Month: May 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

LONDON, Ky. – Investigators from the DEA Criminal Diversion Group, the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, the Barbourville Police Department, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Manchester Police Department arrested twelve people, and seized approximately 10,000 diverted oxycodone pills and over $2,000,000 in U.S. Currency, as the result of an investigation into a Louisville-based drug trafficking operation.

In connection with this investigation, a federal grand jury sitting in London returned an indictment charging Jose Luis Barata Vazquez, Alexey Barata Hernandez, Yoleisys Reyes Castillo, Dioslen Jimenez Ortiz, Kaid Rogers, Allison Renee Rogers, Michael King, Christopher King, Floyd Barker, Sheila Barger, and Samuel Barger with conspiring, together and with others, to distribute oxycodone in Madison, Estill, Clay, and Laurel counties, from September 2019 to March 2022.  The grand jury also returned an indictment charging Franklin Hammons, in a related case, with conspiring with others to distribute oxycodone in Knox County, from April 2012 to April 2022.  

Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1,000,000, supervised release of up to 3 years, as well as forfeiture of any assets used to facilitate these crimes or that constitute the proceeds of these offenses.  However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes. 

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; J. Todd Scott, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Louisville Field Division; Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron; and Vic Brown, Executive Director of Appalachia HIDTA, jointly announced the indictment.  Assistant United States Attorney W. Samuel Dotson is representing the United States.

Any indictment is an accusation only. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Johnny Ricardo Thomas, a/k/a Rico, a/k/a Lulu, 34, of Durham, N.C., has been sentenced to more than 2o years in federal prison after pleading guilty to coercing minors to engage in prostitution in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina and elsewhere.

Evidence presented to the Court showed that the case began when officers with the Myrtle Beach Police Department interviewed a 15-year-old runaway who reported she was the victim of human trafficking. Subsequent investigation by the Myrtle Beach Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) revealed that sometime in March 2019, Thomas, the 15-year-old minor victim, a second 16-year-old minor victim, and others, travelled from North Carolina to the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina and other places for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

Although Thomas knew the two victims were minors, he would take pictures of them, create online advertisements making the minors available for sex, and coerce or force the victims to engage in sexual acts for money. According to one of the minor victims, Thomas told her he would sell her to someone worse – who would do things like slice off her toes – if she did not perform commercial sex acts. In a statement from that minor victim provided to the Court at Thomas’s sentencing, the victim said she still had night terrors, looks over her shoulder everywhere she goes, and felt “disgusting, used, worthless, [and] empty.”

“Crimes against children are vile, indefensible, and can create lifelong victims,” said U.S. Attorney Corey F. Ellis. “We are fortunate that our federal, state, and local partners share our commitment to thoroughly investigate these cases, provide services to the affected victims, and prosecute those who engage in this reprehensible conduct. These efforts are clear in this case, and are the reason that the Defendant – who victimized two minor children – will spend decades in prison and the rest of his life being monitored by the Court.”

“Over the last several years, this office has worked hand-in-hand with our federal counterparts to identify and address criminal activity across Horry and Georgetown Counties, specifically including human trafficking,” said Scott Hixson, Chief Deputy Solicitor for the 15th Judicial Circuit, who also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney on this matter. “The efforts in this case showcase the power of combining state and federal resources to make a serious impact in our community, and our hope is this plan of attack will ring successful in future prosecutions.”

“We are all thankful that this case has been resolved and the victims can now begin the healing process knowing that this predator will no longer be able to hurt them,” said Special Agent in Charge Ronnie Martinez, who oversees HSI operations in North Carolina and South Carolina. “HSI and its law enforcement partners prioritize the protection of our most vulnerable population, and this case is a warning to other would-be traffickers that we will find you and hold you accountable for your unconscionable actions.”

“We have no greater responsibility than to protect our children, and law enforcement will always stand up for those that need help,” said Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock. “This case was a partnership built on that mission, and we couldn’t be more proud of the team that brought Mr. Thomas to justice.”

United States District Judge Sherri A. Lydon sentenced Thomas to 262 months imprisonment, to be followed by a lifetime term of court-ordered supervision.  There is no parole in the federal system. Thomas was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims. According to information presented to the Court, the convicti0n was part of Thomas’s lengthy criminal history. Thomas’s record includes convictions for breaking and entering, felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, assault on a government official, and resisting arrest. A co-defendant in the case, Becca Mills, 25, of Whispering Pines, N.C., has pled guilty to a charge related to concealing Thomas’s crimes from law enforcement authorities. She will be sentenced at a later date.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by HSI, the Myrtle Beach Police Department, and the Rockingham, N.C. Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek A. Shoemake and Lauren Hummel, along with Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Hixson, prosecuted the case. The case was originally prosecuted by the Solicitor’s Office for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, under the leadership of Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, and federally prosecuted as part of a collaborative effort by federal and state partners in the Myrtle Beach area to combat sex trafficking and child exploitation.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that JAKE SCOTT FLEWELLYN, 24, of Norwalk, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with child pornography offenses.

Flewellyn surrendered to law enforcement yesterday afternoon.  He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti in Bridgeport and was released on a $100,000 bond under electronic monitoring.

As alleged in court documents, in December 2021, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) received a report from the provider of the smartphone messaging application Kik about a Kik user who was distributing videos of child pornography through its service.  Kik deactivated the user’s account.  In early April 2022, while federal law enforcement was investigating this matter to determine the Kik user’s identity, Kik submitted to NCMEC another report of a user account that was being used to distribute videos of child pornography.  The investigation revealed that Flewellyn created both Kik accounts and used them to distribute images and videos depicting child sex abuse

The complaint charges Flewellyn with distribution of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and accessing with intent to view child pornography, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. 

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Norwalk Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Dearington and Neeraj N. Patel.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Hensel Phelps Construction Company (Hensel Phelps), a large construction company headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, has agreed to pay $2,804,110 to resolve allegations that it improperly manipulated a federal subcontract designated for a business owned and operated by a service-disabled veteran, announced Carla B. Freedman, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. 

“This settlement holds accountable another large company for scheming to obtain a contract set aside for a veteran-owned small business,” said United States Attorney Freedman.  “Working closely with our colleagues in the Eastern District of Washington and our agency partners, we have returned millions of dollars to taxpayers over the past three months while demonstrating the serious consequences for those who divert contracting opportunities away from veterans.”

Federal government contracts and subcontracts may be reserved, or “set aside,” for various categories of small businesses, such that only eligible small businesses in a particular socioeconomic category are eligible to bid on, receive, and perform the contracts.  One such category is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), which is reserved for small businesses owned, controlled, and operated by veterans of the United States military who incurred a disability in the course of their military service to the United States.  Large businesses that perform on large federal prime contracts must develop and implement small business subcontracting plans designed to subcontract portions of the work to SDVOSBs and other types of small businesses.

Hensel Phelps is a general contractor and construction company that performs large scale private construction and public works projects nationwide, including in New York and Washington States.  In 2011, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees construction of many federal buildings, awarded Hensel Phelps a contract to construct the Armed Forces Retirement Home’s New Commons/Health Care Building in Washington, D.C.  The Armed Forces Retirement Home provides retirement communities and residential facilities for veterans.  As a condition of the contract, Hensel Phelps was required to have and implement a small business subcontracting plan to provide contracting opportunities for SDVOSBs and other types of small businesses. 

During the course of the contract, Hensel Phelps negotiated with another large business, identified in the settlement agreement as “Company 1,” to provide kitchen and food service equipment for the Armed Forces Retirement Home.  In the settlement agreement, Hensel Phelps admitted that it negotiated the entire subcontract, including all of the equipment, installation, and other needed kitchen work, including pricing, with Company 1, which was not an SDVOSB.  Hensel Phelps further admitted that after it had fully negotiated the work with Company 1, rather than executing the subcontract with Company 1, Hensel Phelps instead entered into a subcontract with an SDVOSB, identified in the settlement agreement as “the SDVOSB,” providing for the same work and using the same terms and pricing that had been agreed upon between Hensel Phelps and Company 1, but including an additional 1.5% fee for the SDVOSB.  Hensel Phelps further admitted that it should have known that the SDVOSB was merely a passthrough for Company 1, which was providing all of the work on the subcontract, including the bonding, purchasing, and installing of all of the equipment, and that the SDVOSB’s role was limited to providing its SDVOSB status and making it appear as though an SDVOSB was performing the work.

In February 2022, Trimark USA, LLC, an equipment vendor headquartered in Mansfield, Massachusetts, paid $48.5 million to resolve admissions and allegations that TriMark subsidiaries improperly manipulated and obtained contracts set aside for SDVOSBs nationwide, including the Armed Forces Retirement Home subcontract.  In the same settlement, former TriMark executive Kimberly Rimsza paid an additional $100,000 penalty to resolve her individual liability.

“Taking advantage of contracts intended for companies owned and operated by service-disabled veterans demonstrates a shocking disregard for fair competition and integrity in government contracting,” said United States Attorney Waldref.  “Together with the landmark TriMark settlement, we have returned over $50 million to the public and provided accountability for these critical programs.  I want to especially commend our strong partnership with the Northern District of New York and the stellar investigative work done by the case agents.  We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to pursue small business fraud and ensure fair contracting opportunities for our small business community, which is critical to a safe and strong Eastern Washington.”

“Fraudulent schemes that take advantage of contract opportunities set aside for disabled veterans cheat the government and deserving bidders.  We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to preserve the integrity of federal contracting,” said GSA Inspector General Carol Fortine Ochoa.

“Protecting Department of Defense (DoD) contracts intended for small businesses owned by disabled veterans of the United States military is a priority for the DoD Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS),” stated Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty, DCIS Northeast Field Office.  “We will continue to work with the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners to hold companies accountable for circumventing SDVOSB requirements.”

This case began in April 2022, when a whistleblower, a company known as Fox Unlimited Enterprises, LLP, filed a qui tam complaint under seal in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Case No. 1:22-cv-355.  When a whistleblower, or “relator,” files a qui tam complaint, the False Claims Act requires the United States to investigate the allegations and elect whether to intervene and take over the action or to decline to intervene and allow the relator to go forward with the litigation on behalf of the United States.  The relator is generally able to then share in any recovery.  Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the relator will receive $630,925 of the settlement.

The settlement was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Syracuse Post of Duty; the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, New York Field Investigations Office; the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, New York Field Office; the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Procurement Fraud Detachment 6, Rome, New York; the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division, Syracuse Fraud Branch Office; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Spokane and Buffalo Resident Agencies; and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Economic Crimes Resident Agency Northeast.  Assistant United States Attorneys Adam J. Katz of the Northern District of New York and Dan Fruchter and Tyler H.L. Tornabene of the Eastern District of Washington handled this matter on behalf of the United States.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion sentenced David Sandoval, age 21, of Anaheim, California, yesterday to 60 months’ imprisonment and a 5-year term of supervised release, for his participation in a drug trafficking organization that moved large quantities of Heroin, Fentanyl, Cocaine and Methamphetamine from California to various major Midwest and East Coast cities.

According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, on January 28, 2019, while in route to a drug exchange in Pottsville, PA, Sandoval was arrested and found to be in possession of two large duffle bags containing approximately 3 kilograms of Heroin.  Further investigation revealed that Sandoval, a courier for the drug trafficking organization, had made numerous prior trips from California to major East Coast cities like New York and Boston, each time transporting a significant quantity of controlled substances, which he would then pass on to co-conspirators in those cities for local distribution.      

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and  prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery St. John.

The case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

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