Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – Octavius Durdley, 43, of Gainesville, Florida, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison following his conviction on one count of failing to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the sentenced.

Durdley was convicted by a federal jury in February 2022. Evidence introduced at trial revealed Durdley was originally convicted and sentenced in 2010 of a federal sex offense which required him to comply with both state and federal registration requirements. Upon his release in May 2019, he initially complied with SORNA’s registration requirements. However, in October 2019, he announced his intention not to comply with any supervision or registration requirements. In December 2019, he was found to have violated his federal supervision and was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. Following his release from prison in January 2021, he again failed to comply with his supervision or registration requirements until he was arrested in April 2021.  

“This sentence is yet another example of the unwavering commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would attempt to harm them,” said U.S. Attorney Coody.  “We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who prey upon our children.”

Durdley’s prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, with requirements that he continue to register under SORNA.

United States Marshal Don Ladner remarked, “The U.S. Marshals are committed to ensuring that sex offenders follow all federal registration requirements. If these offenders fail to do so and break the law, we will fully investigate and prosecute their violations.”

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), which was passed by Congress in 2006 as part of the Adam Walsh Act, provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States and seeks to strengthen the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs. In part, SORNA requires registered sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or go to school.This conviction was the result of an investigation by the United States Marshals Service. Assistant United States Attorney F.T. Williams prosecuted this case.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ABINGDON, Va. – A trio of Southwest Virginia residents who distributed pressed pills containing fentanyl and are linked to teenage overdoses that occurred in Wise County, pled guilty recently in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.

Paul Mason Perkins, 20, of Big Stone Gap, Va., Austin Jeremiah Lane, 22, of Norton, Va., and Cheyenne Cassie Carico, 20, of Norton, Va., all pled guilty in recent weeks to one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

According to court documents, between February 1, 2021, and February 11, 2022, Perkins purchased thousands of pressed pills containing fentanyl online through a source located in California.  Perkins ordered 1,000 pills at a time for $3,750 from a California source on the social media platforms Snapchat and Instagram, making purchases every few weeks.  He had the pills mailed to his residence in Big Stone Gap. Perkins then distributed the pills to other individuals in Wise County, including multiple sales to co-conspirators Lane and Carico.   

On November 24, 2021, Perkins sold Carico and Lane three pressed pills for $30 per pill. Lane and Carico had purchased two of the pills for a 17-year-old female the two knew from school.  Lane and Carico distributed the pills to the juvenile by delivering the drugs to her sister’s mailbox.  Later that night, the 17-year-old female was hospitalized due to a drug overdose. The juvenile female spent six days on a ventilator as a result of the overdose.  Law enforcement recovered half a pressed pill from the scene of the overdose, which tested positive for fentanyl.

Later the same night, on November 24, 2021, another 18-year-old male who had purchased pressed pills containing fentanyl from Perkins, Lane and Carico was hospitalized due to a drug overdose.  

On February 10, 2022, a United States Postal Inspector intercepted a package being sent to Perkins’ residence from Costa Mesa, California. The package contained approximately 1,000 pills that tested positive for fentanyl. When law enforcement performed a controlled delivery of the intercepted package at Perkins’ residence the next day, officers found approximately $6,000 cash, a loaded firearm, and 200 pressed pills containing fentanyl.      

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh, Charlies J. Patterson, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, and Tira A. Hayward, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Washington Division made the announcement.

The Wise County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and the United States Postal Inspection Service are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lena Busscher  is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Kermon Williams, a/k/a “The General” (42, St. Petersburg), James Higgs, Jr., a/k/a “Hammer” (40, St. Petersburg), and Jhaphre Higgs, a/k/a “Pre” (35, St. Petersburg) guilty of the murders of Roger Lee Ford, Jr. and Tywan Jeremiah Armstrong, which occurred in St. Petersburg on January 21, 2019, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance Day. Each faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 20 years, and up to life, in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for September 27, 2022, before the Honorable Charlene E. Honeywell. 

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Williams asked Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. to kill Armstrong, who Williams saw as a threat to his drug business. Williams paid Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. with cash and drugs and gave them an AR-15 rifle to murder Armstrong. Shortly after they were asked to murder the victim, Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. shot and attempted to kill Armstrong with an AR-15 on September 22, 2018, on a street in St. Petersburg, but Armstrong survived. Testimony established that after this shooting, Williams told people that Armstrong would have died if the gun hadn’t jammed. Williams then directed Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. to make the murder as public as possible to send a message on the street.

On January 21, 2019, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance Day, Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. shot and killed Tywan Armstrong in his car, also killing passenger Roger Ford, and injuring a third passenger victim with an AR-15 rifle and a .40 caliber pistol. As directed by Williams, the shooting took place in front of a large crowd of people gathered at a St. Petersburg gas station. Testimony from the medical examiner at trial established that Armstrong was shot 28 times and Ford was shot 11 times. Despite heroic efforts on the part of officers from the St. Petersburg Police Department and members of St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, both victims died from their injuries. Forensic specialists from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office processed the crime scene and recovered multiple shell casings used in the murders.

The jury also convicted Williams, Jhaphre Higgs, and James Higgs, Jr. of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, drug conspiracy, and using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime causing the death of Roger Ford and Tywan Armstrong. Jhaphre and James Higgs, Jr. were also convicted of being felons in possession of ammunition.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Petersburg Police Department and was investigated and prosecuted by former Assistant United States Attorney Natalie Hirt Adams. The trial was conducted by Assistant United States Attorneys Craig R. Gestring and Charlie D. Connally.

This case was 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS, LA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on June 23, 2022, QUENTRELL BERTHOLOTTE, age 29 of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced by the Honorable District Court Judge Barry W. Ashe. BERTHOLOTTE previously pleaded guilty as charged to a four-count indictment. He was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2) in Counts 1 and 2; possession with intent to distribute fentanyl in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B) in Count 3; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i) in Count 4.

BERTHOLOTTE was sentenced to a total of ten (10) years imprisonment and four (4) years of supervised release. He was sentenced to 46 months for Counts 1 and 2, and 60 months for Count 3, all to run concurrently. As to Count 4, he was sentenced to 60 months to run consecutive to all other sentences. He is also required to pay a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee for each count.

According to court documents, BERTHOLOTTE came under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) in December of 2020. On January 14, 2020, he was seen on video surveillance wielding a 5.56 caliber “ghost gun,” which does not have a serial number. During a search of his girlfriend’s apartment on April 22, 2021, investigators found over forty (40) grams of fentanyl, the “ghost gun,” a Glock 27 semi-automatic handgun, and over $30,000.00 in U.S. currency. BERTHOLOTTE was previously convicted of a drug trafficking offense in Orleans Parish.

This case is 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.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles D. Strauss.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

DUBLIN, GA:  A federal prison guard faces the possibility of substantial time as an inmate after being charged with multiple counts of accepting bribes to allow smuggled material into a prison.

Tiffany Fletcher, 35, of McRae, Ga., a corrections officer and counselor at the privately operated McRae Correctional Facility, is charged with five counts of bribery, said David H. Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The charge carries a statutory penalty of up to 15 years in prison, along with substantial financial penalties and up to three years of supervised release after completion of any prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

“The safety and integrity of federal corrections facilities demands that the staff of these facilities maintain the highest ethical and legal standards,” said U.S. Attorney Estes. “We continue to partner with investigative agencies to combat the flow of contraband material into these facilities.”

McRae Correctional Facility, in Telfair County, is operated by the private corrections company CoreCivic and houses male inmates under contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons. As described in the indictment, Fletcher is accused of accepting five cash bribes totaling $4,390 from June to December 2019, and in return acted “in violation of her official duties as a correctional officer” by failing to “report or investigate prohibited objects being brought into McCrae Correctional Facility.”

“Fletcher is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to contraband being brought into the prison,” said James F. Boyersmith, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Miami Field Office. “Correctional Officers who engage in bribery undermine the safety and integrity of federal prisons.”

Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless

The case is being investigated by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcela C. Mateo.