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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

KANSAS CITY – A federal trial jury convicted two individuals for their roles in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to kill, kidnap, and maim persons and use weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in a foreign country. The defendants conspired to provide funds and equipment to separatist fighters in Cameroon to allow them to construct and use IEDs against various targets in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.

Francis Chenyi, Sr., 52, of Saint Paul, Mn., and Lah Nestor Langmi, 49, of Buffalo, Ny., both of whom are U.S. citizens of Cameroonian origin, were found guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, on multiple counts. Chenyi and Langmi were both found guilty of one count of a conspiracy to provide material support or resources intended it be used to carry out conspiracies to kill, kidnap, and maim persons in a foreign country and to use a WMD outside the United States. Chenyi and Langmi were also found guilty of one count of being involved in an international money laundering conspiracy that transferred funds from the United States to Cameroon to promote conspiracies to kill, kidnap, and maim and use WMDs abroad.

Additionally, Chenyi was found guilty of one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to use a WMD abroad.

“As the verdict indicates whether you’re committing a crime locally or – as in this case – supporting illegal conduct half a world away – when you conspire to violate federal law, we will hold you accountable.” said United States Attorney R. Matthew Price.

“The guilty verdict brings to close a conspiracy by a group of U.S. Citizens of Cameroonian origin to support a plot that, among other acts, included kidnapping Cameroonian civilians and holding them for ransom. Their actions also included providing equipment, supplies, and weapons to a separatist movement for the purpose of carrying out attacks against the government of Cameroon and its personnel,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus, Kansas City Field Division. “We are grateful for the verdict, and it should send a strong message to anyone in the United States looking to provide support to these types of acts across the world.”

A third defendant, Claude Ngenevu Chi, 43, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to use a WMD abroad on Nov. 19, 2025.

The evidence presented at trial showed that on around Nov. 5, 2020, Langmi sent an audio message to separatist fighters requesting they kidnap a traditional leader in Cameroon. Langmi said he had been tracking the traditional leader’s movements prior to the kidnapping. Following a battle with Cameroonian forces, separatists took the traditional leader along with the Catholic Cardinal Christian Tumi, who was traveling with the traditional leader, from their vehicles.

Following the kidnapping, Chenyi, provided the interrogation questions to be asked of the traditional leader and the Cardinal and approved the transferring of funds through peer-to-peer transactions to the separatists fighters in Cameroon to further the kidnapping.

Chenyi was involved in ransom payments paid by individuals outside of Cameroon for the release of family members taken in Cameroon and communicated with Langmi about these payments.

Multiple instances occurred in which co-conspirators, including Langmi, requested funds to purchase IEDs or components of IEDs for construction and use in Cameroon that were approved and funded by Chenyi. Chenyi also coordinated with individuals in Cameroon to ensure separatist fighters he supported obtained training on IED use. The defendants corresponded with co-conspirators in Cameroon to coordinate development, payment for, and logistical support toward IED use upon targets in Cameroon.

Specifically, around Dec. 3, 2020, Chenyi was requested to provide funds for construction of multiple IEDs to be used in connection with efforts to enforce a lockdown of an area before an upcoming election. Chenyi, along with Chi, agreed to provide funds for the IEDs’ construction and Chenyi coordinated the transfer of funds from the United States through peer-to-peer transactions to the separatist fighters in Cameroon.

Langmi coordinated with, and provided funds to, an unindicted co-conspirator to develop IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) in Cameroon and kept Chenyi apprised of the IED and RPG development.  Langmi also attempted to coordinate attacks near the 2021 African Cup of Nations soccer tournament hosted in Cameroon, as well as various cities throughout the Northwest Region throughout the spring of 2022.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about two hours and 24 minutes before returning guilty verdicts yesterday to U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark, ending a trial that began Monday, Dec. 1, 2025.

Under federal statutes, Chenyi and Langmi each are subject to a sentence of up to 15 years for conspiracy to provide material support or resources and up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit international money laundering. Chi also is subject to a penalty of up to 15 years for providing material support or resources. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean T. Foley and Joseph M. Marquez for the Western District of Missouri, with the assistance of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The case was investigated by the FBI Kansas City Field Division.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Julio Cesar Nevarez-Erunez, 24, of Salem, Oregon, formerly of Downey, California, was sentenced on Dec. 4, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta to five years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, Nevarez-Erunez conspired with his co-defendant, Juan Niebla-Osuna, 28, of Downey, to distribute methamphetamine in the Eastern District of California and elsewhere. On July 13, 2022, Nevarez-Erunez and Niebla Osuna sold 15 pounds of methamphetamine to a confidential source. On Oct. 6, 2022, Nevarez-Erunez was arrested and found in possession of 40 pounds of methamphetamine and 5,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. A search of the residence shared by the co-defendants in the Los Angeles area uncovered 7 more pounds of methamphetamine and 2.5 pounds of fentanyl powder.

Niebla-Osuna previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. On Aug. 28, 2025, Niebla-Osuna failed to appear for sentencing. A bench warrant has been issued for his arrest.

This case is the product of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Haddy Abouzeid is prosecuting the case.

This case is 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. HSTF Sacramento is composed of agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Damisha Brown, 32, of Charleston, was sentenced on October 2, 2025, to time served, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $15,625 in restitution for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Brown received $15,625 in proceeds from a criminally derived Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan, guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

According to court documents and statements made in court, co-defendant Kisha Sutton conspired with Brown and others to obtain fraudulent PPP loans. Sutton submitted a PPP loan application on Brown’s behalf on April 25, 2021. The application listed Brown as a sole proprietor hairdresser who received $75,000 in gross income in 2020. The application was filed with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040, Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business, stating that the applicant had earned $75,000 in 2020. As part of her guilty plea, Brown admitted that she never earned $75,000 as a hairdresser in one year and that the IRS Form 1040 submitted with her application was fraudulent and created solely to obtain the PPP loan.

A PPP lender in California approved Brown’s loan application. The $15,625 in loan proceeds was deposited in Brown’s personal bank account on April 30, 2021. Brown admitted that she knew the $15,625 represented proceeds from the fraudulent PPP loan. Between April 30 and May 27, 2021, Sutton received $3,500 from Brown as her share of the fraudulent PPP loan proceeds. Brown transferred the money to Sutton using a digital wallet application. Brown admitted that she transferred the $3,500 as Sutton’s compensation for facilitating the submission of her fraudulent loan, in keeping with their agreement. Brown further admitted that she spent the remainder of the loan proceeds on ineligible personal expenses.

The CARES Act made forgivable PPP loans available to qualifying sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to replace their normal income and for certain other eligible expenses. Applicants were required to certify that they were in operation on February 15, 2020, and provide documentation showing their prior gross income from either 2019 or 2020.

Brown and Sutton, 44, of Jersey City, New Jersey, are among several individuals indicted by a federal grand jury on charges alleging they and others conspired, and aided and abetted one another, to obtain fraudulent PPP loans totaling $140,625.

After a two-day trial, Sutton was found guilty of aiding and abetting bank fraud and aiding and abetting laundering of monetary instruments by a federal jury on July 15, 2025, and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 11, 2025. Co-defendant William Powell, 35, of Huntington, was sentenced on August 27, 2025, to time served, followed by three years and six months of supervised release, including six months on home detention, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Co-defendant Jasmine Spencer, 33, of Charleston, was sentenced on September 2, 2025, to three years and six months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $15,625, after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting bank fraud. Powell and Spencer were each ordered to pay $15,625 in restitution. Co-defendant Shamiese Wright, 32, of Charleston, was sentenced on October 29, 2025, to three years and six months of federal probation, including six months on home detention, and ordered to pay $18,736.73 in restitution after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting monetary laundering.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia State Police – Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU).

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan T. Storage and Jennifer D. Gordon and former Assistant United States Attorney Holly Wilson prosecuted the case.

Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-192.

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Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Devlin Hosner, 36, of Indio, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between 2020 and 2022, Hosner and his co-conspirator Holly Adams, 35, of Palm Desert, operated vendor accounts on the dark web marketplaces known as ToRReZ and Dark0de. Hosner and Adams generated hundreds of thousands of dollars selling counterfeit oxycodone pills pressed with fentanyl, after which they laundered the proceeds using cryptocurrency mixers, wallets, and other online tools.

In September 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at an address where Hosner and Adams resided. After the officers announced their presence, Hosner attempted to impede their entry while Adams destroyed pills by pouring them into a chemical solution. Adams and Hosner were arrested and subsequently released by state authorities and resumed selling fentanyl on the dark web a few months later while they were unknowingly under investigation by federal law enforcement agents.

In March 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at a hotel room in Riverside County where Hosner and Adams were temporarily residing. Officers seized nearly a kilogram of fentanyl-pressed oxycodone pills and 60 grams of methamphetamine from this hotel room. Hosner and Adams were arrested on federal charges.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Northern California Illicit Digital Economy (NCIDE) Task Force, a previously existing task force that included agents from the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The NCIDE Task Force was a federal task force focused on targeting all forms of illicit dark web and cryptocurrency activity in the Eastern District of California and beyond. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki is prosecuting the case.

Adams previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and to launder the resulting proceeds.  In June 2025, the district court sentenced her to serve 12 years in prison.

Hosner is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on March 24, 2026. Hosner faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison, as well as a $1 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A man who produced child sexual abuse material was sentenced today to 60 years in federal prison, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.

Victor Torres, 33, of Dumas, Texas, pled guilty to two counts of production of child pornography in May 2025.  He was sentenced today to 720 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk.

“This defendant lured vulnerable youth into his despicable crimes and deservedly received a lengthy prison sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “We will work unceasingly with our local and federal law enforcement partners to remove these types of dangerous predators from the streets of our communities.”

According to court documents, in 2023, Victor Torres paid two different 13-to-14-year-old children to produce sexually explicit material to send to him online.  Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) discovered Torres’s criminal activity when they received a CyberTip from an online money exchange platform.  From the CyberTip, they were able to locate multiple different accounts used by Torres to communicate with minors online.  Torres was 30 years old at the time of the communications but frequently told minors that he was 17 years old.  Torres told the minors that he would “pay for content” and described exactly what he wanted the minors to do in the sexually explicit photos and videos he requested, including how to pose and what objects to use. 

Court records show that, in June 2024, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Torres’s residence and seized several electronic devices.  Evidence located on Torres’s electronic devices revealed search terms for child pornography, communications with minors and bartering for the production of child pornography, and additional child sexual abuse material including material depicting the sexual abuse of toddlers, animals, and other prepubescent children. 

Homeland Security Investigations, Dallas Field Office (Amarillo Resident Agency) conducted the investigation along with HSI Harrisonburg, VA; HSI Buffalo, NY; HSI Columbia, SC; HSI Charleston, SC; the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, the Amarillo Police Department, the Pittsburg, OK Sheriff’s Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Callie Woolam prosecuted the case.  

The Justice Department is committed to combating child sexual exploitation and brought this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the 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, visit www.justice.gov/psc.  The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

JACKSON, MS – Giovanni Iortoman, 21, was sentenced on December 8, 2025 to 12 months in federal prison for illegal possession, production, or trafficking in device-making equipment, also known as skimmers. His codefendant, Antonio Rafaila, 19, pleaded guilty to the same charge on August 6, 2025, and will be sentenced on December 18, 2025. Both defendants entered the United States illegally. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, on the morning of March 31, 2025, employees of a grocery store in Laurel, Mississippi discovered a skimmer attached to a point-of-sale terminal in one of the store’s check-out lanes. A skimmer is capable of reading and recording account information including customer names, account numbers, and personal identification numbers from credit and debit cards. Store employees checked CCTV footage from the store and reported the matter to law enforcement immediately. CCTV footage revealed that two men, later identified as Antonio Rafaila and Giovanni Iortoman, had placed a skimmer device on the point-of-sale machine.

Rafaila and Iortoman used the same tactics at multiple grocery stores in Jones, Rankin, and Madison counties with the intent to steal the personal information of customers for profit. One of the men would purchase items at the grocery store and distract the checkout clerk while the other surreptitiously installed the skimmer. The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office Cyber Fraud Task Force alerted local stores about the two men and their descriptions. The sedan the subjects were seen driving in Laurel was later stopped by Madison County law enforcement almost immediately after the subjects emplaced another skimmer in Madison.

Iortoman presented a Romanian identification card to officers and Rafaila falsely identified himself as Aaron Lipani with a fraudulent Italian passport when questioned. A check of government databases determined that Iortoman and Rafaila were foreign nationals in the country without legal authority.

A criminal complaint was filed against Rafaila and Iortoman on April 2, 2025. A federal grand jury returned an indictment against them on April 8, 2025.

Rafaila is scheduled to be sentenced on December 18, 2025, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. As the defendants entered the United States illegally, they may be subject to deportation upon their release from prison.

U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis, and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch made the announcement.

The United States Secret Service and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office investigated the case through their partnership in the Cyber Fraud Task Force with assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly T. Purdie and C. Brett Grantham are prosecuting the case.

The Cyber Fraud Task Force offered the following tips to keep your bank card data safe:

1. Use terminals that offer tap to pay or chip read capabilities. Avoid swiping cards, if possible.
2. Look at the terminal prior to inserting or using your card in relation to other terminals in the store. Do they look the same? Overlay skimmers will add to the overall dimensions of a terminal.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Jackson, MS – A Jackson man pleaded guilty on Wednesday, December 3rd in federal court to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, law enforcement identified Roman Walker, 35, as a distributor of narcotics from Hinds County, Mississippi. Court filings reflect that Walker was distributing a “menu” of narcotics, business hours, and prices for different drugs he was selling. On or about January 24, 2023, while executing a search warrant of Walker’s residence, law enforcement discovered large quantities of narcotics including more than 11,000 fentanyl pills and fentanyl powder packaged for distribution into the metro Jackson area.

Roman Walker is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  

United States Attorney Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi and DEA Special Agent in Charge Anessa Daniels-McCaw made the announcement. 

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency is investigating the case with assistance from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Brett Grantham is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

CINCINNATI – Ronald Scott Daley, 53, of Miamisburg, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 54 months in prison for wire fraud and tax evasion related to a scheme to defraud clients, including elderly victims. 

According to court documents, Daley was employed by a life insurance brokerage firm in the Southern District of Ohio from 1995 through 2021 and advised several elderly clients with respect to life insurance and annuity products.

From at least 2012 until 2020, Daley fraudulently convinced client victims to withdraw certain assets from the insurance brokerage firm and to deposit the funds into their own personal accounts. Daley then influenced the victims to make payments to a bank account for an entity that Daley controlled.

For example, Daley defrauded three victims of more than $707,000 in total.

Furthermore, the defendant failed to file and pay taxes on the fraudulent income.

As part of his conviction, Daley will repay restitution in the amount of approximately $707,000 for fraud against the victims and nearly $212,000 to the IRS.

Daley was indicted in December 2024 and pleaded guilty in May 2025.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations; announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Matthew W. McFarland. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy S. Mangan is representing the United States in this case.

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