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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man pled guilty today to wire fraud in a scheme to fraudulently obtain a $312,500 Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan, guaranteed by the United States Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

Jarrell Curne, 36, was the owner of a Missouri limited liability company called Hustle Ova Everything Entertainment (Hustle).  On May 13, 2020, Curne submitted a $312,500 PPP loan application to U.S. Bank on behalf of Hustle. In the loan application, Curne falsely stated that, in 2019, Hustle had an annual payroll of $1.5 million and 100 employees.  In reality, Hustle had no eligible employees or payroll whatsoever.

Based on the fraudulent representations Curne made in the Hustle PPP loan application, on May 15, 2020, U.S. Bank transferred $312,500 to a bank account controlled by Curne in the name of Hustle.  In furtherance of his wire-fraud scheme and in an effort for the Small Business Administration to forgive the Hustle PPP loan, Curne falsely certified that the loan proceeds were used for permissible business purposes under the PPP.  In reality, the funds were used by Curne for personal expenses.

Under federal statutes, Curne is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on a set of advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul S. Becker and James Kirkpatrick. It was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

PROVIDENCE – A Guatemalan national living in Rhode Island was sentenced today in federal court in Rhode Island for resisting federal law enforcement officers as they attempted to execute an immigration arrest warrant, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Cristian Aroldo Pineda Diaz, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose to time served. Pineda Diaz pleaded guilty on November 10, 2025, to resisting a lawful arrest by federal officers.

According to court documents, on July 15, 2025, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers and other supporting federal agents observed Pineda Diaz in the vicinity of College Street and Benefit Street in downtown Providence and attempted to execute the arrest warrant. Pineda Diaz refused verbal commands, attempted to flee, collided with a federal agent, and resisted efforts to gain control of his limbs, stiffening his body and concealing his arms under his body.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys G. Michael Seaman and Julie M. White.

The matter was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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 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.

 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

           WASHINGTON – Joly Germine, 34, of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to life in prison without the possibility of supervised release for his role in orchestrating the 2021 hostage taking of 16 American citizens, including five children, and holding most of them hostage for 62 days, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. The victims were part of a missionary organization, Christian Aid Ministries, and were on their way back from working at an orphanage when they were taken hostage in October 2021. 

           Germine, aka “Yonyon,” was found guilty by a federal jury on May 16, following a 10-day trial in the District of Columbia, of one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking and 16 counts of hostage taking of a U.S. national for ransom. In addition to life in prison, Judge John D. Bates ordered Germine to pay a fine of $1,700. 

           Joining U.S. Attorney Pirro in the announcement was FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the Miami Field Office.

           “The missionary group included 12 adults and five young children, including a 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and an 8-month-old. Sixteen of the victims were U.S. citizens from Christian Aid Ministries,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “This sentencing makes clear that Germine’s scheme to win freedom for himself by using Christians as pawns backfired.”

           The former leader and self-described “king” of the notoriously violent Haitian gang known as 400 Mawozo, Germine had previously pleaded guilty to his role in a gun trafficking conspiracy that smuggled firearms to Haiti in violation of U.S. export laws and the laundering of the gang’s funds derived from ransoms paid for other U.S. hostage victims. For those crimes, he was sentenced in June 2024 to 35 years in federal prison. 

           According to court documents, Germine’s gang, 400 Mawozo, operated in the Croix-des-Bouquets area to the east of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Germine directed the gang’s operations from prison using unmonitored cell phones and was constantly in touch with other 400 Mawozo leaders, most of whom were his relatives. Germine controlled the gang’s finances, supplied the gang’s weapons, and otherwise directed operations. 

           On October 16, 2021, 17 Mennonite missionaries from Christian Aid Ministries, an Ohio-based missionary aid organization, were returning from visiting an orphanage when they were stopped by 400 Mawozo’s armed and masked soldiers. Many of the gang’s soldiers brandished guns supplied by Germine. 

           The gang drove the missionaries to a field and robbed them, while consulting by phone with Germine, their leader. The gang took the missionaries to a building in a rural area, held them at gunpoint, and demanded ransom of $1 million each for their return. 

           In postings on social media, the gang threatened to kill all the hostages if the ransom was not paid. Early on in the negotiations, senior gang leadership said that, in lieu of the ransom monies, 400 Mawozo would accept Germine’s release from prison in exchange for the hostages. 

           On November 20, 2021, two hostages were released when one of them was suffering from life-threatening health conditions. On December 5, 2021, 400 Mawozo released three of the hostages, two adults who had significant medical issues and the six-year old child, after receiving a $350,000 ransom payment. Though the gang had stated they would release all the hostages for the ransom paid, at Germine’s direction, the gang thereafter refused to release any more hostages, hoping instead for his own release from Haitian jail in exchange for the hostages’ release. On December 16, 2021, the remaining hostages escaped under cover of darkness while their captors were distracted, walking for five hours through the Haitian bush until they were out of the gang’s territory. They were received by the FBI, which had deployed to Haiti and arranged to immediately transport them from Haiti before the gang could respond to their escape. In total, most of the missionaries were held for 62 days. 

          The evidence at trial showed that Germine directed the initial kidnapping, arranged for the locations where hostages were held, and set the $17 million ransom demand, knowing it was too high to be paid and hoping it would result in the Haitian government negotiating his release from prison in exchange for the missionaries.  The evidence also showed that Germine was involved in or consulted on the decisions to release victims. 

           The FBI Miami Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. During the law enforcement response to the kidnapping, extraordinary assistance was provided by various agencies in a whole-of-government response, including the Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Defense, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Valuable assistance was provided by the government of Haiti, the government of the Dominican Republic, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Department of State and the Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida’s Special Prosecutions Section.

           The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert and Thomas N. Saunders with invaluable assistance from Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall, Victim Advocate Yvonne Bryant, and Victim Witness Coordinators Tonya Jones and Guisela Castillo.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that JATNIEL MORALES GONZALEZ, 28, of Ponce, Puerto Rico, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 120 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for trafficking cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, an investigation led by the  U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force identified Joseph Giovanni Soto as the leader of a cocaine trafficking operation that involved the shipment of parcels containing kilogram quantities of cocaine from U.S. Post Offices in Puerto Rico to various “drop addresses” in New Britain and Meriden, Connecticut, as well as addresses in Holyoke and West Springfield, Massachusetts.  The organization used “runners” to pick up the parcels from the drop addresses and deliver them to Soto’s residence in Bloomfield and the residence of Soto’s uncle, Ramon Soto, in New Britain.  Typically, Ramon Soto, at Joseph Soto’s direction, then delivered the cocaine to individuals in the Bronx, New York, and elsewhere, in return for payment.

During the investigation, task force members intercepted and seized 10 suspicious parcels, each of which contained approximately two kilograms of cocaine, and identified approximately 280 suspicious parcels likely containing kilogram quantities of cocaine that had been delivered to the various drop addresses.

Joseph Giovanni Soto was arrested on May 1, 2023.  In August 2023, investigators saw a reemergence of suspicious parcels coming from Puerto Rico to the New Britain and Meriden areas, and then to a Waterbury address where Morales Gonzalez was living.  Investigators determined that Morales Gonzalez and Soto had worked together prior to Soto’s arrest, and that Morales Gonzalez had assumed control of the Connecticut side of the cocaine trafficking network after Soto’s arrest.  Investigators identified several new drop addresses for suspicious parcels and observed Morales Gonzalez and others retrieving the parcels and bringing them to Morales Gonzalez’s residence before they were ultimately delivered to the Bronx.  During this part of the investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service identified 98 additional suspicious parcels and seized and searched four of them.  Each of the searched packages contained approximately two kilograms of cocaine.

On June 26, 2024, a court-authorized search of Morales Gonzalez’s residence revealed approximately two kilograms of cocaine, a loaded handgun, and a Smith and Wesson M&P 9 Shield firearm, and two drug ledgers.

On September 2, 2025, Morales Gonzales pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, five kilograms or more of cocaine.  Released on a $100,000 bond, he is required to report to prison on January 21.

Joseph Giovanni Soto pleaded guilty to the same charge and, on May 9, 2025, was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment.  Ramon Soto pleaded guilty to a related charge and, on January 8, 2025, was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.

Brian Martinez Rivera, 29, of Torrington, and Luis Torres Ortiz, 24, of New Britain, have also pleaded guilty to charges related to their involvement in this conspiracy and await sentencing.

This matter has been investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force, which includes members from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Postal Service – Office of the Inspector General, and the Hartford, Plainville, and Meriden Police Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie Levick and Konstantin Lantsman.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage man was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for possessing and producing child pornography of multiple minors known to him, including images of his hands-on sexual abuse of one of the minors.

According to court documents, in 2017, Richard Dougherty, 43, began sexually abusing a minor under the age of 16. Dougherty took photos and videos of the sexual abuse, creating child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).

Between January 2003 and April 2023, Dougherty possessed, accessed with intent to view, received and distributed CSAM. Some of the CSAM Dougherty distributed were visual depictions, including video, of him sexually abusing the minor victim.

Throughout the course of the investigation, the defendant knowingly possessed over 600 images of CSAM.

On May 27, 2025, Dougherty pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

“Mr. Dougherty’s crimes are despicable and perverse. This 30-year sentence ensures that the public and Alaska’s children are protected from his deviancy for the maximum number of years permitted under the law,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman. “I want to commend the survivors for showing extraordinary strength. I also want to thank U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Alaska State Troopers for their diligent investigative work that helped bring this case to justice. We will continue to work together to hold accountable predators who target our children.”

“The exploitation of children is one of the most reprehensible crimes that we encounter,” said Alaska State Troopers Colonel Maurice Hughes. “The Alaska State Troopers will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to protect Alaskans, keep our children safe, and hold offenders accountable.”

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Alaska State Troopers investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Alexander prosecuted the case.

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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Atlanta – Gerardo Solorio-Alvarado, an illegal alien from Mexico who previously served time in federal prison, and Nelson Enrique Sorto face federal drug charges related to a recent seizure of a combined 1,585 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in blackberry shipments at locations in Southeast Atlanta and Gainesville, Georgia.

“These repeat offenders, including an illegal alien, allegedly attempted to conceal and traffic an enormous quantity of deadly methamphetamine in our community,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “We are thankful for the quick action of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who apprehended these individuals and stopped nearly 1,600 pounds of methamphetamine from hitting the streets.”

“The FBI will never waver in our commitment to disrupt traffickers and prevent their dangerous drugs from reaching our streets, no matter where they try to hide them,” said FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown.  “Thanks to the quick response and dedicated efforts of our law enforcement partners, these repeat offenders will be held responsible for their crimes.”

“This indictment serves as a clear message that drug trafficking has no place in our communities.  It shows what can be accomplished when law enforcement works together with determination and purpose.  We remain committed to working alongside our federal, state, and local partners to pursue and disrupt the plans of those who threaten our communities through drug trafficking,” said Chris Hosey, Director, Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“These arrests and the confiscation of this massive amount of methamphetamine represent a major disruption to the criminals who traffic this dangerous poison in our communities,” said Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch. “Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigators worked tirelessly in this case to hold accountable those who threaten the well-being of people in our county and communities across Georgia. I’m incredibly proud of the teamwork displayed by our investigators and our state and federal partners.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court:  On November 20, 2025, law enforcement surveilled a cold storage warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia, and observed three refrigerated box trucks parked outside. Agents followed one of the trucks as it traveled in tandem with an SUV, driven by Sorto, to a residence in southeast Atlanta. Sorto then opened the rear door of the truck and examined the storage area and its contents. Shortly after midnight, Sorto departed in the SUV with two passengers. Georgia State Patrol troopers initiated a traffic stop on the SUV and located two firearms and several containers of blackberries in the vehicle. During a subsequent search of the box truck parked outside the Atlanta residence, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents assisted by the FBI recovered approximately 924 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in pallets of blackberries.

At the same time, another team of federal agents and sheriff’s deputies followed a second box truck from the cold storage facility to a gas station in Gainesville. Solorio-Alvarado arrived, picked up the box truck driver, and departed the gas station. After a K9 alerted to the odor of narcotics, agents searched the abandoned box truck and recovered approximately 661 pounds of methamphetamine hidden amongst pallets of blackberries. Solorio-Alvarado was later arrested at his Gainesville residence as he attempted to flee from the back of the home. Inside the home, deputies found keys to the abandoned truck.

The investigation revealed that Solorio-Alvarado, an illegal alien from Mexico, has a prior federal conviction for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Solorio-Alvarado served 17 years of imprisonment for those offenses. Law enforcement also learned that Sorto is currently on probation for a 2024 conviction for possession of methamphetamine in Hall County, Georgia.

Gerardo Solorio-Alvarado, 44, of Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on December 2, 2025, on charges of conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Nelson Enrique Sorto, 36, of Atlanta, Ga., was charged in a criminal complaint on December 1, 2025, with possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.

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

The cases are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the Georgia State Patrol, and the Hall County District Attorney’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Keen and Dwayne Brown, Jr. are prosecuting the cases.

The cases are 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.

These prosecutions are also part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Atlanta Wilhelm HSTF comprises agents and officers from ATF, CGIS, DEA, FBI, ICE-HSI, IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, DSS, USMS, USPIS, and USSS, as well as numerous state and local agencies, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

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.