Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County on Thursday admitted selling the fentanyl that killed a pregnant woman in 2018.

Raymond Blankenship, 27, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony charge of distribution of fentanyl. He admitted in his plea agreement that he sold fentanyl capsules to a St. Louis County woman on Sept. 17, 2018. She died later that day of acute fentanyl intoxication.

The woman arranged to buy the drug via Facebook messages with Blankenship. After her initial inquiry, Blankenship said he was out of the painkiller Percocet but would call someone else to see if they had any drugs, Blankenship’s plea says.

After her death, St. Louis County police detectives posed as the woman and arranged to buy more fentanyl from Blankenship. When police tried to arrest him, Blankenship ran and swallowed some of the capsules containing fentanyl.

Blankenship was indicted June 23, 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Springfield, Illinois, resident, Brock A. Purdy, 34, of the 2000 block of Converse Avenue was sentenced on May 31, 2022, to eleven years in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of Ice methamphetamine.

At the sentencing hearing in front of United States District Judge Sue E. Myerscough, the government presented evidence that between September 1, 2016, and February 21, 2017, Purdy, along with co-defendant, Brendon Richardson, conspired to distribute well over 200 grams of “Ice” methamphetamine in Mason and Menard Counties in the State of Illinois. The government’s evidence showed that the defendants purchased methamphetamine on the dark web using cryptocurrency and had the drugs mailed to them. They then further distributed the methamphetamine in central Illinois. The defendants also used an encrypted messaging application to try and hide their activities. Richardson was sentenced to six years in federal prison in January 2020.    

Purdy, who is formerly of Menard County, was indicted in May 2018 and pleaded guilty in January 2020. He has been detained since March 2018. Prior to the instant federal offense, Purdy had been convicted three times for state offenses involving the distribution of drugs, as well as for aggravated battery and aggravated fleeing a peace officer. He was on parole with the Illinois Department of Corrections at the time the federal drug conspiracy started.

The statutory penalties for conspiracy to distribute 50 or more grams of Ice methamphetamine are not less than ten years and up to life imprisonment, up to a $10,000,000 fine, and not less than five years of supervised release.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office; United States Postal Inspection Service; Illinois State Police; Menard County Sheriff; and Mason County Sheriff investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanner Jacobs represented the government in the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has sentenced Barry Wayne Hoover (51, Tampa) to 27 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $429,568.09 in restitution for theft of government funds and false statement to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As part of his sentence, the court also entered a forfeiture money judgment against Hoover in the amount of $429,568.09, the proceeds of the offense. A federal jury had found Hoover guilty on December 3, 2021.

According to evidence presented at trial, Hoover, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, exaggerated the extent of his visual impairment in order to receive VA disability benefits to which he was not entitled. Specifically, Hoover manipulated the results of subjective tests of his peripheral vision to reflect that he had a 5-degree visual field and was legally blind. Hoover also made false statements to the VA regarding his ability to drive and perform other activities. Based upon the manipulated test results and false statements, the VA found Hoover 100% disabled and awarded him significant monetary benefits and other valuable services.

In stark contrast to Hoover’s representations to the VA, agents’ surveillance, video footage, social media posts, and other evidence showed Hoover driving a car, a three-wheeled motorcycle, an ATV, and a boat. Hoover was also captured mowing his lawn, operating power tools such as a chain saw, hunting, fishing, scuba diving, and performing other tasks, including, but not limited to, shopping, without assistance. Expert testimony at trial established that an individual with a 5-degree visual field could not drive and would be reliant on a white cane to function in public. Hoover received approximately $429,568.09 in VA benefits to which he was not entitled as a result of his misrepresentations.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that veterans who defraud the VA by exaggerating their disabilities will be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge David Spilker of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Southeast Field Office. “VA’s disability programs are established to justly compensate deserving veterans and the VA OIG is committed to investigating those who would exploit these programs.”

This case was investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Huyler and Assistant United States Attorney Tiffany Fields.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Kevin El Cavazone has been charged by criminal complaint with kidnapping and assault of an intimate partner by strangling. Cavazone, 39, of Mescalero, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, made an initial appearance in federal court on June 2 and will remain in custody pending a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for June 7.

According to the complaint, from May 5 to May 11, Cavazone allegedly confined his ex-girlfriend within his home on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. To keep her confined, Cavazone allegedly threatened the victim, who is an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, and threatened to harm her family and others if she tried to leave. During this period of confinement, Cavazone allegedly assaulted the victim and strangled her until she could no longer breathe.

The victim was able to escape on May 11 and got a ride from a passing car to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police Station a few miles away. She was taken to an emergency room for treatment for her injuries.

A complaint is only an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Cavazone faces up to 10 years in prison for assault of an intimate partner by strangling and up to life in prison for kidnapping.

The Las Cruces Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Assistant United States Attorneys Matilda McCarthy Villalobos and Eliot Neal are prosecuting the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – U.S. Capitol Police Officer Thomas Smith has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of violating a man’s civil rights and for obstructing justice. Smith, 44, is expected to be arraigned on these charges in federal court within the next week.

            The indictment alleges that on June 20, 2020, Smith drove his police vehicle in a reckless and dangerous manner and was deliberately indifferent to the risk of harm he created, which resulted in Smith crashing his car into the victim and injuring him. Smith then knowingly drove away from the scene of the crash without rendering aid, alerting medical authorities, and taking any other reasonable steps to obtain help for the victim. Following the crash, Smith falsified U.S. Capitol Police records to cover-up his misconduct.

            The indictment was returned yesterday and unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

            Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.

            The case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendra Briggs. Assistance in the investigation was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.