of the evidence provided additional facts that corroborated the minor’s outcry.
Several days after the incident, Deela was instructed to bring his patrol vehicle to the BIA station for evidence collection. Hours prior to the scheduled report time, Deela reported that his patrol vehicle was on fire. The patrol vehicle and its video system were severely burned. An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) determined the patrol vehicle was set on fire intentionally.
Following the incident, Deela wrote a false report omitting that he had driven the minor victim to the alternate location. When interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Deela falsely told agents that he drove the minor directly to her family’s home and had not made any other stops. When confronted with evidence, Deela later admitted that he had driven the minor to an alternate location.
The case was investigated by the FBI and ATF. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Lee for the District of North Dakota and Senior Sex Crimes Counsel Tara Allison and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
PROVIDENCE – A Dominican national illegally residing in the United States has pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island for engaging in a years-long scheme in which he used stolen identities to fraudulently obtain Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and unemployment benefits, announced United States Attorney Charles C. Calenda.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA –TYRONE WHITTINGTON (“WHITTINGTON”), age 40, pleaded guilty on March 26, 2026 before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Texas charging James Robles, 70, of Weslaco, Texas, with operating a cash-only clinic in Houston that he used to sell prescriptions for controlled substances.
According to court documents, Robles, a medical doctor licensed to practice in Texas, conspired with others to illegally prescribe oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol – all controlled substances with substantial street value that were in high demand on Houston’s black market. Operating from his cash-only Houston clinic, Robles allegedly sold prescriptions to “crew leaders” who recruited others to pose as patients, filled Robles’ prescriptions at complicit pharmacies and resold the drugs on the black market. As alleged, Robles often did not see or examine his purported patients before prescribing them opioids and other controlled substances. In just over four years, Robles allegedly prescribed approximately 2.9 million pills of hydrocodone, 1.3 million pills of oxycodone and 1.1 million pills of carisoprodol. In less than three years of the conspiracy, more than $2 million in cash was deposited into bank accounts controlled by Robles.
Robles is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, one count of distributing and dispensing controlled substances and one count of maintaining a drug involved premises. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Brian C. Leardo of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the announcement.
DEA is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Angela Benoit and Andrew Pennebaker of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of eight 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. 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.
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
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Anabell Santiago, 53, of Jamestown, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 40 grams or more of fentanyl and cocaine, maintaining a drug involved premises, and being a user of a controlled substance in possession of firearms, was sentenced to serve 84 months in prison by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Amaury Guzmán, a member of the Trinitarios street gang, pleaded guilty to multiple carjacking and firearm offenses, including the murder of the victim of an attempted carjacking committed in Queens, New York. The proceeding was held before United States Chief District Judge Margo K. Brodie. Trinitarios gang member and co-defendant Jonathan Guzman previously pleaded guilty to some of the charges, including the murder, in July 2025. When sentenced, Guzmán faces a sentencing range of 35 to 40 years’ imprisonment. Rodríguez faces a sentencing range of 32 to 40 years’ imprisonment.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges against officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) and Metropolitan Police Department for a suicide that occurred during a February pursuit that resulted in the death of S.J., and fatally injured a 36-year-old District resident in Southeast Washington.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BOSTON – A former corrections officer employed by the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to submitting fraudulent information in an effort to obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).