Category: MIL-OSI

Source: US FBI

LITTLE ROCK, AR—On January 12, 2022, FBI Little Rock was involved in a joint operation with the Jonesboro Police Department and Craighead County Sheriff’s Office. The goal of the operation was to arrest Michael Neuman, a 31-year-old resident of Arkansas, on a felon-in-possession charge and conduct searches of his personal vehicle and his Brookland, Arkansas residence.

Before the operation, investigators received credible information that Neuman was anti-law enforcement, had a felonious criminal history, and carried multiple firearms at all times. In an effort to safely conduct an arrest and search of Neuman’s vehicle and residence, FBI tactical personnel were used during the operation.

On January 12th, at approximately 4:15 p.m., FBI agents executed an arrest warrant of Michael Neuman in the area of his workplace, located at Falls Street in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Clearly marked FBI agents approached Neuman in vehicles with flashing lights and sirens and issued lawful commands to him. Instead of following the agents’ commands, Neuman moved to cover, produced a firearm, and fired multiple shots in the direction of the agents. In response, FBI agents returned fire, defending themselves and their colleagues. Neuman was pronounced deceased at the scene and no FBI agents were injured.

Immediately after the shooting scene was declared secure, FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT) members deployed to the site and began processing the scene. Simultaneously, Neuman’s Brookland residence was searched by another investigative team. Searches of both Neuman’s vehicle and his residence uncovered multiple firearms. An FBI Shooting Incident Review Team (SIRT) is conducting a thorough, factual, and objective investigation of this shooting incident. As this remains an ongoing investigation, no further information will be provided at this time.

Source: US FBI

FAYETTEVILLE – A Florida dentist, formerly of Arkansas, was sentenced today to 12 months and a day in prison followed by one year of supervised release and a $157,500 fine on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Fraud. The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.

According to court documents, between February of 2014 through November of 2016, Benjamin Gray Burris, age 50, was the owner of several orthodontic clinics and practiced as an orthodontist through Arkansas.  On February 27, 2014, Burris, State Senator Jeremy Hutchinson, and others met for a dinner at a Little Rock restaurant and discussed Burris’s legislative objectives and hiring Hutchinson as Burris’s corporate legal counsel.  Jeremy Hutchinson, who then represented state Senate District 33, comprised of portions of Pulaski and Saline County, Arkansas, stated that as part of any arrangement there needed to be “real legal work.”  In his plea agreement, Burris admitted that part of his intent in hiring Hutchinson was to enable Burris to influence and request official action from Hutchinson.   Throughout the course of their arrangement, Burris’s legal entities paid Hutchinson Law Firm a total of $157,500 at a rate of approximately $5,000 per month as a general retainer and Hutchinson was assigned legal work.

Specifically, Burris sent Hutchinson an email outlining Burris’s “Legislative Objectives” in late February of 2014 in which Burris stated that he wanted specialty restrictions on orthodontists removed.  On January 26, 2015, Hutchinson filed a shell bill in the Arkansas Senate entitled “An Act to Clarify the Laws Governing Dental Practice.”  Later on, April 6, 2015, Hutchinson filed a related Interim Study Proposal with the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor.  On September 22, 2015, Hutchinson filed another Interim Study Proposal (ISP-2015-154) on the subject.  This ISP, among other things, proposed to remove the specialist restriction for orthodontists.  According to text messages cited in Burris’s plea agreement, in 2016 Burris texted Hutchinson complaining about a lack of “ROI” also known as “return on investment” in his arrangement with Hutchinson and he requested specific updates on legislative matters.    ISP-2015-154 was eventually filed as House Bill 1250 on January 23, 2017, after Hutchinson claimed a belated conflict, passed in the 91^st General Assembly of the State of Arkansas, and was later signed into law on or about March 15, 2017. 

Burris sold his businesses and moved to Florida in the spring of 2017 and has not practiced in Arkansas since that time.

Burris plead guilty on September 13, 2021.  

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas and U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross of the Eastern District of Arkansas made the announcement.

The FBI and the IRS investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Aaron Jennen, Ben Wulff, Stephanie Mazzanti, Allison Bragg and Kenneth Elser prosecuted the case for the United States.

Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website at www.pacer.gov.

Source: US FBI

TUCSON, Ariz. – On December 14, 2023, a federal grand jury returned a 40-count indictment against Kevin McKenzie, 47, and Corina Martinez, 41, of Tucson. McKenzie and Martinez were charged with Conspiracy to Embezzle from an Indian Tribal Organization; Embezzlement; Theft Concerning Programs Receiving Federal Funds; Wire Fraud; Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud; Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; and Engaging in Monetary Transactions in Property Derived from Specified Unlawful Activity. McKenzie was also charged with Attempted Tampering with a Witness. 

The indictment alleges that, from 2015 through July 2023, McKenzie, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as CEO of Apache Behavioral Health Services (ABHS), engaged in a scheme to defraud millions of dollars from ABHS. ABHS is organized by and under the laws of the White Mountain Apache Tribe to provide behavioral health services to its members. McKenzie used two contracts as a front to funnel money from ABHS to himself. Under the first contract, ABHS paid over $32 million to Helping Everyday Youth (HEDY). Thereafter, based on an agreement with McKenzie, HEDY funneled over $14 million in fraudulent proceeds to a shell company McKenzie owned. McKenzie concealed this backdoor financial arrangement from ABHS. McKenzie made significant efforts to hide his scheme through money laundering and attempted to persuade a witness to lie to investigators.  

The indictment also alleges that McKenzie, again as CEO for ABHS, and Martinez through her company Evolved, LLC, entered a phony “referral” contract to embezzle additional money from ABHS. Using this agreement, McKenzie caused ABHS to pay $15 million to a second Martinez company, Evolved Healthcare Inc. (EHI). Portions of the fraudulent proceeds were split amongst McKenzie and Martinez. Martinez gave McKenzie large sums of money, paid at least $800,000 of his personal credit card bills, and purchased other luxury items, including a $128,000 Rolls Royce Ghost and a $952,000 home for McKenzie’s family. EHI and Evolved LLC did not perform any services for ABHS.

An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Section, is handling the prosecution.
 

CASE NUMBER:           CR-23-02258-TUC-SHR
RELEASE NUMBER:    2023-205_McKenzie/Martinez

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

Source: US FBI

The FBI and IRS-CI seek additional unidentified victims of Sowerby’s investment fraud schemes after third indictment

Source: US FBI

Michael Lee Tomasi, 37, of Rio Verde, Arizona, was arrested on Friday after a grand jury indicted him on three counts of threats against a federal official and three counts of making interstate threats.

According to court documents, from May 2021 through November 2023, while living in Colorado and Arizona, Tomasi used a social media platform to express a desire to incite violence and threaten a variety of individuals and groups, including elected officials, a judge, and federal officials and law enforcement officers. The charges against Tomasi relate to threats he made in Arizona to federal law enforcement agents and employees.

“The threats of violence against public officials alleged in this indictment are abhorrent,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The defendant is specifically charged with threatening to kill FBI agents and other FBI employees just for doing their jobs. I am deeply proud of the work the FBI does every day; its personnel should not have to deal with threats against themselves as they work to protect the American people. The Justice Department will not stand for such heinous behavior and will prosecute threats against its employees to the fullest extent of the law.”

“In this country, there’s a right way and a wrong way to express your views under the Constitution, and violence or threats of violence is not it,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The men and women of the FBI work tirelessly and selflessly to protect others every day, and we will continue to work with our partners to hold accountable those who make violent threats against them or any of our colleagues in law enforcement.”

“Threats against law enforcement personnel like those alleged in this indictment are not just polemics, they are illegal under federal law and corrosive to civic life and dialogue,” said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona.

If convicted, Tomasi faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of making threats against a federal official, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of making interstate threats.

The FBI is investigating the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is handling the prosecution.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: US FBI

TUCSON, Ariz. – Jeremy Espuma, 31, of Sells, was sentenced Monday by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 248 months in prison for child exploitation offenses. Espuma, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, pleaded guilty to Child Exploitation by way of Production of Child Pornography on March 22, 2023. Upon release from prison, Espuma will be placed on lifetime supervised release with sex offender conditions and will be required to register as a sex offender.

The case against Espuma arose after undercover agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered that he was sharing child exploitation material online. A subsequent investigation led to the identification of a child victim that Espuma had sexually abused. Espuma had also distributed images of the child and offered access to the child in exchange for money in the online forum where he was found by law enforcement. The investigation also led to the identification of another individual with whom Espuma shared the images. That offender, Kyle Adam Haney, was sentenced to 120 months in prison on August 31, 2023.

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, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Tucson, Arizona and Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Tohono O’Odham Police Department conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carin Duryee and Scott Turk, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
 

CASE NUMBER:           CR-21-02971-TUC-SHR
RELEASE NUMBER:    2023-198_Espuma

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/q
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

Source: US FBI

2023-200_Roman-Figueroa, et al.

Source: US FBI

As Part of International Efforts Targeting So-Called ‘Booter’ Services, FBI Seizes 48 Internet Domains that Offered DDoS-for-Hire Services

Source: US FBI

ANCHORAGE – An Anchorage woman was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred to 20 years in prison for kidnapping an 18-year-old victim.

According to court documents, Nellie Sherry Serradell, 28, attempted to stop multiple vehicles as she walked in and out of traffic on Dimond Boulevard in the early morning hours of November 17, 2019. The 18-year-old-victim was driving to work at 5:48 a.m. when Serradell ran in front of her vehicle at Dimond and C Street. The victim agreed to give Serradell a ride to her workplace. When they arrived in the parking lot, Serradell grabbed the victim and told her she had a gun and that she needed to keep driving. After punching the victim in the face several times, Serradell directed her to drive to a trailer park on Muldoon Road where she sexually assaulted the victim. In an effort to get Serradell to stop, the victim offered to give her money and Serradell agreed they could drive to an ATM machine. As they drove, Serradell fell asleep and the victim pulled into a gas station on 15^th Ave., quietly got out of the car, went inside and called 911. Serradell woke up, saw the victim in the gas station, and drove off in the victim’s car. Serradell was arrested the next day in a nearby motel, wearing the victim’s brown Bearpaw boots. Investigators recovered the victim’s car abandoned on Boniface Parkway and found Serradell’s DNA in two places inside the passenger compartment. She pleaded guilty to the federal kidnapping charge on July 25, 2022.

“The victim was trying to be a good Samaritan, helping someone who was flagging down cars in the street,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “The defendant took advantage of the victim’s kind nature by kidnapping and assaulting her. When individuals such as the defendant threaten the safety our community, they will be met with certain justice.”

The FBI and the Anchorage Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Schroeder prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

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Source: US FBI

FAIRBANKS – Jared Wilkes Post, 26, of Fairbanks was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline to 78 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay at least $100,000 in restitution for defrauding banks and other victims of over $100,000 through a sophisticated check kiting and identity theft scheme.

According to court documents, between 2017 and 2021, Post and his co-conspirator committed bank fraud and aggravated identity theft and defrauded multiple banks and individuals of at least $100,000. Post contacted individuals he called “Plays” via social media and convinced them to share their bank account information under the false pretense that Post needed to deposit a legitimate check into the “Play’s” account. Post then offered the “Play” a portion of the deposited check in return for use of their bank account. Once the check posted in the account, Post would withdraw or transfer the funds electronically or direct the “Play” to transfer the funds to him via a cash app or Western Union.

In reality, the checks Post and his co-conspirator deposited were stolen and fraudulently altered, and they withdrew the funds prior to the banks’ flagging the checks as fraudulent. Post and his co-conspirator discussed stealing the checks from the elderly and other victims they viewed as susceptible to “scams.” Once Post withdrew the cash the banks, the “Plays,” and the initial victim whose checks were stolen were left paying losses and overdraft fees.

“Elder abuse and financial fraud targeted at seniors is a serious crime against some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker, District of Alaska. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message that fraudulent conduct on this scale will be met with serious consequences. Predators who target older citizens for fraud and financial scams are especially abhorrent and my office will continue to take aggressive action, pursuing all legal means to bring these criminals to justice.”

“Motivated by greed, the defendant and his co-conspirator operated a sophisticated check fraud scheme, targeting victims they perceived as vulnerable,” said Special Agent in Charge Antony Jung of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “This scheme led to prison time and should serve as a message to anyone who would engage in this conduct to reconsider. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold accountable those who commit such offenses.”

The FBI Anchorage Field Office, Alaska State Troopers, Fairbanks Police Department, Anchorage Police Department and the Vancouver, Washington, Police Department are investigating the case. The FBI’s Phoenix Field Office also assisted in the investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan D. Tansey.

Anyone who believes they may be a victim of this scheme and entitled to restitution may contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at 907-276-4441. The District Court will hold a restitution hearing in 90-days to enter a final restitution order.

The Justice Department has established a National Elder Fraud Hotline to provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud. The Hotline is staffed by experienced case managers who can provide personalized support to callers. Case managers assist callers with reporting the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and by providing resources and referrals to other appropriate services as needed. When applicable, case managers will complete a complaint form with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for Internet-facilitated crimes and submit a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the caller. The Hotline’s toll-free number is 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).

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