Month: June 2022

Posted on

Security News: Florida Man Arrested for $2.5 Million COVID-Relief Fraud

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BOSTON – A former Massachusetts resident and owner of a Massachusetts-based painting company has been arrested and charged in connection with allegedly filing a fraudulent loan application to obtain $2.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Vinicius Santana, 34, of Boca Raton, Fla. and formerly of Revere, was charged with one count of wire fraud. Santana was arrested Monday evening at Miami International Airport. He appeared in federal court in Miami yesterday afternoon and will appear in Massachusetts at a later date.  

According to the charging documents, Santana owned Complete Home Care, LLC (CHC), a painting company in Massachusetts. In April 2020, Santana submitted four different PPP loan applications on behalf of CHC. The first three applications, in which Santana allegedly listed five employees and an average monthly payroll of between $10,000 and $18,000, were denied. In the fourth application for CHC, it is alleged that Santana falsely claimed to have 154 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1 million. On May 11, 2020, a bank issued Santana’s company a $2,500,000 loan based on the alleged false representations in the fourth application. 

After receiving the funds, it is alleged that Santana misused the loan proceeds to buy cars and invest in cryptocurrency.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain approved expenses, through the PPP.

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the scheme, whichever is greater. 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; Stephen Donnelly, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Eastern Region, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Patricia Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, New York Region; and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin A. Saltzman and Mackenzie A. Queenin of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit are prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The details contained in the complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Posted on

Security News: Violent recidivist sentenced to 10 years in prison for using a stolen identity to buy guns

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ATLANTA – Dawuan Na’jee Williams, a multi-convicted felon, has been sentenced to federal prison for using another person’s name and date of birth to purchase more than two dozen firearms, some of which were later used in a shooting and other crimes.                                                                                              

“Because he’s a felon several times over, Williams could not lawfully possess or purchase firearms,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “He then skirted federal law by utilizing stolen identification information to purchase firearms and will spend the next decade in federal prison.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Special Agent in Charge, Jeffrey L. Matthews, of the Newark Field Division said, “This is a reminder that all would-be firearms traffickers and those that contribute to violent crime in our communities are on our radar and there is no safe haven.  ATF is deliberate and calculated in our approach to stem violent gun crimes from devastating our neighborhoods, while exploiting investigative leads derived from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), connecting crime guns to crime scenes, and leveraging our expertise to support investigations across multiple jurisdictions.”

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: Williams purchased more than two dozen firearms and large-capacity ammunition magazines from federally licensed firearms dealers in North Georgia and the Atlanta metro area between May 2020 and June 2021. Some of these guns were used in crimes just days after Williams obtained them.

For example, in May 2021, police officers in Newark, New Jersey, recovered a loaded semiautomatic pistol from a crime scene just eight days after Williams bought that firearm. In early July 2021, police officers in Tallahassee, Fla. responded to the location of a shooting and recovered a pistol that Williams purchased approximately four weeks earlier. In late July 2021, ATF agents seized several guns from Williams’s residence. Those guns included a pistol Williams purchased two months before ATF recovered it. NIBIN analysis linked that pistol to a shell casing recovered from the scene of the Tallahassee shooting. In connection with that incident, authorities in Florida charged Williams with various offenses, including attempted murder and aggravated assault. Those charges remain pending.

During the entirety of his buying spree, Williams was strictly prohibited from purchasing firearms because he had been convicted previously of numerous felonies, including home invasion robbery, robbery, terroristic threats, kidnapping, aggravated battery, drug trafficking, grand theft, and criminal use of personal identification information. During each sale, Williams used identification information belonging to a victim who was unaware of Williams’s identity theft.

Dawuan Na’jee Williams, 40, of Jonesboro, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg to ten years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Williams pleaded guilty on February 9, 2022, to one count of presenting false identification to a federally licensed firearms dealer.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, Firearms Trafficking Coordinator for the Northern District of Georgia, prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In keeping with the Attorney General’s mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

Posted on

Security News: York County Man Sentenced To Over 19 Years In Prison For Drug Trafficking And Firearms Offenses

Source: United States Department of Justice News

HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Matthew Jeremy Acevedo, age 31, of York, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner to 235 months in prison, for drug trafficking and possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Acevedo pleaded guilty to trafficking over five kilograms of methamphetamines, trafficking fentanyl, and being in possession of firearms as a convicted felon.  The drugs and firearms were seized during a June 17, 2021, search warrant at Acevedo’s York home. During the search, police arrested Acevedo and seized 17 ounces of crystal methamphetamine, fentanyl pills, firearms, and other drug trafficking materials. Acevedo was a previously convicted felon and prohibited by law from possessing a firearm.

The case was investigated by the York County Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Consiglio is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of opioids.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin and fentanyl 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.

This case is also being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

# # #

Posted on

Security News: Fred D. Godley Jr. and Companies to Pay $1.25 Million for Asbestos Cleanup

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Federal Government to be Reimbursed for Cleanup of Two Superfund Sites Outside of Charlotte, North Carolina

The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement under which Fred D. Godley Jr. and two of his companies – 436 Cone Avenue LLC and F.D. Godley Number Three LLC – will pay $1.25 million for government cleanup work at the Pineville Textile Mill Superfund Site in Pineville, North Carolina, and the Old Davis Hospital Superfund Site in Statesville, North Carolina.

The cleanup effort removed almost 4,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated debris from the Old Davis Hospital Superfund Site and oversaw the removal of asbestos-contaminated debris and drums of oil containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the Pineville Textile Mill Superfund Site. Asbestos and PCBs are carcinogenic hazardous substances and may pose risks to human health.

The Justice Department, on behalf of the EPA, sued the defendants in 2019 to recover the United States’ unpaid cleanup costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also commonly known as “CERCLA” or “the Superfund law”). The United States’ complaint alleged that Godley’s companies owned and operated the two sites. The complaint further alleged that Godley, as the companies’ manager, also operated the sites and made the decision to demolish aged and dilapidated buildings without ensuring that asbestos was surveyed and safely removed before demolition began. These demolition activities caused the release and threat of release of asbestos and PCBs into the air and ground and potentially offsite into nearby residential neighborhoods. 

The settlement comes on the heels of a successful trial, completed in January in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, in which a jury returned a verdict finding Godley personally liable for the government’s costs at the Old Davis Hospital Superfund Site under the legal doctrine of piercing the corporate veil. 

“This settlement and the jury’s verdict send the message that an individual cannot hide behind the corporate shield when he creates and perpetuates a public health risk in the community,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. 

“EPA is committed to protecting communities by enforcing an individual’s obligations to properly manage and dispose of hazardous waste,” said EPA Region 4 Administrator Daniel Blackman. “This verdict reflects EPA’s continued commitment to protect human health and the environment by ensuring compliance with state and federal environmental laws.”

The consent decree requires Godley and his companies to reimburse the EPA $1.25 million in costs, and requires Godley to provide the EPA notice, information, and access and to ensure proper asbestos inspections and abatement whenever he undertakes future demolition activities on properties that he owns and/or controls, regardless of whether he does so in his individual capacity or on behalf of a business entity.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. The consent decree will be available for viewing at https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

Posted on

Security News: United States Sues The Town/Village Of Harrison, New York And Its Fire Department For Discrimination And Sexual Harassment

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Lawsuit Alleges That the Town/Village of Harrison and Its Fire Department Discriminated and Retaliated Against a Female Firefighter Who Was Subjected to Unwanted Sexual Advances and Harassed by a Senior Male Firefighter

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that the United States has filed a lawsuit against the TOWN/VILLAGE OF HARRISON (“HARRISON”), the FIRE DISTRICT TWO OF HARRISON, and the HARRISON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT NO. 1 OF HARRISON, N.Y. d/b/a HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT (“HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT”), alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). HARRISON and the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT are alleged to have unlawfully discriminated against a female firefighter by creating a hostile work environment and terminating her employment after she reported that a male senior firefighter had harassed and stalked her.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “Sexual harassment in the workplace is abhorrent. All employers, including government agencies, must ensure that sexual harassment is prohibited—not ignored or followed by illegal employment actions against victims, as we allege occurred at the Town of Harrison. This suit seeks to remedy the civil rights violations committed by the Harrison Fire Department and the Town of Harrison, and ensure that Harrison protects its employees’ rights in the future.”

As alleged in the complaint filed in the White Plains federal court:

In 2015, Angela Bommarito (“Bommarito”) joined the HARRISON Fire Department. In her first month on the job, a senior firefighter, Henry Mohr (“Mohr”), pressured Bommarito with unwanted sexual advances. Mohr later also harassed and stalked Bommarito, including by repeatedly following her and calling her on numerous occasions. Further, Mohr used sexually demeaning expletives to describe Bommarito in front of other firefighters. HARRISON and HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT leaders learned of Mohr’s harassment, including through reports by Bommarito. After those officials failed to take any employment action against Mohr and the harassment persisted, Bommarito filed a report with HARRISON’s Police Department. In response, HARRISON’s then-Police Chief told Mohr, in a recorded interaction, that Bommarito’s presence at the firehouse was a “temptation,” which was “hard to resist sometimes,” and that the Police Chief “want[ed] to broker a deal with the Town to make sure this whole thing dies” so that he could get Mohr “out of this situation.” Bommarito subsequently signed a resignation letter prepared by the Police Chief after he threatened to arrest her and report her other relationships to HARRISON’s Fire Commissioners. Soon after, Bommarito attempted to withdraw the resignation, but the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT proceeded with the termination of her employment.

Following Bommarito’s departure from the Harrison Fire Department, Mohr continued to harass and stalk her. Mohr was eventually arrested for his harassment of Bommarito and pled guilty to harassment in the second degree.  A family court judge also entered an order of protection against Mohr.

Title VII authorizes the Department of Justice to commence an action in the United States District Court against HARRISON and the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT to remedy discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation in violation of Title VII. The United States’ complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages on behalf of Bommarito.

*                *                *

This case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Charles S. Jacob and Natasha W. Teleanu are in charge of the case.