Month: May 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis man has pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, on June 10, 2021, officers with the Minneapolis Police Department observed several individuals engaging in what appeared to be hand-to-hand drug deals. When officers approached the group, Albert Walter Bratton, 26, attempted to flee on foot, but officers were able to apprehend him. After Bratton was taken into custody, officers recovered a Glock model 43, 9 mm semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine, which Bratton had removed from his waistband. Officers later recovered two baggies that Bratton possessed containing a total of approximately 10 grams of crack cocaine, divided into several smaller baggies for distribution.

Bratton pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz to one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. A sentencing date has not been set.

This case is the result of an investigation led by the Minneapolis Police Department, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Secret Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry M. Jacobs is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

          SANTA ANA, California – A former physician assistant at a Fountain Valley medical clinic was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to issue and sell prescriptions for oxycodone, a highly addictive opioid painkiller, without a medical purpose, to drug dealers, knowing the drugs would be sold on the street.

          Raif Wadie Iskander, 56, formerly of Ladera Ranch, but who now resides in Ennis, Montana, was sentenced by United States District Judge James V. Selna.

          Iskander pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.

          From 2018 to April 2019, Iskander, who was a licensed physician assistant in California, wrote prescriptions for purported “patients” he had never met or examined. Iskander provided to drug dealers multiple paper prescriptions that he had signed, but with the patient names left blank, to be filled in by drug dealers later.

          In exchange for cash, Iskander wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for co-defendants Johnny Gilbert Alvarez, 42, a.k.a. “M.J.,” of Santa Ana, who sold the prescribed drugs on the street as well as to an undercover officer.

          Iskander knew that the oxycodone filled from the prescriptions would be sold to drug customers who were not using the oxycodone for legitimate medical purposes and whom he had never met or examined.

          Alvarez pleaded guilty in November 2021 to one count of distribution of methamphetamine and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.

          The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Costa Mesa Police Department, and the California Department of Health Care Services investigated this matter.

          Assistant United States Attorney Rosalind Wang of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Arnell Moore, 18, of Philadelphia, PA was charged by Indictment with carjacking, and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in the City of Philadelphia earlier this year.

Court documents allege that on the night of March 18, 2022, the defendant and at least two accomplices called in a food delivery order to an abandoned residential property in Northeast Philadelphia, and then carjacked the unsuspecting delivery driver at gunpoint when he arrived. The police recovered the stolen vehicle a few days later, and a subsequent search of Moore’s bedroom led to the recovery of the phone used to make the delivery order as well as a loaded semi-automatic firearm, which is alleged to have been used during the carjacking.

“The charges announced today against this defendant exemplify the type of rapid results we have promised to deliver through the Carjacking Task Force and the ‘All Hands On Deck’ initiative,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “As alleged, Moore and his accomplices set up an innocent delivery driver and stole his vehicle, which he relies on for his livelihood. Enough is enough – if you commit a serious violent crime like an armed carjacking in our city, you can expect the feds to show up on your doorstep.”

“ATF is standing true to our decree by holding violent offenders accountable,” said Matthew Varisco, Special Agent in charge of ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division. “Our mission is to combat violent firearm crimes, and this is exactly the type our task force is set out to investigate.  If you commit a carjacking, you will be investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department, the ATF, FBI and our local, state, and federal partners.”

The swift action to investigate and federally charge these defendants is the result of the newly formed Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force, which is comprised of members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Violent Crime Unit; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Philadelphia Police Department. The goal of the task force is to stem the wave of armed carjackings and violent crimes through investigative and enforcement techniques meant to identify and refer for federal prosecution all who terrorize innocent victims through commission of these offenses within Philadelphia and surrounding areas.

If convicted on all charges, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison with a maximum possible sentence of life.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew T. Newcomer.

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BOSTON – A woman pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to her role in a wide-ranging fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking conspiracy.

Jessica Hughes, of Orange, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and cocaine base (crack cocaine). U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Oct. 6, 2022. Hughes was charged along with 17 others in July 2020.

According to court documents, following a fatal fentanyl overdose in September 2018, law enforcement began an investigation into a drug trafficking organization (DTO) in the Fitchburg area led by co-conspirators Pedro Baez and Anthony Baez. Beginning in July 2019, intercepted electronic communications revealed that Pedro and Anthony Baez worked together and with others to distribute a fentanyl and heroin mixture and crack cocaine on a regular basis to individuals in the Fitchburg area who then redistributed that mixture to others. Hughes was a regular drug customer of the DTO and routinely purchased both a fentanyl/heroin mixture and crack cocaine from Pedro Baez.

Over the course of the investigation, agents seized over 1.8 kilograms of a heroin and fentanyl mixture, over 3.6 kilograms of cocaine and over 50 grams of crack cocaine, as well as a stolen, loaded handgun, drug manufacturing equipment and over $376,000. 

Hughes is the 13^th defendant to plead guilty in the case. In December 2020, Anthony Baez was sentenced by Judge Hillman to 13 years in prison. Co-defendants Pedro Baez, Amanda Ford, Monica Troche, Branny Taveras, Shastaalena Blair, Valerie Lucier, Pablo Vidarte Hernandez, Kevin Martinez, Ricky Figueroa, Hector Matos and Rafael Hidalgo Rodriguez have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, 400 grams or more of fentanyl, 280 grams or more of cocaine base, and 500 grams or more of cocaine provides for a sentence of up to life in prison, a term of supervised release of up to life and a fine of up to $10 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Commissioner Carol Mici of the Massachusetts Department of Correction; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today. The Fitchburg and Lunenburg Police Departments, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Massachusetts State Police provided valuable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter of Rollins’ Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case. 

The operation was conducted is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (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. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

GREENSBORO, NC – In honor of National Police Week, United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston will recognize the service and sacrifice of federal, state, and local law enforcement. This year, the week is officially observed Wednesday, May 11 through Tuesday, May 17, 2022, and events are planned in the district from May 10 to May 19.

“This week, we gather to pay tribute to the law enforcement officers who sacrificed their lives in service to our country,” said Attorney General Garland. “We remember the courage with which they worked and lived. And we recommit ourselves to the mission to which they dedicated their lives. On behalf of a grateful Justice Department and a grateful nation, I extend my sincerest thanks and gratitude to the entire law enforcement community.”

“The law enforcement partners we have on the local, state, and federal levels in the Middle District of North Carolina are among the best in the nation,” said U.S. Attorney Sandra Hairston. “Every day, these men and women serve their communities with the utmost dignity and respect, often putting themselves in harm’s way for public safety. We thank them for their service this week and honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty while protecting others.”

In 1962, President Kennedy issued the first proclamation for Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week to remember and honor law enforcement officers for their service and sacrifices.  Peace Officers Memorial Day, which every year falls on May 15, specifically honors law enforcement officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. Based on data submitted to and analyzed by the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), 472 law enforcement officers died nationwide in the line of duty in 2021.  Of that number, 319 succumbed to COVID-19.  Five officers died in 2021 from injuries sustained in the line of duty in the Middle District of North Carolina.  

Additionally, according to 2021 statistics reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through the Law Enforcement Officer Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, 73 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2021 were killed as a result of felonious acts, whereas 56 died in accidents.  Deaths resulting from felonious acts increased in 2021, rising more than 58 percent from the previous year.  In 2021, unprovoked attacks[1] were the cause of 24 deaths significantly outpacing all other line of duty deaths resulting from felony acts and reaching the highest annual total in over 30 years of reporting.  Additional LEOKA statistics can be found on FBI’s Crime Data Explorer website for the LEOKA program. 

The names of the 619 fallen officers added this year to the wall at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial were read on Friday, May 13, 2022, during a Candlelight Vigil in Washington, D.C. Those who wish to view the vigil online, can watch on the NLEOMF YouTube channel found at https://www.youtube.com/TheNLEOMF. The schedule of National Police Week events is available on NLEOMF’s website.

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[1] An unprovoked attack is defined as an attack on an officer not prompted by official contact at the time of the incident between the officer and the offender.  Source:  Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through the Law Enforcement Officer Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program.