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Source: US FBI

FRESNO, Calif. — Raul Zamudio Hurtado, 42, of Oakdale, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to 22 and a half years in prison and for two counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine arising from two separate cases, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.

According to court documents, in May 2017, a coalition of federal, state, and local agencies investigated a group of Sureño gang members and associates in the Merced area for crimes of violence, drug sales, and illegal firearms possession. More than 50 individuals were arrested and 14 defendants were charged federally. Hurtado was the source of supply of methamphetamine to the suspected Sureño members and was indicted. On July 24, 2019, Hurtado pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and remained in custody pending sentencing in the first case. In April 2020, he was released with conditions.

Between December 2021 and November 2022, Hurtado obtained and distributed methamphetamine in large quantities and received tens of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds. On Nov. 16, 2022, a search warrant was executed, more than 73 pounds of methamphetamine was seized, and Hurtado was charged again. On June 3, 2024, Hurtado pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in this second case.

These cases were the product of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the Merced Area Gang and Narcotic Enforcement Team (MAGNET), the California Department of Justice/California Highway Patrol, Special Operations Unit, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Modesto Police Department Major Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Pearson and Kimberly Sanchez prosecuted the cases.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information, visit Justice.gov/OCDETF.

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 U.S. Department of Justice 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: US FBI

A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment today against Binghui Liu, 32, a citizen of China formerly residing in San Jose, charging him with a money laundering conspiracy, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.

According to court documents, between February 2024 and April 2025 Liu and other co‑conspirators engaged in a scheme to launder proceeds derived from a government impersonation fraud scam. Members of the conspiracy pretended to be federal law enforcement officers or employees when contacting target victims. To seek money, the scammers provided false information about the victim’s bank accounts, for example by claiming that charges had been wrongfully filed against the victims and that their bank accounts would be frozen. The scammers typically instructed victims to withdraw their savings in cash and then arranged for a fake law enforcement officer or federal employee to pick up the cash for supposed safekeeping. The scammers used fake names, code words, and instructed the victims to take pictures of themselves and the cash packaged for pickup.

Liu served as a money launderer in the fraud scheme. He went to victims throughout California and Nevada to take their money. Liu used code words and fake names, and victims were falsely told he was either a federal employee or law enforcement officer. At no point was Liu a federal employee or law enforcement officer.

In one example, an elderly victim was contacted by someone pretending to be a U.S. Marshal, who informed the victim of a fake arrest warrant and the possibility that the victim’s bank account would be frozen. The victim was instructed to give the money to federal reserve employees, supposedly to protect the funds. The scammers then coached the victim on withdrawing funds, what to say to their bank about the large withdrawals, and how to package the funds for multiple different pickups. On April 9, 2025, FBI agents set up a sting operation. Liu arrived at the elderly victim’s house and took what he believed was $20,000 but was, in fact, fake money. The agents arrested Liu shortly after he took the fake cash. In total, the elderly victim lost over $780,000 to the fraud scheme.

If you have information related to this case or believe you may be a victim, please submit a report at tips.fbi.gov or call your local FBI office.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cody S. Chapple and Arelis M. Clemente are prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Liu faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source: US FBI

SANTA ANA, California – A Hawaii man has pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge for defrauding a 78-year-old Orange County victim out of nearly $2 million by false promises of brokering the sale of the victim’s yacht, the Justice Department announced today.

John Tamahere McCabe, 42, of Kailua, Hawaii, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of wire fraud.

According to his plea agreement, McCabe offered to help the victim sell his yacht. What the victim didn’t know was McCabe used fabricated documents to change the ownership of the yacht to McCabe’s name. Once in his name, McCabe then diverted the proceeds to his own personal bank account and used most of the proceeds for his own personal purposes.

McCabe further convinced him to transfer his million-dollar Irvine residence into a McCabe-controlled limited liability company (LLC), claiming that it would protect the victim’s most-valuable asset and provide tax benefits. Without the victim’s knowledge or consent, McCabe caused himself to be the sole manager of the LLC and caused $1 million in loans to be taken out and secured by the victim’s residence, draining all its equity.

Once McCabe spent the loan proceeds, he defaulted on the loans and the victim’s residence was sold at a foreclosure sale, leaving the victim homeless. Through this scheme, McCabe defrauded the victim out of approximately $1,814,000.

United States District Judge Fred W. Slaughter scheduled an October 16 sentencing hearing, at which time McCabe will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI investigated this case with the help of the Irvine Police Department.   

First Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Waier is prosecuting this case.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. English, Spanish and other languages are available. 

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – A Yemeni national was charged today in a three-count federal grand jury indictment alleging he deployed the so-called “Black Kingdom” ransomware against computer servers owned organizations worldwide, including businesses, schools, and hospitals in the United States, including a medical billing services company in the San Fernando Valley.

Rami Khaled Ahmed, 36, a.k.a. “Black Kingdom,” of Sana’a, Yemen, is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of intentional damage to a protected computer, and one count of threatening damage to a protected computer. He is believed to be residing in Yemen.

According to the indictment, from March 2021 to June 2023, Ahmed and others infected computer networks of several U.S.-based victims, including a medical billing services company in Encino, a ski resort in Oregon, a school district in Pennsylvania, and a health clinic in Wisconsin. Ahmed developed and deployed Black Kingdom ransomware to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange.

The ransomware either encrypted data from victims’ computer networks or claimed to take that data from the networks. When the malware was successful, the ransomware then created a ransom note on the victim’s system that directed the victim to send $10,000 worth of Bitcoin to a cryptocurrency address controlled by a co-conspirator and to send proof of this payment to a Black Kingdom email address.

During the conspiracy, the Black Kingdom conspirators caused the transmission of the Black Kingdom malware to approximately 1,500 computer systems in the United States and elsewhere.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.       

If convicted, Ahmed would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.

The FBI is investigating this matter with assistance from the New Zealand Police.

Assistant United States Attorneys Angela C. Makabali and Alexander Gorin of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a San Gabriel Valley man with a federal criminal charge alleging he inappropriately slapped a flight attendant’s buttocks on a Los Angeles-bound flight last month.

Dennis Wally Woodbury, 49, of Azusa, is charged with one count of abusive sexual contact within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of two years in federal prison.

Woodbury, who made his initial federal court appearance last month and is free on $50,000 bond, is scheduled to be arraigned on May 12 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

According to court documents previously filed in this case, on April 13, Woodbury – a former California Highway Patrol captain who had been dismissed from state service – was a passenger on a JetBlue Airways flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Before the flight left the gate, Woodbury engaged in inappropriate conduct with two flight attendants, both of whom were male. For example, Woodbury showed one of the flight attendants a photograph of a dog. The picture contained pornographic imagery in the background. Woodbury later told one of the flight attendants that he should go on a cruise with him then made a crude hand gesture.

Just after meal service and while the plane was still in the air, the second flight attendant collected passengers’ meal trays and walked past Woodbury. Woodbury, who had been drinking heavily, then used his left hand to slap the victim’s buttocks. Woodbury then yelled that he loved him.

Later during the flight, the first flight attendant was in the plane’s front galley when Woodbury entered. Woodbury allegedly then pulled down his trousers and underwear, exposing his genitalia. The first flight attendant told Woodbury that his behavior was inappropriate. Soon afterward, Woodbury asked him for wine, a request that was denied. When Woodbury again pulled down his trousers and underwear, the flight attendant said, “Enough, go back to your seat.”

During later interviews with law enforcement, the flight attendants confirmed that neither of them consented to Woodbury’s behavior.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI and the Los Angeles Airport Police are investigating this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney William M. Larsen of the Criminal Appeals Section is prosecuting this case.

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – A Wisconsin man was sentenced today to 44 months in federal prison for participating in a one-week nationwide “swatting” spree that gained access to Ring home security door cameras, placed bogus emergency phone calls designed to elicit an armed police response, then livestreamed the events on social media, sometimes while taunting responding police officers in communities such as West Covina and Oxnard.       

Kya Christian Nelson, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt.

Nelson pleaded guilty on January 23 to one count of conspiracy and two counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. He has been in federal custody since August 2024 and previously was serving a prison sentence in Kentucky after being convicted in state court there in an unrelated case.

From November 7, 2020, to November 13, 2020, Nelson and co-conspirators gained access to home security door cameras sold by Ring LLC, a Santa Monica-based home security technology company. Nelson acquired without authorization the username and password information for Yahoo! email accounts belonging to victims throughout the United States.

The conspirators then determined whether the owner of each compromised Yahoo! account also had a Ring account using the same email address and password that could control associated internet-connected Ring doorbell camera devices. Using that information, they identified and gathered additional information about their victims.

Then, the conspirators placed false emergency reports or telephone calls to local law enforcement in the areas where the victims lived. These reports or calls were intended to elicit an emergency police response to the victim’s residence. The conspirators then accessed without authorization the victims’ Ring devices and transmitted the audio and video from those devices on social media during the police response. They also taunted responding police officers and victims through the Ring devices during several of the incidents.

For example, on November 8, 2020, Nelson and a co-conspirator accessed without authorization Yahoo! and Ring accounts belonging to a victim in West Covina. A hoax telephone call was placed to the West Covina Police Department purporting to originate from the victim’s residence and posing as a minor child reporting her parents drinking and shooting guns inside the residence. The caller claimed that her parents had multiple firearms and had fired approximately seven gunshots inside the house. Based on this hoax call, West Covina Police Department officers made an emergency response to the house and cleared the residents from the home at gunpoint.

During the police response, Nelson accessed the Ring doorbell camera located at the West Covina residence and used it to verbally threaten and taunt the police officers who responded to the reported incident.

In another incident, on November 11, 2020, Nelson illegally possessed the Yahoo! and Ring login credentials of a victim living in Oxnard. Nelson then used those credentials to access the victim’s Ring account. Nelson or a co-conspirator made a hoax call to the Oxnard Police Department purporting to be coming from inside the victim’s home.

The caller told the police that they were a child whose father was wielding a handgun inside the residence. Nelson made a second hoax call to Oxnard Police to report hearing shots fired at the victim’s residence. Based on these hoax calls, Oxnard Police officers made an emergency response to the house and cleared the residents from the home at gunpoint.

Nelson accessed the Ring doorbell camera located at the Oxnard residence and used it to threaten and taunt the police officers who had responded to the reported incident.

“[Nelson] and his co-conspirators went on a digital crime spree, terrorizing innocent people around the country from behind their keyboards,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “While [Nelson] was safe behind his keyboard, he subjected others to real danger.”

One of Nelson’s indicted co-conspirators, James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 22, of Kayenta, Arizona, was sentenced in June 2024 to seven years in federal prison both for his role in this case, and on additional charges in the District of Arizona. In connection with the Ring swatting incidents, McCarty pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy as Nelson.

McCarty further admitted to illegally accessing a victim’s Ring camera in Florida and making a call to the North Port Florida Police Department, in which he purported to be the victim’s husband who had just killed her, was holding a hostage, and had rigged explosives at the residence. McCarty then livestreamed the law enforcement response and posted a message on social media taking credit for the swatting incident and stating that he thought it was amusing.

The FBI investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Khaldoun Shobaki of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section prosecuted this case.