Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

KBWB Operations LLC, doing business as Atrium Health and Senior Living (KBWB-Atrium), and Kevin Breslin, former chief executive officer and managing member of KBWB-Atrium, were sentenced yesterday, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin following prior guilty pleas to health care fraud and tax conspiracy related to the operation of numerous skilled nursing facilities, the Department of Justice announced.

Kevin Breslin, 58, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was sentenced to 90 months in prison and ordered to pay $146 million in restitution and $8.4 million in forfeiture. KBWB-Atrium also was ordered to pay the same restitution and forfeiture amounts. Breslin pleaded guilty on Dec. 17, 2024. KBWB-Atrium pleaded guilty on Jan. 21. According to court documents, Breslin is one of six owners of KBWB-Atrium. KBWB-Atrium’s corporate headquarters was located in Little Falls, New Jersey, and its Midwest corporate office was located in Appleton, Wisconsin. KBWB-Atrium operated and/or owned nursing facilities in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

“Health care fraud drives prices up for all Americans and can cause serious negative outcomes for patients,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We remain dedicated to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the most vulnerable Americans from those who would take advantage of them.”’

“Protecting Medicare and Medicaid is not just about preserving the programs. It is about safeguarding the dignity, health, and financial security of the millions of Americans who rely on them,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Chadwick M. Elgersma for the Western District of Wisconsin. “I commend the investigators and prosecutors who identified Mr. Breslin’s fraud scheme and worked tirelessly to hold him accountable for his serious criminal conduct.”

“Today’s sentencing underscores an investigative priority of the FBI,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Chris Ormerod of the FBI Milwaukee Field Office. “The FBI, in collaboration with its partners have not lost sight of investigating people and companies that misuse taxpayers’ money for personal gains and at the expense of people needing quality healthcare. The safety and well-being of Wisconsin residents remains our highest priority.”

“The defendant’s actions not only defrauded federal health care programs but also jeopardized the well-being of vulnerable nursing home residents,” said Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Chicago Region. “HHS-OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who exploit programs meant to provide essential care and services to our nation’s most at-risk populations.”

“Greed was the driving force behind this scheme, which not only defrauded our health care system but also violated employment tax obligations,” said Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes of IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “By failing to pay over withheld taxes, the defendants harmed their employees’ Medicare and Social Security benefits — while also exploiting healthcare programs meant to protect the most vulnerable.”

“Health care and the health benefit plans that provide coverage are of the utmost importance in everyday lives,” said Regional Director Mark Seidel of the Employee Benefits Security Administration in New York. “The Employee Benefits Security Administration remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to bring to justice those who break the law and abuse their positions of trust while managing health benefit plans.”

On Feb. 1, 2023, a grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against Breslin and KBWB-Atrium charging health care fraud and tax conspiracy, among other charges. According to court documents, from approximately Jan. 1, 2015 to in or about September 2018, KBWB-Atrium operated 23 skilled nursing facilities in Wisconsin. Breslin was solely responsible for KBWB-Atrium’s management, operation, business, and finances. The primary source of income for the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin facilities was federal Medicare and Medicaid funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The government alleged that the defendants unlawfully diverted CMS funds intended for the operation, management, maintenance, and care of the residents at the KBWB-Atrium Wisconsin facilities for personal expenses and other purposes. The government further alleged that the defendants prioritized multi-million-dollar owner distributions and guaranteed payments regardless of KBWB-Atrium’s financial situation. The government alleged that the defendants knowingly and willfully failed to disclose to CMS that they were not using CMS funds for resident care, were not in compliance with applicable federal regulations and laws, and had not paid vendors or certain federal and state taxes. As a result, the government alleged, vendors went unpaid and residents did not receive adequate care.

The government alleged that the defendants also diverted health insurance premiums and 401(k) contributions from employee paychecks, as well as money from resident accounts. The government further alleged that as part of the tax conspiracy, Breslin, acting on behalf of KBWB-Atrium, directed that employment taxes withheld from KBWB-Atrium employees’ paychecks not be paid to the IRS, which caused employees to prepare inaccurate tax returns listing those withholdings.

Trial attorneys with the Civil Division’s Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Branch prosecuted the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin investigated and initially prosecuted the case with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General – Office of Investigations, Milwaukee Field Office; the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, New York and Chicago Regional Offices; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Milwaukee Field Office; and the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury indicted a Venezuelan national today on charges alleging he assaulted federal officers while resisting arrest. 

Hector Velandia-Anaya, 18, allegedly attempted to flee from immigration officials and dragged two officers with his vehicle while he began to drive away.

“We will not tolerate any action that endangers the agents who are working to enforce our immigration laws,” said U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. “As today’s indictment shows, those who threaten the safety of our federal law enforcement partners will be prosecuted.”

According to court documents, on Nov. 2, immigration officers pulled over Velandia-Anaya near Shrock Road in Columbus. The defendant turned off his car’s ignition, but when asked to step out of the vehicle, he allegedly closed the driver’s door and restarted the vehicle to flee.

One officer re-opened the driver’s side door to try to keep Velandia-Anaya from driving away. The other officer partially climbed into the passenger seat to try to stop him from putting the vehicle into drive. Velandia-Anaya allegedly accelerated the vehicle and drove forward with the officers partially inside.

An affidavit details that officers wrestled with Velandia-Anaya’s hand to regain control of the gear shifter, stop the vehicle and ultimately arrest the defendant.

He was charged by federal criminal complaint on Nov. 6. In today’s indictment, he is charged with two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer, a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Matthew Stentz, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Detroit; and Kevin Raycraft, Acting Field Office Director, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit Field Office; announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this 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.

An indictment 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

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a former police officer to five years in prison for possessing machine guns.

Ira Brown, 56, admitted that on Oct. 23, 2020, Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers found a fully automatic AR-15 rifle and an auto sear that converts an AR-15 into a fully automatic weapon. The items were found during a court-approved search of Brown’s home prompted by an unrelated investigation. Investigators also found 10,000 rounds of belt-fed .223 caliber ammunition, including armor piercing rounds, in Brown’s Viburnum home, his plea says.

Brown was employed as a dispatcher at a 911 call center at the time of his arrest but formerly worked as a police officer.

Brown fled while out on bond and was arrested in 2024 in Oregon. He pleaded guilty in July of 2025 to possession of a machine gun.

Brown’s son Zerak Brown, now 24, is now serving a 125-month prison sentence after he was convicted at trial in 2021 of two counts of assaulting a federal officer and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Evidence and testimony at trial showed that when troopers showed up to allow Zerak Brown’s girlfriend to remove her belongings from Ira Brown’s home, Zerak Brown refused to allow them to enter. Zerak Brown struggled with the troopers, asked his brother to bring him a gun and then fled. Zerak Brown was later spotted with a rifle and ran away again, encountering law enforcement officers a third time and pointing a rifle at them, evidence and testimony showed. He later turned himself in.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Viburnum Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SHERMAN, Texas – A Denton man has been sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison for child exploitation violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.

Trinity Snow Cassells, also known as Dustin Joseph McDuffie, 34, pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography and was sentenced to 170 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone on October 21, 2025.

According to information presented in court, Cassells was the subject of 10 different CyberTips between 2018 and 2024.  He utilized multiple social media platforms, cloud storage accounts, email accounts, and the dark web to trade child pornography.  Cassells chatted with purported minors on social media platforms commonly used by children, groomed them to engage in illegal sexual conduct, and encouraged them to abuse other children.  As part of that conduct, he distributed child pornography to them.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.

This case was investigated by the Denton Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PLANO, Texas – A Plano man has been sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison for child exploitation violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.

Ashley Blaine Brooks, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and was sentenced to 200 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III on October 21, 2025.

According to information presented in court, Brooks was a registered sex offender living within the City of Plano.  During a sex offender registry compliance check, Plano Police Department detectives discovered that Brooks was trading child pornography using computer equipment that he owned, the Internet, and a peer-to-peer file sharing platform.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.

This case was investigated by the Plano Police Department and the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that a federal jury has found Heidi Richards (52, Brandon) guilty of conspiring to traffic in illicit Microsoft certificate of authenticity (COA) labels. Richards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 26, 2026.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Richards, doing business as Trinity Software Distribution, paid co-conspirators millions of dollars for thousands of genuine, standalone Microsoft COA labels at prices significantly lower than the retail price of the associated software. Richards and her employees harvested product key codes from the labels and then sold them in bulk to her customers. Federal law prohibits the trafficking of standalone COA labels separate from the software programs they were intended to accompany.

COA labels authenticate Microsoft software, assist customers in identifying genuine software, and bear security features intended to dissuade counterfeit duplication. There is an illicit, secondary market for COA labels because they bear product key codes used to activate Microsoft software. COA labels are not to be sold separately from the license and hardware that they are intended to accompany, and they hold no independent commercial value.

The Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Risha Asokan of the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Jared Hosid of the Justice Department’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) prosecuted the case.

CCIPS investigates and prosecutes cybercrime in coordination with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, often with assistance from the private sector. Since 2020, CCIPS has secured the conviction of over 180 cybercriminals, and court orders for the return of over $350 million in victim funds. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PORTLAND, Maine: A South Berwick woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to theft of government money. 

According to court records, Cori Godin, 46, falsely claimed to be unemployed in order to receive unemployment insurance benefits, including federally funded benefits intended to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment insurance is a joint state and federal program that provides monetary benefits to eligible beneficiaries. Payments are intended to provide temporary financial assistance to lawful workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Beginning in about March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded unemployment insurance eligibility and benefits. For a period of approximately 13 months in 2020 and 2021, Godin falsely claimed to be unemployed in order to receive benefits. She received approximately $37,105 in benefits.

Godin faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a maximum term of supervised release of three years. She will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CINCINNATI – A Romanian national was sentenced in federal court in Cincinnati today to 12 months and one day in prison a federal crime related to ATM skimming.

According to court documents, Danut Valentin Urseiu, 32, conspired with others to commit bank fraud in the Southern District of Ohio in January and February 2023.

Urseiu conspired with others to place skimming devices onto a financial institution’s ATMs in the greater Cincinnati area, including in Cincinnati, Green Township and Liberty Township.

Co-conspirators used the fraudulent access devices to steal information from cardholders and defraud financial institutions.

The financial institution reported that multiple ATM locations were victimized during the timeframe Urseiu and his co-conspirators were operating in the Southern District of Ohio.

Fingerprints on cameras placed with the skimming devices in Ohio matched Urseiu’s prints from arrests in New York and Michigan.

Urseiu’s cell phones contained photos of ATM skimming devices, recording devices and large amounts of cash.

Urseiu pleaded guilty in May 2025.

Dominick S. Gerace II, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Adam Lawson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the sentence imposed today by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott. Assistant United States Attorney Ryan A. Keefe is representing the United States in this case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ATLANTA – Rodericus San Juan Warner has been charged on a criminal complaint with allegedly distributing hundreds of carfentanil and fentanyl pills, as well as methamphetamine. Carfentanil, a fentanyl analogue, is approximately 100 times more potent than fentanyl, and is used by veterinarians to sedate large animals like elephants.  Warner was denied bond and will remain in custody.

“Synthetic opioid abuse continues to claim lives, and now fentanyl has become a gateway to an even more dangerous drug, carfentanil,” said U.S Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “A convicted felon, Warner allegedly showed no fear of the law and absolutely no concern for the deadly risk drugs and guns posed to the small children at the residence he occupied.”

“Carfentanil is a deadly synthetic narcotic — used to tranquilize elephants, not meant for human consumption. Yet this offender chose to sell it alongside fentanyl and methamphetamine, showing total disregard for human life,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. Our agents are relentless in targeting those who bring this level of danger into our communities.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: During an investigation in October 2025, DEA agents identified Rodericus San Juan Warner as a drug trafficker in Atlanta. Agents allege Warner sold hundreds of pills containing carfentanil and fentanyl and over 100 grams of methamphetamine. While continuing to investigate, agents obtained federal search warrants to search four residences and multiple vehicles that Warner used to further his drug trafficking enterprise.

On November 6, 2025, DEA agents executed the search warrants, and Warner was arrested in the home he shared with his girlfriend and her three school-aged children. From that home, law enforcement recovered two loaded firearms, $20,000 in U.S. currency, and assorted high-end jewelry. Warner, a five-time convicted felon, is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Additionally, in one of Warner’s vehicles outside the residence, law enforcement recovered suspected fentanyl pills and suspected oxycodone pills.

At another residence Warner allegedly used to sell drugs, DEA agents searched another vehicle registered to him and found four loaded firearms, approximately 6,000 suspected fentanyl pills, 258 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 201 grams of suspected cocaine, 60 suspected oxycodone pills, and one kilogram of suspected marijuana.

Rodericus San Juan Warner, 45, of Atlanta, Ga., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Regina D. Cannon, on a federal criminal complaint. Warner was remanded to custody and ordered detained pending the outcome of his case.

Members of the public are reminded that the complaint only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Schwarzl is prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ALYSON CRANICK, 44, of Columbia, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Cranick, first using text messaging and Snapchat, and then using the internet chat service Discord, coerced an 11-year-old boy to engage in sexually explicit conduct with her.  Several times during the summer and into the fall of 2022, Cranick induced the minor victim to leave his house after midnight to meet up with her.  Cranick sexually assaulted the minor victim during these meetings.

Between July and October 2022, Cranick exchanged more than 4,700 messages with the minor victim on Discord.

Cranick was arrested on related state charges on November 14, 2023, and has been detained since November 28, 2023.  She was federally charged in July 2024.

Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for February 12, at which time Cranick faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.

This matter has been investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force and the Connecticut State Police’s Eastern District Major Crime Unit.  The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel E. Cummings and Katherine E. Boyles through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the State’s Attorney’s Office for the Judicial District of Tolland for its close cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this matter.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.