Month: March 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

          SANTA ANA, California – An Orange County man was sentenced today to 188 months in federal prison for selling nearly four pounds of methamphetamine while he was on supervised release following a 2009 terrorism conviction.

          Ahmed Binyamin Alasiri, 45, a.k.a. Kevin Lamar James, of Garden Grove, was sentenced by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Judge Carney also sentenced Alasiri to 24 months in federal prison for violating the terms of his supervised release, a sentence that will run concurrently to Alasiri’s 188-month term.

          Alasiri pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

          About one year after being released from prison and while serving a term of federal supervised release, Alasiri sold methamphetamine to a buyer on three occasions.

          “[Alasiri] was industrious and obtained legitimate full-time employment, yet he did not hesitate to traffic in drugs to earn income,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “He valued his personal short-term goals over respect for the law, the societal and individual damage caused by narcotics, and the risk of arrest for drug trafficking.”

          On July 24, 2020, Alasiri sold the buyer 430 grams of pure methamphetamine in exchange for $3,700. On August 6, 2020, Alasiri exchanged 435 grams of pure methamphetamine to the buyer for $3,700. On August 20, 2020, Alasiri distributed 877 grams of pure methamphetamine to the buyer in exchange for $7,400.

          The total weight of the methamphetamine was approximately 1.7 kilograms (3.8 pounds).

          Alasiri admitted in his plea agreement that he – not the buyer – first raised the topic of selling drugs, and that he had “family members who were drug traffickers and that he himself sold drugs to customers.”

          Alasiri is on supervised release after completing a 16-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to levy war against the United States through terrorism. Alasiri’s co-conspirators committed numerous armed robberies of gas stations to raise money for attacks Alasari planned on U.S. military operations and Israeli and Jewish facilities in Southern California. Alasiri completed his prison sentence in September 2019.

          This case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Orange County, with assistance from the following JTTF agencies and other partners: the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the United States Probation Office, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Garden Grove Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, the United States Department of Defense, and the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center.

          Assistant United States Attorney Dennise D. Willett of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section prosecuted this case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FRESNO, Calif. — Thomas Patrick Day, 41, of Modesto, pleaded guilty today to burglarizing a post office, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on the night of July 2, 2020, Day broke into the post office at 8271 Camanche Parkway South in Wallace, a town in Calaveras County. He used a glass breaker tool to shatter the glass on the door to the lobby area of the post office and then stole packages and keys to post office boxes belonging to other people and businesses.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the case.

Day is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on June 21, 2022. If convicted, Day faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 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 News

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jason Smeltzer, 40, of Albuquerque, appeared in federal court on March 25 for a preliminary and detention hearing where he was charged with robbing four local banks. Smeltzer will be conditionally released to La Pasada Halfway House pending trial, which has not been scheduled.

According to a criminal complaint, from Jan. 20 to Feb. 23, Smeltzer allegedly robbed four Albuquerque banks, one of which was robbed twice for a total of five robberies. Each time, Smeltzer allegedly entered the bank and presented a similar demand note to a teller. Once the tellers complied, Smeltzer allegedly fled on foot. Following the fourth robbery, the teller allegedly observed Smeltzer entering a vehicle parked nearby.

On Jan. 21, the FBI received a tip through the National Threat Operation Center identifying Smeltzer as a possible suspect. On Feb. 23, robbery detectives from the Albuquerque Police Department initiated a traffic stop of Smeltzer’s vehicle and FBI agents responded to the scene. Smeltzer was taken into custody.

“Bank robbery is one of several crimes that will place you in the path of our federal task force officers and eventually in federal court,” said Fred J. Federici, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico. “We are all affected by these crimes, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is prepared to aggressively prosecute.”

“The FBI has been catching bank robbers for almost a century, and we bring that extensive experience to bear on every one of these crimes we investigate,” said Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office. “Be assured that if you rob a bank in New Mexico, the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and our law enforcement partners will spare no resource in bringing you to justice. We want to thank the public for their help, which should make anyone think twice before committing this type of crime.”

A complaint is only an allegation. A defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Smeltzer faces up to 20 years in prison.

The FBI Albuquerque Violent Crimes and Gangs Task Force investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Presiliano Torrez is prosecuting the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA – Edwin Mack Taylor, of Elkins, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 86 months of incarceration for selling methamphetamine, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.

Taylor, 54, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine.” Taylor sold methamphetamine, also known as “crystal meth” and “ice,” in January 2020 in Randolph County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Mountain Region Drug Task Force investigated.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Ricky Patel, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced today that STANISLAV TUNKEVIC, of Lithuania, was extradited to the United States on bank fraud and money laundering offenses arising from a scheme to launder money derived from an online vehicle sale scam that took in at least $3.5 million from defrauded consumers.  VLADISLAV NECEAEV, of Brooklyn, New York, recently pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with the same scheme.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “This case is another reminder that while the Internet has often been a force for the public good, it has also been used by criminals to swindle the unwary.  But online fraudsters who hide behind the anonymity of the Internet still need co-conspirators like Tunkevic and Neceaev, who are willing to launder the loot.  This Office is committed to rooting out both the online scammers and their enablers.”

HSI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Ricky Patel said:  “As alleged, Tunkevic and Neceaev laundered money for a group of fraudsters that preyed on innocent victims who were simply looking to buy a used car online; an act so common that it allowed the group of crooks to pocket millions off this elaborate scheme from unsuspecting customers.  With the use of Tunkevic and Neceaev’s money laundering services, their criminal partners used fictitious websites to lure victims to fraudulent dealerships, all to profit off the backs of hard-working people looking to make a legitimate purchase.  HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force coordinated efforts with HSI’s Attaché office in the Hague to assist with this extradition and will work tirelessly to identify and prosecute all co-conspirators that perpetuated this consumer fraud and money laundering scheme.”

As alleged in the Complaint and the Indictments,^[1] and based on statements made in court:    

From at least March 2019 through approximately March 2021, STANISLAV TUNKEVIC and VLADISLAV NECEAEV were members of a money laundering crew operating from Brooklyn that was coordinated by NECEAEV’s mother and co-defendant, Natalia Korzha.  Members of that crew, including TUNKEVIC and NECEAEV, opened numerous bank accounts in the name of shell companies for the purpose of laundering money stolen from consumers who were trying to buy vehicles online, in exchange for a cut of the victims’ money.  Other members of the conspiracy, pretending to represent car dealerships, advertised vehicles that they did not own and were not authorized to sell on fake websites with domain names that sounded like legitimate car dealerships, or through online marketplaces like Craigslist and eBay.  Victims who responded to those advertisements and negotiated a purchase price were instructed by the purported sellers to wire payment to accounts that TUNKEVIC, NECEAEV, and other co-conspirators opened.  Once the payments cleared, the account owners, including TUNKEVIC and NECEAEV, quickly withdrew the funds before the victims realized they had been defrauded.  The victims never received the vehicles they thought they had bought or any refunds from the fake sellers.  In total, dozens of victims were defrauded of a total of at least $3.5 million. 

TUNKEVIC was presented today in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave.

NECEAEV pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud on March 14, 2022, before Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger.

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STANISLAV TUNKEVIC, 47, of Lithuania, was extradited to the United States on March 25, 2022.  TUNKEVIC is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

VLADISLAV NECEAEV, 28, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud on March 14, 2022.

The offense of conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000,000.  The crime of conspiracy to commit money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of Homeland Security Investigations. He also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau for their assistance in this investigation.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Lai is in charge of the prosecution.