Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Stefan Day Rowold, 37, of Wiggins, Mississippi, was sentenced today to 360 months in prison for vandalizing and setting fire to a house of worship. A jury in the Southern District of Mississippi found Rowold guilty of six counts of federal arson and civil rights charges after a trial in September 2025.

“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s reprehensible conduct,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Anyone who attacks a house of worship in America will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The evidence presented at trial last year showed that on July 5, 2024, and July 7, 2024, Rowold vandalized and set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wiggins, Mississippi. Evidence at trial also proved that Rowold targeted the church because of his animosity toward what he believed to be their religious views. Rowold confessed to police that he broke into the church building, vandalized the interior walls of the building with hateful messages, and ultimately set a fire in the middle of a multipurpose room. Rowold used the church’s hymnals, paintings, and other religious objects as kindling for his original arson offense. Rowold also confessed that after he learned that his first fire had failed to burn down the building, he broke into the church again two days later to finish the job, after police had attempted to secure the scene. Rowold then set a second fire against a wall inside the church, trying again to burn the building down.

Due to the damage from the fires, members of the church were unable to hold services in their church building for months. At sentencing, the district court awarded the church $176,564 in restitution.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Jackson Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal, and the Wiggins Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner for the Southern District of Mississippi and Trial Attorney Chloe Neely of the Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BRUNSWICK, GA:  Former BOP Officer pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to bribery and money laundering charges related to a prison contraband trafficking conspiracy operating in Federal Correctional Institution – Jesup in the spring and summer of 2022.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Urbana, Ill. – A Guatemalan national, Roberto Nicolas-Simon, 24, has been sentenced to a concurrent 14 months of imprisonment for failing to update registration as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and being a removed alien illegally present in United States.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal jury has convicted Terrance Colvin, 39, of Columbus, Ohio, with six counts of drug and gun crimes related to 28 kilograms of drugs found stashed in hidden compartments of a vehicle being hauled from California to Polaris Fashion Place.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced a Frederick, Maryland, man to federal prison in connection with firearms charges. Jonathan Drew Bartgis, 26, received a sentence of 54 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for firearms trafficking and unlawful possession of a machinegun. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A New York man pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to launder more than $8 million in health care fraud proceeds through a U.S. bank on behalf of a transnational criminal organization (TCO). This marks the first time the Health Care Fraud Unit has charged and convicted a former bank employee for conspiring to launder health care fraud proceeds. 

According to court documents, Renat Abramov, 36, of Brooklyn, a former relationship manager at a U.S. bank branch in Sheepshead Bay, used his position to aid a sophisticated international scheme uncovered by Operation Gold Rush. Abramov, a dual citizen of the United States and Azerbaijan, was a member of a TCO that allegedly submitted more than $10 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims by stealing the identities of over one million Americans, including elderly and disabled citizens in all 50 states.

As alleged in charging documents, the TCO exploited the U.S. financial system using a range of tactics to circumvent internal controls at multiple banks. Abramov helped execute the scheme by opening bank accounts for individuals – many not lawfully present in the United States – who posed as owners of fake medical equipment companies using fake corporate registration documents. The bank accounts were used to deposit fraudulently obtained insurance checks, which appeared legitimate because they came from Medicare and established insurance companies. Once deposited, members of the TCO transferred the money into offshore accounts and cryptocurrency.

Abramov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG are investigating the case.

Assistant Chiefs Kevin Lowell and Shankar Ramamurthy, along with Trial Attorneys Leonid Sandlar, Sara E. Porter, and Andres Q. Almendarez 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Ocala, FL – Danny Anzardo (46, Ocala) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison for interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The court also ordered Anzardo to forfeit the stolen jewelry seized from Anzardo at the time of his arrest. Anzardo pleaded guilty on September 19, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Orlando, Florida – Keith Oelerich (62, Apopka) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julie S. Sneed to five years and five months in federal prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $17,964,680, the proceeds of the wire fraud offense. Oelerich pleaded guilty on September 22, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Lori Zeno, the former executive director of a legal services non-profit organization (the Organization), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her role in a scheme to embezzle money from the Organization.  The proceeding was held before United States Chief Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon.  When sentenced, Zeno faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment as well as restitution and monetary penalties.