Category: Security

Source: US FBI

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas resident was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Cristina D. Silva to 16 years in prison followed by a lifetime term of supervised release for receipt and possession of more than 118,000 images of child sexual abuse material.

After a bench trial in November 2022, Barry Ray Knight (75) was found guilty of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on April 8, 2021, investigators with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force executed a search warrant at Knight’s residence. During the search, investigators seized multiple electronic devices owned by Knight. A forensic examination of the devices revealed that Knight possessed 115,299 images and 3,135 videos depicting children who were as young as toddlers. He used the BitTorrent network to receive files online.

In 2003, Knight was convicted of possession of child pornography in the Eastern District of Missouri.

United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI made the announcement.

The FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorneys Supriya Prasad and Kimberly Sokolich prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as 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. Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

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Source: US FBI

On Friday, May 5, 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray presented John Waldron with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for his service and commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community in Southern Nevada. John Waldron is the CEO of the Center, the first nationally accredited program of its kind with a focus on issues for victim advocacy. The LGBTQIA+ Center serves as a haven for all. They welcome and celebrate the diversity of our communities and strive to empower all to live authentic lives.

The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence. The FBI’s 56 field offices select the recipients annually for this honor.

“Like the 38,000 employees of the FBI, you don’t do what you do for fame—and certainly not for fortune. You do it out of kindness, out of compassion for others, out of a hope and dream for safer communities … to leave your towns and cities better places than when you got there,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “And that’s how I’ve defined success here within our organization, too. Success to me is if everyone leaves the FBI a better place than they found it.

The robust partnership between The Center and FBI Las Vegas is largely attributed to the strong relationship with CEO Waldron. He sees the importance of strong partnerships and the impact we have together in the fight to stamp out the recent uptick in hate crimes in Nevada. Both our organizations understand what can happen when hate is allowed to fester and grow. The value of a strong partnership with the staff at the Center has proven invaluable as we tackle issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.

2022 DCLA recipient John Waldron said “Our partnership with the FBI Las Vegas Field Office is essential for the safety of our community and for strengthening our relationship with law enforcement. Special Agent in Charge, Spencer Evans, and the local FBI team have been committed partners in helping The Center serve as a safe and affirming home for LGBTQIA+ residents in Southern Nevada. I’m genuinely thankful for this wonderful recognition and the opportunity to serve the community together.”

“John Waldron has made it his mission to meet the needs of the community through new and enriched programs, resources, and services at The Center, and in doing so, has helped bridge a gap between law enforcement by helping us cultivate a solid partnership with the LGBTQIA+ community,” said FBI Las Vegas Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans.

Source: US FBI

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Nevada, Iowa man made his initial appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa today.

According to allegations in the criminal complaint, between January and April 2025, Tanner Dean Bandy, 28, engaged in a pattern of threatening conduct against a former romantic partner through text messages and voicemails. Two days prior to his arrest, on April 17, 2025, Bandy left a voicemail message discussing his intention to conduct a mass shooting at an Iowa State University commencement ceremony. On April 17, 2025, law enforcement searched Bandy’s residence and vehicle and located two firearms and ammunition. Bandy will remain detained in federal custody pending further proceedings.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigations, Iowa State University Police Department, and Story County Sheriff’s Office are investigating this case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: US FBI

A Guatemalan man who conspired to distribute methamphetamine was sentenced today to more than 12 years in federal prison.  Jose Eleazar Aceves‑Garcia, age 30, from Guatemala, received the prison term after a November 20, 2024 guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine.

In a plea agreement, Aceves-Garcia admitted that between January 2019 and January 2022, he distributed at least 400 pounds of ice methamphetamine to a co‑conspirator in the Dubuque area.  His fingerprints were on two packages, which contained a total of more than seven pounds of ice methamphetamine, that he mailed to the co-conspirator in Dubuque.  Aceves-Garcia also distributed a kilogram of heroin to the co-conspirator.

Aceves-Garcia was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Aceves-Garcia was sentenced to 151 months’ imprisonment and must serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Aceves-Garcia is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force, Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office, Dubuque Police Department, Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 23-CR-1022.  Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.

Source: US FBI

Memphis, TN – A federal judge has sentenced Nakita Cannady, 49, to 14 months in federal prison to be followed by two years of supervised release for healthcare fraud and making false statements in connection with loan applications for the Covid-19 Relief Program.  The final sentencing hearing was concluded on April 4, 2025, with the entry of an order by Senior United States District Judge John T. Fowlkes, Jr. directing the defendant to pay more than $500,000.00 dollars in restitution to the victims.  Joseph C. Murphy, Jr., Interim United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.

According to the original federal indictment in the healthcare fraud case, Cannady owned and operated What About Us In-Home Healthcare, a home healthcare services business that purported to provide custodial healthcare services 24-hours a day, 7 days a week to mostly elderly patients. From May 29, 2017 through December 23, 2019, Cannady fraudulently billed Cigna Insurance for 24 hours a day of home healthcare when she knew the patients had only received 8 or 12 hours a day of home healthcare. Cannady was ordered to make restitution to Cigna Insurance in the amount of $193,508.10.

According to the second federal indictment, from June 17, 2020 through April 15, 2021, Cannady submitted six fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications for four purported businesses she controlled, specifically: What About Us Childcare, What About Us Foundation, What About Us Adult Daycare, and What About Us In-Home Healthcare. Cannady’s loan applications contained false information concerning the dates of operation, gross revenues, costs of goods sold, number of employees, and amount of payroll related to the businesses. Cannady was ordered to make restitution to the Small Business Administration in the amount of $346,882.13.   

“Those who exploit health care programs for personal gain will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph E. Carrico of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Nashville Field Office. “Health care fraud is a priority for the FBI, and we will continue to work with our partners to investigate those who prioritize greed over the well-being of others.”

Interim United States Attorney Joseph C. Murphy, Jr. and Assistant United States Attorney Raney Irwin prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Cotten and former Assistant United States Attorneys Courtney Lewis and Murrell Foster also assisted in the prosecution of this case.  The FBI Nashville Field Office – Memphis Resident Agency and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.

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For more information, please contact the media relations team at USATNW.Media@usdoj.gov. Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Facebook or on X at @WDTNNews for office news and updates.

Source: US FBI

CHICAGO – A suburban Chicago police officer has been indicted for allegedly fraudulently obtaining Covid-relief loans and concealing the proceeds in his bankruptcy case.

An indictment returned Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges WILLIAM FREDERICK REED, 41, of Hazel Crest, Ill., with making false statements in U.S. Small Business Administration loan applications, bankruptcy fraud, and tax offenses.  Arraignment in federal court has not yet been scheduled.

According to the indictment, Reed worked as a police officer in Dolton, Ill., and Robbins, Ill., and was also self-employed as a security guard.  In 2020 and 2021, Reed applied for and obtained loans pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), which was created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) to provide financial relief for small businesses during the Covid pandemic.  A PPP loan allowed the interest and principal to be forgiven if businesses spent a certain amount of the proceeds on essential expenses, such as payroll.  The charges allege that Reed falsely represented in his applications that he was qualified to receive the loans based on inflated and falsified average monthly payrolls for his “off duty security” job. In all, Reed fraudulently obtained three loans, the indictment alleges.

In 2022, Reed filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.  The indictment alleges that during the bankruptcy case, Reed made false statements and provided false documents to conceal his receipt of the PPP loans and submitted a fraudulent 2021 individual income tax return to cause the U.S. Trustee, the Chapter 7 Trustee, and his creditors not to inquire further into his financial affairs.

The tax charges accuse Reed of underreporting income and falsifying withholdings in his 2021 individual tax return and failing to file any individual returns in 2022 and 2023.

The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office, Sheldon Shoemaker, Deputy Inspector General of the SBA’s Office of Inspector General, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Ruth M. Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Trustee Program.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason A. Julien and Hayley L. Altabef, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian P. Netols.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Anyone with information about attempted fraud involving Covid-19 can report it to the Department of Justice by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud at (866) 720-5721 or by filing an online complaint here.

Source: US FBI

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Fermin Castro-Tovar, 26, a Mexican national, living in the United States illegally, was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release, after he attempted to traffic over 38,000 grams of methamphetamine in the District of Utah and distributed approximately one pound of meth to undercover agents.

The sentence, imposed by Senior U.S District Court Judge Ted Stewart comes after Castro-Tovar pleaded guilty on January 14, 2025, to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

According to court documents and statements made at Castro-Tovar’s change of plea and sentencing hearings, in May 2024, Castro-Tovar sold methamphetamine during a controlled purchase to agents with the Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force. On May 30, 2024, law enforcement seized 24,020 grams of methamphetamine at a storage unit associated to him. At Castro Tovar’s residence, agents seized approximately 3,401 grams of methamphetamine. At an apartment associated to Tovar, agents seized three additional bags of methamphetamine weighing approximately 4,388 grams, 4,139 grams and 2,890 grams. In total, Castro-Tovar possessed and intended to distribute 38,838 grams of methamphetamine. See prior release: Foreign National Accused of Attempting to Traffic Over 38 Kilos of Methamphetamine in Utah.

“Stopping deadly drugs from being distributed throughout our communities is a priority,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah. “We will continue to work with our state, local and federal partners to dismantle organizations that bring drugs into our country and threaten community safety.”

“The amount of methamphetamine in this case potentially amounts to hundreds of thousands of doses,” said Special Agent in Charge Mehtab Syed of the Salt Lake City FBI. “Illicit drugs have devastated too many lives in Utah. Public safety is at the forefront of everything we do, and the FBI’s Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force will use every resource available to cut the supply at the highest levels.”

The case was investigated by the Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force, consisting of the FBI and the Davis Metro Narcotic Strike Force.

Assistant United States Attorney Seth Nielson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.
 

Source: US FBI

ATLANTA—The FBI released its Internet Crime Report 2024. It shows Internet-related complaints and crimes continued to increase significantly in Georgia and across the country.

In 2024, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 859,532 complaints with related losses topping $16.6 billion. That is a 33% increase in losses from 2023.

Georgia ranked 11th in complaints filed by state in 2024 (13th in 2023) with reported potential losses at $420 million. That is a 40% increase year to year.

Nationally, the top three cybercrimes, by the number of complaints reported in 2024, were: phishing/spoofing, extortion, and personal data breaches. In terms of losses, cryptocurrency-related losses by far exceed any other category.

“While the top threats facing Georgia and the nation from cyber criminals and fraudsters continue to evolve, their main goal remains stealing your hard-earned money,” said FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown. “The cornerstone of the FBI’s mission remains to protect American citizens. The men and women of FBI Atlanta will not stop working to prevent losses and minimize the harm to Georgia residents.”

Criminals continue to target the elderly (Age 60+) at a high rate. In Georgia, complaints by seniors increased 71% year over year (2114 to 3622). Reported losses in Georgia by seniors increased 89% ($92 million in 2023 to $174 million in 2024). Georgia’s rank in reported losses by state rose from 10th to 7th.

Reports of cryptocurrency-related crimes jumped in Georgia by 122% (1590 in 2023 to 3533 in 2024). Estimated losses to cryptocurrency-related crimes in the state increased by 66 % ($118,750,468 in 2023 to $197,647,537 in 2024).

The 2024 IC3 annual report can be found at IC3.gov.

In the fight against increasingly savvy criminals, the FBI also relies on you. Without the information you report to us through IC3, we simply cannot piece together the puzzle of this ever-shifting threat landscape. If ever you suspect you’re a victim of cyber-enabled crime, do not hesitate to let us know. We want to be there for you, and what you report will help us help others.

Source: US FBI

A five-count superseding indictment has been unsealed today charging a Venezuelan national and alleged high-ranking member of the designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).  

Jose Enrique Martinez Flores also known as “Chuqui,” 24, is charged in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX) with conspiring to provide and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization as well as conspiracy and distribution of cocaine in Colombia intended for distribution in the United States.

“TdA is not a street gang – it is a highly structured terrorist organization that put down roots in our country during the prior administration,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today’s charges represent an inflection point in how this Department of Justice will prosecute and ultimately dismantle this evil organization, which has destroyed American families and poisoned our communities.”

“For the past few years, foreign gangs like TdA have more or less been able to enter our country with impunity, coming here to distribute deadly drugs and terrorize American citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the SDTX. “That ends now. This Department of Justice is committed to uprooting this terrorist gang, dismantling its criminal operations, and either imprisoning its members or removing them from the country. SDTX is proud to lead this fight.”

“TdA is a direct threat to our national security, to our communities, and to Americans,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Together with our law enforcement partners, the FBI continues in our pursuit to eliminate this violent terrorist organization from our streets, and today’s announcement makes it clear that these criminals, especially the leaders of these cartels, have no place in our country.”

“This joint Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-FBI operation — alongside partners in the United States and Colombia — is further evidence that we must continue to focus our efforts on members of TdA who continue to pump poison into our communities,” said DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz. “This is another example of DEA’s tenacity to hunt these networks down, wherever they operate, and crush their evil grip on American lives.”

Colombian authorities arrested Flores in Colombia March 31 pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant the United States had requested. He remains in custody in Colombia pending further proceedings. 

A federal grand jury in Houston returned the superseding indictment April 8. 

According to the allegations, Flores is charged with one count of conspiring to provide material support to TdA in the form of personnel (including himself) and services and one count of providing material support to TdA. The indictment also alleges one count of international drug distribution conspiracy based on his involvement in the distribution of five kilograms of cocaine or more, and two substantive counts of international drug distribution.

The Department of State designated TdA as a foreign terrorist organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Feb. 20. 

According to information presented to the court, Flores is a high-ranking TdA leader in Bogota, Colombia, and is part of the inner circle of senior TdA leadership.

Flores also allegedly caused the delivery of approximately five kilograms or more of cocaine for international distribution, proceeds that were used to further TdA’s criminal goals. 

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. 

The FBI Houston Field Office and DEA conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Colombian National Police and the Colombian Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación). The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia, provided significant assistance. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey N. MacDonald and Anibal J. Alaniz of the SDTX are prosecuting the case along with Deputy Director David C. Smith from the Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV). 

JTFV was created in 2019 to eradicate MS-13 and now expanded to target TdA and is comprised of U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country. Those include SDTX; Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; Northern District of Ohio; Districts of New Jersey, Utah, Massachusetts, Nevada and Alaska; Eastern District of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of Virginia; Southern District of California; and the District of Columbia, as well as the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the Criminal Division. Additionally, the FBI; DEA; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Forearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and the Federal Bureau of Prisons have been essential law enforcement partners with JTFV.

This case is also a 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 and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

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

Dale Britt Bendler, 68, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to, while being a public official at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), acting as a foreign agent required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and removing classified material, classified up to the SECRET//NOFORN level, from authorized locations without authority and with the intent to retain such material at an unauthorized location.

As described in the plea agreement, starting in 2014, Bendler began working as a full-time contractor at the CIA with a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance. Before he was a CIA contractor, Bendler spent over 30 years working for the CIA as an intelligence officer and retired as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service in 2014. Beginning in July 2017 and continuing through at least July 2020, while a full-time CIA contractor and TS/SCI clearance holder, Bendler worked with a U.S. lobbying firm and engaged in unauthorized and hidden lobbying and public relations activities on behalf of foreign national clients. As described in the plea agreement, Bendler’s undisclosed lobbying activities included an attempt to use his position and access at the CIA to influence a foreign government’s embezzlement investigation of one of Bendler’s foreign national clients and a separate attempt to use his position and access at the CIA to influence the U.S. government’s decision as to whether to grant a U.S. visa to another of Bendler’s clients, who was alleged to be associated with terrorism financing. In exchange for his unauthorized outside activities, Bendler was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

During the course of Bendler’s unauthorized lobbying and public relations activities, Bendler also abused his access to CIA resources and personnel by, among other things, searching classified CIA systems for any information related to his private lobbying clients, improperly storing and disclosing non-public, sensitive, and classified U.S. government information to people not authorized to receive such information, and lying to the CIA and the FBI about his status as a foreign agent and his unauthorized lobbying and public relations activities. The CIA terminated Bendler’s contract and access in September 2020.

In addition to pleading guilty, Bendler consented to the forfeiture of $85,000. Bendler faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison – two years for acting as a foreign agent while being a public official and five years for mishandling classified material. Bendler is scheduled to be sentenced on July 16.

Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Adam P. Barry and Senior Trial Attorney Heather M. Schmidt of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case. Chief Jennifer Kennedy Gellie of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section provided substantial assistance in this investigation in her prior role as a trial attorney.