MIL Security Engine-1

Source: US FBI

TULSA, Okla. – A domain seizure warrant was unsealed, along with an indictment charging four foreign national hackers with conspiracy and other computer crimes, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

Russian nationals, Alexey Viktorovich Chertkov, 37, Kirill Vladimirovich Morozov, 41, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shishkin, 36, and Dmitriy Rubtsov, 38, a Kazakhstani national, were charged with Conspiracy and Damage to Protected Computers for conspiring with others to maintain, operate, and profit from botnet services known as Anyproxy and 5socks.

The Indictment alleges that a botnet was created by infecting older-model wireless internet routers worldwide, including in the United States, using malware without their owners’ knowledge. The installed malware allowed the routers to be reconfigured, granting unauthorized access to third parties and making the routers available for sale as proxy servers on the Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net websites. Both website domains were managed by a company headquartered in Virginia and hosted on computer servers worldwide.

Additional court documents reveal that the 5socks.net website advertised more than 7,000 proxies for sale worldwide, including in the United States. Users paid a monthly subscription fee, ranging from $9.95 to $110 per month. The website’s slogan, “Working since 2004!”, indicates that the service has been available for more than 20 years. The defendants are believed to have amassed more than $46 million from selling access to the infected routers that were part of the Anyproxy botnet.

Chertkov and Rubtsov are additionally charged with False Registration of a Domain Name. They allegedly falsely identified themselves when they registered and used the domains Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net during the commission of these 
felony crimes.

During the investigation, the FBI’s Oklahoma City Cyber Task Force discovered that business and residential routers in Oklahoma had malware installed without the users’ knowledge.

Pursuant to a seizure warrant in the Eastern District of Virginia and in conjunction with the unsealing of the Indictment in the Northern District of Oklahoma, the FBI seized the Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net domain names. The botnet overseas was also seized and disabled by foreign law enforcement partners. 

The FBI Oklahoma City Cyber Task Force is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Jiang and Christopher J. Nassar, with the Northern District of Oklahoma, are prosecuting the case, along with Ryan K.J. Dickey and Jane Lee, Senior Counsel from the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

The Justice Department collaborated closely with investigators and prosecutors from multiple jurisdictions in this investigation, including the Eastern District of Virginia, the Dutch National Police – Amsterdam Region, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie), and the Royal Thai Police. Black Lotus Labs of Lumen Technologies, Inc., provided significant assistance and worked closely with investigators.

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

Source: US FBI

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Kyle Hunter Laws Duffner, age 27, of Durant, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 384 months in prison for one count of Murder in Indian Country—Second Degree.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Durant Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On December 4, 2024, Duffner pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing a child with malice aforethought.  According to investigators, on June 27, 2021, law enforcement responded to a 911 call of a non-responsive infant.  The child was life-flighted for care but succumbed to injuries shortly after transfer.  During treatment, medical professionals discovered signs of acute rib fractures, older rib fractures in various stages of healing, and a possible head injury.  A post-mortem examination revealed a skull fracture symptomatic of blunt force impact in the early stages of healing, multiple contusions to the forehead, jaw, and chest, and rib fractures consistent with at least three events of blunt force trauma.

The crime occurred in Bryan County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Duffner will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Paladino represented the United States.

Source: US FBI

TOLEDO, Ohio – Michael D. Aspinwall, 38, of Toledo, Ohio, was sentenced to 27 years in prison by U.S. District Judge James R. Knepp, after he admitted to creating and distributing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). Aspinwall pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. He was also ordered to serve lifetime supervised release after imprisonment and register as a sex offender, per the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

According to court documents, from about Oct. 1, 2023 to Feb. 9, 2024, Aspinwall admitted to producing sexual abuse materials of children and sending and receiving the digital files through mobile applications. FBI-Toledo, along with the assistance of Toledo Police officers, executed a search warrant on Feb. 9, 2024, and seized the defendant’s cellphone which was found to contain sexually explicit photos and videos of minors, including infants and toddlers. Additionally, during conversations with an online covert investigator, Aspinwall admitted to sexually abusing children−whom he babysat−while they were sleeping.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Toledo Field Office and the Toledo Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Al-Sorghali for the Northern District of Ohio.

To report child exploitation, please visit cybertipline.org, or call 1-800-843-5678, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Source: US FBI

CLEVELAND – A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio has returned a 29-count indictment against 19 members and associates of a Cleveland drug trafficking ring. Those charged are Derek Brantley, 41, Cleveland Heights; Juan Johnny Colon, 42, Cleveland; Luis Joel Rondon, 44, Cleveland; Sydney Anthony, 25, Parma Heights; Ryan Bell, 39, Brunswick; Mark Byrd, 44, Cleveland; Nicholas Calvert, 37, Avon Lake; Jocelyn Dolan, 22, Newton Falls; Antonio Greenlee, 37, Cleveland; Andre Jenkins, 43, Cleveland; Melanie Crespo, 32, Elyria; Jordan Marsh, 27, Cleveland; Nicholas Malusky, 38, Parma; Sean Masters, 54, Fort Pierce, Florida; Brandon Payne, 32, Cleveland; Lee Pomales, 38, Cleveland; Mason Pulvino, 28, North Ridgeville; Martha Rios, 68, Cleveland; and Kalem Watts, 45, Cleveland.

Federal and local law enforcement agents and officers made the apprehensions in a series of coordinated arrests.

According to court documents, from October 2023 to December 2024, the defendants charged were alleged to have trafficked various controlled substances but were mostly dealing cocaine. Although based in Cleveland, the ring operated throughout Northeast Ohio and as far away as Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Their operations also included attempts to infiltrate the Ohio prison system.

Throughout the investigation, authorities seized thousands of dollars in cash and a number of illegal drugs that included cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. Several illegally possessed firearms were also confiscated throughout the investigation.

During the investigation, several locations in Cleveland were found to be used as stash houses to store and package cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as store firearms.

An indictment is merely an allegation. Defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted, each defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to the case, including each defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, their role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum, and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi­-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

The specific mission of the OCDETF Cleveland Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle major criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations, including criminal gangs, transnational drug cartels, racketeering organizations, and other groups engaged in illicit activities that present a threat to public safety and national security and are related to the illegal smuggling and trafficking of narcotics or other controlled substances, weapons, humans, or the illegal concealment or transfer of proceeds derived from such illicit activities in the Northern District of Ohio. The OCDETF Cleveland Strike Force is composed of agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF), and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Marshals Service (USMS), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Border Patrol, along with task force officers from numerous local law enforcement agencies, including the Cleveland Division of Police. Prosecutions are led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

This case was investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division.

Assistant United States Attorney Robert F. Corts for the Northern District of Ohio is leading the prosecution in this case.

Source: US FBI

In an unprecedented nationwide operation to protect our children and mark April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the FBI announces Operation Restore Justice, a five-day, sweeping FBI initiative to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators across the country in coordination with all 55 of our FBI field offices.

FBI Cleveland Field arrested 11 people as part of this operation. Since the start of 2025, the division identified and arrested 28 individuals for violent crimes against children, and in 2024, identified and arrested 37 individuals. 

“Preying on children, the most vulnerable members of our community, is appalling. These arrests highlight the importance of strong partnerships and unwavering collaboration with members of our federal, state, and local agencies,” said FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Greg Nelsen. “The FBI and our partners are fully committed to protecting children from abuse while ensuring those who exploit or harm them are identified and investigated, and their networks of nefarious activity are dismantled.”  

Last week alone, the FBI arrested 205 subjects and rescued 115 children across the country during the surge of resources deployed for Operation Restore Justice. The subjects arrested in this operation included those in positions of public trust–law enforcement, members of the military, and teachers. Others are your neighbors, proving that criminal activity can be found even in the most familiar places. They’re accused of various crimes, including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, online enticement and transportation of minors, and child sex trafficking.

But our work didn’t just happen last week. Throughout the entire month of April, the FBI, along with our state and local law enforcement partners, additionally arrested more than 190 perpetrators on charges related to crimes against children. With nearly 400 arrests in one month, these actions are the direct result of the FBI’s continued efforts to track down and stop sexual predators before they can harm more victims.

While the number of arrests is significant, the details of the cases underscore the disturbing nature of the crimes. In Minneapolis, MN, a state trooper and Army Reservist was arrested for producing sexual abuse material of a young child while wearing his uniforms. In Norfolk, VA, an illegal immigrant from Mexico is accused of transporting a minor across state lines for sex. In Washington, D.C., a former MPD Police Officer previously convicted for sex trafficking was again arrested for doing the same thing. He’s accused of trafficking additional young victims while on supervised release. In Louisville, KY, two teachers were charged in separate incidents after alleged misconduct with students involving inappropriate communication and behavior. 

In some cases, it was the vigilance of parents and community outreach efforts that played a critical role in bringing these offenders to justice. In one case, a California man was arrested eight hours after a young victim bravely came forward and disclosed their abuse to FBI agents after an online safety presentation at a school near Albany, NY. In another case, a tip from the victim’s parents led to a man accused of coercing a minor into sending inappropriate images over social media.

This operation was the result of a dedicated and targeted effort, reflecting countless hours of work by hundreds of special agents, intel analysts, and other FBI personnel. It further emphasizes the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protecting children and raising awareness about the dangers they face. While the Bureau works relentlessly to investigate these crimes every day, April serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of prevention, community education, and the FBI’s never-ending pursuit of criminals who exploit our children.

The FBI proactively identifies individuals involved in child sexual exploitation and the production of child sexual abuse material through our far-reaching, nationwide network of personnel and law enforcement partners. The Violent Crimes Against Children (VCAC) program provides a rapid, proactive, and comprehensive capacity to counter all threats of abuse against children. This capacity leverages partnerships within the FBI’s 89 Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Forces (CEHTTFs) across the country. Additionally, the FBI has Intelligence Analysts assigned to address the VCAC threat, both at Headquarters and the field. The FBI also leads a Violent Crimes Against Children International Task Force, which includes nearly 100 International Task Force Officers representing over 60 countries to expand our ability to address the threat worldwide. 

The FBI also partners with 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. In further partnership and collaboration with NCMEC, the FBI launched the Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) in 2004 to identify individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children and the production of child sexual abuse material. To date, ECAP has identified 36 individuals. 

For more information about the crimes investigated by the FBI, as well as the variety of resources we provide to protect and keep children safe, please visit:  

As always, the FBI urges the public to remain vigilant and report any suspected crime against a child to 911 and local law enforcement immediately, as well as the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), online at tips.fbi.gov, or by contacting your local FBI field office.