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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TYRONE BROWN, 33, of Lithonia, Georgia, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 120 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine pills to Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately January 2022 and March 2024, Brown mailed parcels containing methamphetamine pills from Georgia to addresses in New Haven associated with Gregory Grant and others.  Investigators identified approximately 79 suspicious parcels shipped from Brown to Grant during that time.  In January 2023, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of an intercepted parcel and found 16 ziplock sandwich bags containing a total of more than four kilograms of multicolored methamphetamine pills and a firearm.  The investigation also revealed that Grant made multiple payments to Brown during the conspiracy.

Brown was arrested on April 7, 2025.  A search of his residence on that date revealed numerous pills and a handgun.

Brown has been detained since his arrest.  On September 2, 2025, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Grant, of New Haven, pleaded guilty on March 12, 2025, and is detained while awaiting sentencing.

This investigation has been conducted 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 Nathaniel J. Gentile and Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announces new dates for FOIA trainings that were originally scheduled during the government shutdown.  As part of its responsibility to encourage agency compliance with the FOIA, OIP offers numerous training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities.

These courses are designed to offer training opportunities for personnel from all stages of the FOIA workforce, from new hires to the experienced FOIA professionals or FOIA managers.  OIP will continue to offer virtual training sessions that will be taught in real-time by OIP instructors.  We will announce more training opportunities for the spring and summer at a later date.  As Fiscal Year 2026 quickly approaches, we are excited to announce our upcoming virtual training courses. You can find these courses listed on OIP’s Training page.

The courses and dates scheduled so far for Fiscal Year 2026 are:

Virtual Chief FOIA Officer Report Refresher Training
December 8, 2025 [NEW DATE]

Virtual Litigation Seminar 
December 10, 2025 [NEW DATE]

Virtual Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Training
December 10, 2025

Virtual Introduction to the Freedom of Information Act
December 16, 2025 [NEW DATE]

Virtual Exemption 4 and Exemption 5 Training
January 13, 2026

Virtual Privacy Considerations Training
January 21, 2026

Virtual Administrative Appeals, FOIA Compliance, and Customer Service Training
January 28, 2026

Virtual Advanced Freedom of Information Act Training
February 4, 2026

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Mark Tucci, 44, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 33 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and $16,529.44 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for multiple offenses arising from racist, violent threats made by phone, email, text message, and in person, that targeted African-Americans.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message: hate-based violence has no place in America,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division remains committed to ensuring that all Americans feel safe in their cities and communities.”

“Every citizen is entitled to a peace and security undisturbed by the abhorrent and racist threats that took place in this case, full stop,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “No citizen has the right to inflict, and no citizen has the duty to endure, the verbal harassment and racist attacks that the defendant committed in our District.”

“Today’s sentencing reinforces our commitment to protecting every individual’s civil rights and ensuring that those who intimidate, harass, or threaten our citizens are brought to justice,” said Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of the FBI Philadelphia Field Office. “The FBI and our partners at the Philadelphia Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the United States Attorney’s Office will continue to work side by side to safeguard our communities from threats of violence.”

The defendant pleaded guilty to an information on Aug. 21, charging him with two counts of interfering with federally protected activities, one count of cyberstalking, and one count of interstate communication of threats.

As detailed in the information and other court filings, the defendant repeatedly called and sent text messages and emails that consisted of racial epithets and violent threats to harm an employee (Victim 1) of an agency of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia Agency 1), and Victim 1’s colleagues.

Between about April 18, 2024, and June 2, 2024, Tucci emailed Victim 1 multiple times regarding a records request he had made to the agency. This escalated on June 3, 2024, when he repeatedly called Philadelphia Agency 1, and during two of those calls, he spoke with Victim 1, identified himself by name, and screamed at Victim 1, who asked him to stop screaming. He continued to do so, causing Victim 1 to hang up each time.

During subsequent calls on June 3 with Philadelphia Agency 1, Tucci spoke with two of Victim 1’s colleagues, using racial epithets and making threats. Specifically, the defendant said that he was going to come down to Philadelphia Agency 1 the next day and hurt everyone, and that he had Victim 1’s home address and was going to hurt Victim 1.

Tucci sent multiple emails to Victim 1 the same day, using similar racial epithets and threats. He also texted Victim 1 on their personal cell phone, a phone number that Victim 1 had never provided to the defendant. The text messages from Tucci to Victim 1 mentioned Victim 1 by name, and the name of the street on which Victim 1 resided at the time. The messages included a warning that “This is personal now,” and additional threatening language.

Tucci’s communications caused Victim 1 severe emotional distress, and fear that Tucci would find Victim 1 and seriously injure or kill them or their family members.

Tucci willfully intimidated and interfered, and attempted to intimidate and interfere, with Victim 1 because of Victim 1’s race and color, and because Victim 1 was enjoying employment by, and all perquisites of, an agency of the City of Philadelphia, a subdivision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Also detailed in court filings, on the morning of Feb. 1, 2024, Tucci pulled up next to another car in heavy traffic on I-95 southbound, lowered his windows, and repeatedly screamed racial epithets and threats to kill and shoot the other car’s driver (Victim 2), who is African-American. Tucci then reached down into his car, at which point Victim 2 believed Tucci was reaching for a gun. Instead, Tucci pulled out a glass mug containing coffee, and threw it at Victim 2’s vehicle, terrifying Victim 2 and damaging their car.

The incident occurred while Victim 2 was enjoying a facility provided and administered by a state and a subdivision thereof, that is, driving on I-95.

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Philadelphia Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Jeanette Kang and Michelle L. Morgan for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Samuel Kuhn of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

SOUTH BEND – Julio Rangel-Jimenez, 41 years old, of Mexico, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Cristal C. Brisco after pleading guilty to two felony counts of Illegal Alien Unlawfully in Possession of a Firearm and Reentry of Removed Alien, announced Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor.

Rangel-Jimenez was sentenced to 46 months in prison.

According to documents in the case, Rangel-Jimenez was removed from the United States in February of 2025. He illegally reentered the United States and was arrested on July 22, 2025, in Fulton County, Indiana, following a traffic stop. Police found two handguns, two rifles with large capacity magazines, and about 19 grams of cocaine in the house where he was living. Because he was unlawfully in the United States, he was prohibited from possessing any firearms.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with assistance from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hannah T Jones.

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 violent crime and gun violence, 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

WASHINGTON – Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it has filed federal lawsuits against six states — Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.

“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”

“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”

According to the lawsuits, the Attorney General is uniquely charged by Congress with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which were designed by Congress to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs. The Attorney General also has the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) at her disposal to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department today announced the seizure of a web domain used to target and defraud Americans through cryptocurrency investment fraud (CIF) scams. The domain, tickmilleas.com, was used by those located at the Tai Chang scam compound (also known as Casino Kosai) located in the village of Kyaukhat, Burma. This domain seizure comes less than three weeks after the Justice Department announced the launch of the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office’s (D.C. USAO) “Scam Center Strike Force” – the first District-level CIF strike force – and the seizure of two additional domains that were also used by the Tai Chang scam compound as part of CIF scams.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the domain seizure, Tai Chang is affiliated with the Burmese group, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Limited (Trans Asia), which were designated by the Department of the Treasury, among others, as specially-designated nationals (SDN) on Nov. 12 for links to Chinese organized crime and development of scam centers in Southeast Asia. The seizure announced today is part of the D.C. USAO’s Scam Center Strike Force’s efforts to combat Southeast Asia scam centers at the highest level and prevent U.S. infrastructure from being used as instrumentalities of the fraud schemes.

The seized domain was disguised as a legitimate investment platform to trick victims into unknowingly depositing their funds.  Victims who used the domain reported to the FBI that the site showed lucrative returns on what they believed to be their investments and displayed purported deposits made by scammers to the victims’ “accounts” when the scammers walked the victims through falsified trades. Despite the seized domain being registered in early November 2025, the FBI already identified multiple victims who used the domain in the last month and were scammed out of their investments.

A splashpage the tickmilleas.com website warns victims who have been directed to the domain that it has been seized by law enforcement, thereby disrupting the intended CIF scam activity and related money laundering.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the seizure, the tickmilleas.com domain directed users to download mobile applications linked to the scam from Google Play and the Apple App Store. The FBI notified Google and Apple of the fraudulent apps, and several of the applications have been voluntarily removed. Additionally, also announced today, based on information provided by the FBI about Tai Chang scam compound, Meta identified and voluntarily removed more than 2,000 accounts from their network of social media platforms.

In 2024 alone, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 41,000 complaints reporting roughly $5.8 billion in losses from CIF scams. These CIF scams, such as the ones described by victims in the affidavit, typically begin through unsolicited outreach from strangers over dating applications, social media, messaging applications, and text messages. These strangers form close virtual relationships with their victim targets, convince them to make purported investments in or using cryptocurrency, and direct victims on how to purchase cryptocurrency and invest it using fraudulent domains and applications that appear legitimate.

If you have been defrauded out of your money by a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme, please contact the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. If you were directed to use tickmilleas.com as part of a scam, reference tickmilleas.com in your complaint.

If you have information to report about past or ongoing activity regarding the Tai Chang scam compound (coordinates 16°28’20.9″N 98°38’45.1″E and 16°28’02.1″N 98°38’54.1″E), please contact the FBI at fbisd_fraudresponse@fbi.gov. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Defendants Allegedly Produced and Distributed Child Sex Abuse Materials and Extorted Minor and Adult Victims

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A Bethel man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison and will serve an additional 25 years on court mandated supervision upon release for surreptitiously sexually exploiting a minor female known to him. The 10-year sentence is the statutory maximum penalty for his crime.

According to court documents, on July 30, 2023, the mother of the minor victim contacted the local police department to report that Jesse Hadley, 33, sexually exploited the minor victim. The mother found a video on a family electronic device that showed Hadley’s face as he surreptitiously placed a camera in the bedroom of the minor victim.

Within minutes of Hadley installing the hidden camera, it recorded the minor victim enter the bedroom and captured the minor victim in a state of undress. Hadley later retrieved the hidden camera.

On June 17, 2025, Hadley pleaded guilty to one count of sexually exploiting a child to possess child pornography.

In handing down the sentence yesterday, the Court emphasized the abuse of trust Hadley exhibited in exploiting a child that he had access to, as well as his troubling history of violence against women and girls.

“Mr. Hadley, a man with a history of assault and domestic violence, continued his deplorable pattern of behavior by secretly filming and exploiting the minor victim.  His actions resulted in the statutory maximum penalty for his offense,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska. “My office continues to prioritize protecting Alaska’s children, wherever they live. We will continue to work closely with all our law enforcement partners across the state to track down child predators and hold them accountable for their reprehensible actions.”

“Not only was Hadley’s behavior disturbing and predatory, but also an egregious abuse of trust,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Brandon Waddle of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “Protecting children is one of our most critical responsibilities. The FBI will continue to identify and hold accountable those who exploit our most vulnerable.”

“The Bethel Police Department is committed in efforts to investigate and combat child exploitation online, particularly in rural areas like Bethel, Alaska, where the spread of internet-related offenses can be more challenging due to geographic isolation,” said Chief Jeffrey Kirkham of the Bethel Police Department. “Public cooperation and reporting reinforce the importance of cooperation between local, state, and federal agencies to address these crimes comprehensively, and obtain justice for the victims bringing those responsible accountable for their actions.”

The FBI Anchorage Field Office and the Bethel Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ainsley McNerney 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

PROVIDENCE – Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom announces the appointment and swearing-in of Andrea Hyatt as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island.

Hyatt will serve in the Office’s Civil Division, where she will handle a broad range of matters essential to protecting the interests of the United States, including Federal Tort Claims Act litigation, employment discrimination, immigration cases, and matters arising under the Administrative Procedure Act and False Claims Act.

Hyatt joins the U.S. Attorney’s Office after more than 23 years of experience as a litigator in both the private and public sectors.  Most recently, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Texas, where she represented the United States in civil actions in federal and state courts, securing early dismissals or summary judgements in fourteen defensive cases and recovering more than $1.5 million in a False Claims Act matter.  During her tenure, she earned an “Outstanding” performance rating for 2024.

Prior to her work as a federal prosecutor, Hyatt held senior litigation roles at BNSF Railway Co. in Fort Worth, TX where she served in labor and employment law, corporate compliance, and internal investigations, leading teams and managing high-volume, nationwide dockets.  She also practiced at Thomson & Knight LLP in Dallas and served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Dallas.

A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, she was elected to the prestigious Order of the Coif and served as an Articles Editor of the Texas Law Review.

“I am thrilled to welcome Andrea to the United States Attorneys Office,” stated Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.  “A seasoned and exceptionally skilled litigator, she brings with her decades of experience across federal practice, corporate compliance, and complex civil litigation.  Her depth of knowledge, dedication to public service, and proven commitment to excellence will serve the people of Rhode Island extraordinarily well.”

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson announced today that a series of actions to further enhance and protect the integrity of the voter-registration process will be implemented by the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). This follows a rigorous review by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of ineligible individuals, including illegal aliens, who were improperly registered to vote at the DMV.

In July, the U.S. Attorney initiated an inquiry to the Commissioner of the DMV following a report by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that the DMV permitted ineligible individuals, such as illegal aliens, to register to vote at the DMV, sometimes without the individual’s knowledge. The investigation found individuals were erroneously given citizen identification cards for years and some were registered to vote even after informing the DMV they were not citizens. The involved DMV examiners initially blamed the error on a “system glitch,” but the DMV later admitted “the online system doesn’t verify citizenship status.” The U.S. Attorney asked the DMV Commissioner to review the voter registration processes to ensure non-eligible voters were not being registered to vote.

The DMV agreed to investigate and found that individuals had been registered to vote due to errors by DMV examiners. These errors included mistakenly marking individuals as U.S. citizens, which “bypassed the necessary legal presence questions and allowed voter registration.”  The DMV also found a “system error” that lasted for three months and permitted ineligible individuals to register to vote.

Following the inquiry by the U.S. Attorney, the DMV has agreed to make changes to safeguard the North Carolina voter rolls and assure election integrity. Some changes include:

• Issuing a statewide reminder to DMV examiners on protocols and safeguards to ensure proper voter registration of only eligible individuals through the DMV.
• Designing and implementing new training modules for DMV examiners with a special emphasis on citizenship verification processes.
• Modernizing DMV technology to streamline technological processes and reduce examiner errors, including of the voter registration component.
• Hiring additional personnel to increase accurate input of sensitive data.
• Actively pursuing a technical solution to effectively integrate citizenship checks into the DMV’s online and kiosk voter-registration application systems.

The DMV is also coordinating with the State Board of Elections to ensure that any ineligible individuals identified by the federal government have been removed from voter rolls.

“It is vitally important than our elections in North Carolina are accurate, fair, and irreproachable—and that the public has confidence in them—to protect the foundation of our democracy,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “We must ensure that our voter rolls are precise and do not include minors, felons, or illegal aliens. The DMV, which accounts for as much as 80 percent of voter registrations in a given year, plays a central role in that process. We appreciate the agency’s cooperation to improve processes so that only eligible voters are added to the rolls.”

U.S. Attorney Ferguson also thanked HSI and the State Board of Elections for their coordination during this review process and noted that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to monitor compliance at all levels to ensure the sanctity of our elections.

“A host of federal laws give the federal government oversight authority to ensure states maintain accurate and current statewide voter lists,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “We take that obligation seriously and will continue to ensure confidence in our elections.”