MIL Security Engine-1

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

GOTEC Plus Sun LLC (GOTEC), a Delaware company, pleaded guilty today to illegal storage of hazardous waste. GOTEC was sentenced to pay a $275,000 fine and to serve a one-year term of probation.

On March 30, the court sentenced Natalie Fehse, the former general manager of the GOTEC facility, to five years of probation, including a special condition of 10 months of home confinement, and a $5,000 fine for her role in the illegal storage of hazardous waste.

“The illegal accumulation and storage of hundreds of containers of hazardous waste at GOTEC posed a substantial danger to plant workers, emergency responders, and the general public,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “This prosecution sends the message that hazardous waste generators must properly handle hazardous wastes or potentially face felony prosecution for their illegal conduct.

“Unpermitted storage of hazardous waste that endangers Kentuckians will not be tolerated,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Parman for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “I want to commend the collaborative efforts of the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division on the investigation of the illegal conduct of GOTEC and its General Manager, which averted a potential disaster.”

“Companies that cut corners by accumulating hazardous wastes — such the hundreds of drums of flammable and toxic solvents hidden around the site in this case — rather than disposing of them properly endanger communities, workers, and first responders,” said EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Jeffrey A. Hall. “Such dangerous neglect is precisely what the law forbids. This case demonstrates cooperative federalism in action. The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection’s inspection program found persistent, intentional violations of the law while EPA’s criminal investigative and forensic expertise ensured that the company was held criminally accountable.”

GOTEC produced parts for the use of manufacturing vehicles in Williamstown, Kentucky. As part of the production process, it applied coatings and adhesives to metal parts and generated hazardous waste, including spent solvents listed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

RCRA establishes a comprehensive cradle-to-grave program to regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, and disposal of hazardous wastes to protect human health and the environment. It prohibits the storage of hazardous waste at industrial facilities for extended periods of time without a permit. According to court documents, on June 27, 2024, the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection conducted an inspection at GOTEC’s plant and discovered semi-trailers, shipping containers, and an abandoned warehouse containing 249, 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste and approximately 27 cubic yards of hazardous waste stored in cardboard, wooden crates, and yellow totes.

GOTEC admitted that between January 2022 and November 2024 it did not properly dispose of all the hazardous waste it was generating, including hazardous waste that had been accumulating at the facility since 2022. GOTEC admitted that it stopped properly disposing of hazardous due to staffing issues, and decreased revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, it improperly accumulated and stored hazardous waste at the facility without a RCRA hazardous waste storage permit.

EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Greenfield for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Senior Trial Attorney Matthew Morris of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, Sean S. Buckley, announced that ALI RASHAN, a medical doctor and the CEO and founder of ClearMD LLC, a provider of COVID-19 testing services in New York City, pled guilty to fraudulently billing insurance companies for COVID-19 testing services and submitting fraudulent medical records in furtherance of his scheme, causing at least $24 million in losses.  

Source: United States Department of Justice

The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) recently obtained a judgment requiring a nationwide consumer law firm to refund a total of $196,527 in legal fees to dozens of clients based on the firm’s deficient services and other violations of the Bankruptcy Code.

On March 17, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon entered a stipulated judgment against Recovery Law Group APC (RLG); its owner, Nicholas Wajda; and one of its partners, Grover Peters III. As part of the judgment, RLG agreed to refund fees to a debtor who nearly lost her home because of the firm’s poor services and to refund fees paid by 98 clients in Oregon for whom the firm had not yet filed a case. The judgment also bars RLG, Wajda, and Peters from advertising legal services or filing bankruptcy cases in the district for 18 months.

“Consumer debtors’ attorneys who provide substandard services endanger their clients’ pursuit of a fresh start,” said Acting U.S. Trustee Jonas Anderson for Region 18, which includes the District of Oregon. “The USTP will continue to hold these attorneys responsible for their abusive conduct.”

The Oregon judgment marks the USTP’s third successful enforcement action against RLG in about a year for their actions affecting debtors throughout the country. Last April, the USTP obtained an order from the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia imposing $48,000 in sanctions and other relief against RLG and an affiliated attorney for their deficient legal services and violations of court orders. And in September, the USTP won a judgment in the Eastern District of Michigan imposing more than $392,000 in penalties and a three-year suspension against RLG for its false and misleading disclosures in more than 200 bankruptcy cases.

The USTP’s Oregon enforcement action stemmed from a case in which an elderly woman sought RLG’s help filing for bankruptcy to resolve debts she incurred as the victim of a fraud scheme. After a consultation from Wajda, who is not licensed to practice law in Oregon, the debtor paid a $1,838 fee to the firm to represent her in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, and RLG had its non-attorney staff prepare the debtor’s bankruptcy documents.

RLG filed the case as a chapter 7 liquidation despite the debtor having nonexempt equity in her house that would be at risk for sale by the private trustee overseeing the case to pay creditors. The debtor was eligible for chapter 13, which would allow her to keep the house while paying her debts through a repayment plan, but Peters did not seek to convert the case to chapter 13 until after the chapter 7 trustee took steps to sell the debtor’s house. Peters — who also acknowledged at a hearing that the case never should have been filed under chapter 7 — continued to put the house at risk by failing to file documents on time and by filing documents that required multiple amendments as they were incompetently prepared by RLG’s non-attorney staff. In November 2025, nearly two-and-a-half years after the case was filed, the bankruptcy court confirmed the debtor’s chapter 13 repayment plan.

The USTP’s mission is to promote the integrity and efficiency of the bankruptcy system for the benefit of all stakeholders — debtors, creditors and the public. The USTP consists of 21 regions with 82 field offices nationwide and an Executive Office in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the USTP at www.justice.gov/ust. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Mercer County man was sentenced yesterday to 260 months’ imprisonment for possessing quantities of fentanyl and cocaine with intent to distribute it, for possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking, and for his unlawful possession of firearms as a previously convicted felon.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A fifth superseding indictment was filed yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn against Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego, also known as “Chiquito” and “Chiquito Malo,” which added new charges of narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and providing or attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.  Avila Villadiego was previously charged in multiple superseding indictments with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine trafficking, and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes, as well as other drug-related crimes, through his continuing leadership of the Clan del Golfo (CDG), one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.  The fifth superseding indictment extends the end-dates of the continuing criminal enterprise and multiple conspiracies from October 2021 to April 2026.  Avila Villadiego remains at large.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Three Memphis men have been sentenced following their convictions at trial on Nov. 12, 2025.

A jury convicted Darius Moore, 39; Mervin Anderson, 40; and Mario Gardner, 49, all of Memphis, of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Yesterday, the court sentenced Moore to 210 months in prison. Anderson and Gardner were previously sentenced to 150 months and 51 months in prison respectively. Moore was designated a career offender, having been twice convicted of the sale of hydromorphone in 2005 and 2008, and was on supervised release when he committed this crime. In 2019, Moore was convicted of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl within 1000 feet of a playground and after serving his prison term was placed on supervised release. Moore was also sentenced yesterday to an additional 1 year in prison for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the defendants were members or associates of the Memphis street gang, Young Mob Military or Young Mob. One of the leaders of Young Mob, co-defendant Brian Lackland, was central to the running of the drug conspiracy that distributed fentanyl within the Western District of Tennessee. Evidence presented during trial included seizures of thousands of fentanyl pills that were sent through the United States Postal Service addressed to Lackland’s residence. The fentanyl pills had been designed to mimic Oxycodone with pressed symbols on the blue pills. Members of the conspiracy would refer to the fentanyl pills as “blues” or “blues clues.”

Fentanyl pills

The surveillance caught members of the conspiracy exchanging large quantities of pills at gas stations, grocery stores, and other locations within feet of unsuspecting citizens of Memphis.

“These three defendants mailed thousands of dangerous and potentially fatal fentanyl laced pills through the United States mail and openly sold them on the streets of Memphis, ultimately endangering end users,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Dangerous opiates like fentanyl are a scourge to our communities, and leave a wake of death, ruined lives, and sorrow. Dedicated work by law enforcement took this drug trafficking organization down. We will continue to stand with our partners and remove dangerous drug dealers from the streets.” 

“Because illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic, President Trump has designated fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD),” said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee. “Its lethality is significant, and those who traffic fentanyl must be severely punished and incapacitated. This sentence will ensure that this recidivist ‘not-so-young’ mob member will grow old in a federal prison.”

“ATF will not tolerate violent gangs that fuel their criminality by distributing danger drugs like fentanyl on our streets,” said Special Agent in Charge Jamey VanVliet of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Office. “This sentencing underscores the collective efforts of our local, state, and federal partners and the unwavering commitment to maintaining public safety. Through persistent investigation, collaboration, and enforcement, we will continue to dismantle these criminal networks and protect the safety and security of our citizens.”

While detained pending trial for the drug conspiracy, Anderson was charged and convicted at trial of possessing two sharpened, handmade knives, commonly referred to as “shanks” while at the Shelby County Detention Center. Video from the jail showed Anderson threatening another inmate while swinging and thrusting the knives. When the shanks were taken from Anderson, he stated, “God is on his side, I was about to kill that boy.” Anderson then continued to make threats against the other inmate, stating, “I’m going to kill that boy when I get out.”

Anderson with shank

Other alleged members of the drug conspiracy, including the leader of the Young Mob, are charged in separate indictment with racketeering conspiracy, as well as narcotics and firearm offenses.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Memphis Police Department investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Amanda J. Kotula and Cesar Rivera-Giraud of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS) prosecuted the case. Brian P. Leaming of VCRS and Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Neal Oldham for the Western District of Tennessee provided substantial assistance with the investigation and prosecution.

This case is part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative in Memphis conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee and local, state, and federal law enforcement. The joint effort addresses violent crime by employing, where appropriate, federal laws to prosecute gang members and their associates in Memphis.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced today that a federal grand jury indicted a former Social Security Administration (SSA) employee in connection with a social security disability theft scheme. Najee Alexander Corbett, 37, of Baltimore, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, theft of government property, and false statements.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tallahassee, Florida – Forrest Alan Price, 31, of Tallahassee, Florida, has been indicted in federal court for possession with intent to distribute synthetic cathinone and five grams or more of methamphetamine, carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

St. Thomas, USVI –U.S. Attorney Adam F. Sleeper announced today that Jahmar Frederick, 32, of St. Croix, was sentenced yesterday by visiting District Court Judge Timothy Savage to 24 months of imprisonment for being in possession of a firearm as a felon. Frederick was also placed on three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.