Category: Security

Source: US FBI

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A California man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for enticing a 12-year-old minor from Prince William County to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

Cash Taylor Dalton, 30, of Morro Bay, California, pleaded guilty on Jan. 16, 2025, to enticement of a minor. According to court documents, FBI agents began investigating Dalton after the victim’s parents discovered communications on their daughter’s cellphone between her and Dalton. The investigation revealed that Dalton and the victim had been communicating for approximately three months, and that he sent her sexually explicit images of himself and graphic sexual messages via text and email, including directing her to engage in sexual activity. In November 2024, FBI agents searched Dalton’s home and recovered evidence of Dalton’s communications with the victim, as well as with three other minors who were under the age of 16.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano for the Eastern District of Virginia Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section are prosecuting 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 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.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1: 24-CR-227.

Source: US FBI

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas man was sentenced today by Senior District Judge John A. Mendez to 18 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for mailing a threatening letter to a federal judge and conveying false information and hoax.

“Threats of violence against a federal judge is a threat to our judicial system,” said United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partners at the FBI and United States Marshals Service will not tolerate these types of criminal actions against a public servant. We will prosecute perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Unlawful threats of violence against public officials directly challenge the integrity of our democracy,” said Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI. “Individuals must not live in fear of violence due to their identity, beliefs, or political affiliation. The FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to collaborating with our law enforcement partners to pursue justice in these matters.”

According to court documents, on June 27, 2022, Hadari Stallworth mailed a letter to the United States District Court Clerk in Las Vegas, which was addressed to a United States District Court Judge for the District of Nevada. In the letter, Stallworth wrote that he would “have my people kill whatever you hold dearly first: pets, kids, grandkids, husband…” and that individuals under his control would “kidnap” and “to[r]ture” the District Judge.

Stallworth mailed a subsequent letter, which was received on September 30, 2022, by the United States District Court Clerk. In that letter, Stallworth wrote “This is Anthrax. Now Die Traitors!” and placed a white powder intended to cause the recipients to believe that it contained anthrax. The threatening letter Stallworth wrote caused substantial disruption to the proceedings of the Office of the Clerk of the Court, including causing the office to be closed and individuals to be quarantined.

Stallworth pleaded guilty to one count of mailing threatening communications and one count of false information and hoaxes.

United States Attorney Chattah, FBI Special Agent in Charge Evans, and Marshal Gary Schofield for the United States Marshals Service (USMS) made the announcement.

This case was a joint investigation by the FBI and USMS. Assistant United States Attorneys Edward Veronda and Melinda Brewer prosecuted the case.

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Source: US FBI

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, age 28, was charged by complaint with one count each of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

According to the criminal complaint, Orona-Rodriguez, while serving as an active-duty U.S. Army solider, unlawfully distributed controlled substances.  During the week of April 21, 2025, Orona-Rodriguez sold cocaine to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent.  Additionally, when investigators obtained a search warrant for Orona-Rodriguez’s phone, they found text messages between at least September 16, 2024, and April 9, 2025, which appear to show him repeatedly purchasing cocaine and selling it to others.   

Orona-Rodriguez appears to hold a leadership role in a business called Immortal Security LLC, which provides armed security at “nightclubs” – including an afterhours, unlawful nightclub called Warike – within Colorado Springs, Colorado.  On numerous occasions, the Colorado Springs Police Department received 911 calls related to Warike citing a wide variety of alleged crimes, including weapons violations, assault, narcotics, and other violent crime.  Warike was the site of a federal search warrant that was executed and led by the DEA on April 27, 2025.  Orona-Rodriguez was one of approximately 17 active-duty U.S. Army service members present at Warike during the execution of that search warrant. 

The investigation is being conducted by the Denver Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DEA’s Colorado Springs Resident Office.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Houlihan.

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.

The charges in the complaint are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Case Number:  25-mj-00092-TPO

Source: US FBI

By the time it was over, the Bureau had conducted more than 28,000 interviews, followed some 43,000 investigative leads, amassed three-and-a-half tons of evidence, and reviewed nearly a billion pieces of information.

“As we recognize this solemn 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, we remember the victims, their families, and the survivors of this horrific event,” said Douglas Goodwater, special agent in charge of FBI Oklahoma City. “We also pay tribute to those who answered the call – firefighters, police, paramedics, and the people of Oklahoma. The response and support from the public following the bombing resulted in a statewide initiative called the Oklahoma Standard, promoting values of service, honor, and kindness.

“The historic investigation that followed strengthened partnerships among law enforcement at all levels of government. I’m proud to say those partnerships, and the spirit of the Oklahoma Standard, endure to this day.”

Source: US FBI

The model is so effective that other portions of the Bureau have since tried to emulate it, noted Supervisory Special Agent Jake Foiles, who oversees the FBI Kansas City JTTF.
 
“The FBI’s JTTF model has expanded and evolved and has been copied now by our cyber side, our counterintelligence side, by our traditional criminal side,” he said. “We now have task forces on many of the different squads and areas that the FBI works. And the reason for that is because that task force model is incredibly effective when you have a variety of different people from different agencies and different walks of life and backgrounds working day in and day out, every single day with each other.”

JTTFs are also powerful mechanisms for community outreach, briefing on topics such as what FBI investigations into terrorism matters actually look like, signs that someone might be mobilizing to violence, and why it’s important for Americans to proactively reach out to the FBI if they spot those kinds of indicators. 

Ultimately, the FBI will investigate any individual who threatens violence, including those planning to commit an act of violence to further an ideology. (The FBI cannot initiate an investigation based solely on First Amendment-protected activity.) 

According to Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Tony Mattivi, JTTFs are critical in reviewing incoming leads to determine which terrorism threats are substantive. These task forces have an obligation to resolve any real or potential threat they’re aware of “because you never know which one of those is going to turn into a really significant threat,” he said. “And that’s, I think, some of the most important work that’s done on a daily basis inside the JTTF. And nobody sees it.” 

Benefits of partnerships 

Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Dana Kreeger—a veteran of the Kansas City JTTF—said the biggest benefit of JTTF participation is the ability to keep a finger on the pulse of the terrorism threat.

“Terrorism is not a local threat,” he said. “It’s happening all across the country; a lot of it is intertwined. We have threat actors in Kansas City that might be talking to threat actors in Chicago or L.A. or Portland or New York.” 

Source: US FBI

Each April, during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the FBI and our partners come together to educate the public about resources available to victims of crime. In honor of this week’s commemoration, here’s a look at how different parts of the FBI Victim Services Division team uniquely support crime victims.

Source: US FBI

Indeed, it’s rare for fraud victims to recover their lost money, especially when scammers use cash or cryptocurrency, which can be hard to trace since the money can change hands quickly.

In 2023, the Bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 69,000 complaints from the public regarding financial fraud involving the use of cryptocurrency. Estimated losses with a nexus to cryptocurrency totaled more than $5.6 billion. Investigators in the Kansas case were heartened when a federal judge last November informed the failed bank’s owners that all was not lost.

“To be able to give them back their money is extremely powerful,” said Emilee Thompson, a forfeiture specialist for FBI Kansas City.

The courtroom erupted when the judge told victims at a November 4 restitution hearing in Wichita that the FBI recovered most of their money.

“There was cheering and clapping and crying because these people went from thinking they had lost $8.2 million to being made aware they were going to be made very near whole,” Special Agent Hemmert said.

He said it was particularly impactful to help folks in rural Southwest Kansas, whose opinions of the FBI vary widely.

“To live up to the reputation of the FBI and to show that we will do whatever we can—move heaven and earth if necessary—to do what we can to get their money back, that was cool,” he said. “To show these people and Elkhart that the FBI cares a great deal about victims and to do whatever we can to make them whole after they’ve been the victim of a crime.”

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

On February 21, Kash Patel was sworn in as the ninth Director of the FBI in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Attorney General Pamela Bondi administered the oath of office. 

“I promise you the following,” Director Patel said at the swearing-in ceremony. “There will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI, and we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight, starting this weekend.” 

In a social media statement the day before, Patel said his goals as Director would be to “let good cops be cops” and to restore the public’s trust in the Bureau. “Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Bureau and our partners, we will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of,” he wrote. 

President Donald Trump nominated Patel for the position to replace former Director Christopher Wray.  

“Kash is extremely passionate about restoring the reputation of the FBI, and I look forward to working closely with him to end violent crime, protect our national security, and make America safe again,” wrote Attorney General Bondi in a social media statement following Patel’s confirmation. 

Source: US FBI