Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for setting fire to a Chicago Police Department vehicle during a period of civil unrest in downtown Chicago in 2020.

On May 30, 2020, TIMOTHY O’DONNELL ignited a piece of cloth with a lighter and placed the cloth into the fuel filler of the marked CPD vehicle while it was parked in the 200 block of North State Street in Chicago.  The fire spread throughout the vehicle and destroyed it.  O’Donnell set the fire while wearing a “Joker” mask that partially covered his face.  The vehicle was unoccupied, and no injuries were sustained.

At the time of the fire, Chicago Police officers were in the downtown Loop neighborhood of Chicago investigating reports of disorder and unrest.

O’Donnell, 33, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal charge of interfering with law enforcement during the commission of civil disorder.  U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood imposed the 34-month prison sentence after a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  CPD provided valuable assistance.

“The defendant’s crime was extremely serious,” Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Durkin argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “He added to the chaos of an already chaotic night for no reason other than to live out his own fantasies.”

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ALBANY, Ga. – A former soldier who admitted to producing child sexual assault material involving a 13-year-old victim was sentenced to prison for his crime.

Aaron D. Sutherland, 28, formerly of Fort Stewart, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 180 months in prison to be followed by 25 years of supervised release and $250,000 restitution by U.S. District Judge Louis Sands on June 22 after he previously pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. In addition, Sutherland will have to register as a sex offender for life upon his release from federal prison. There is no parole.

“Producing sexual assault material of children is an intolerable crime that will not go unpunished,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Law enforcement at every level will pursue justice when adults sexually entice, abuse or harm a minor.”

“Cases like this underscore the need to be careful when our kids use the internet or social media; Sutherland used the internet to assist him in exploiting an innocent child. Thankfully, he was caught and will no longer be able to hurt children,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina Berger, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “Protecting our most vulnerable populations from exploitation is one of HSI’s most important missions and we are fortunate to have great working relationships with our law enforcement partners that provide invaluable assistance.”

“This case is another example of the fruitful results that occur when we combine the resources of local, state and federal law enforcement partners to get predators off the street,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk.

According to court documents, Sutherland admitted he began communicating with a 13-year-old female while he was on active duty for the U.S. Army at Fort Stewart in Feb. 2021. Sutherland enticed the victim to send multiple nude images and videos of a sexual nature and asked to meet the child to engage in sexual activity. The minor victim’s mother discovered her child messaging an adult male in April 2021 after she observed her child acting strangely and confiscated her phone. In the messages, Sutherland stated the victim’s age. The mother reported the crime to authorities, and Sutherland was arrested on May 3, 2021. Sutherland provided law enforcement with his secret image vault where he saved all of the pictures and videos of the child.

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

The case was investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn Semales prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sixteen residents of Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kansas, and Independence, Mo., have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.

Ublester Molina, 26, Kevin O. Alarcon, 25, Rocky Orozco, 30, Salvador Valdivia, 40, Stephen Manning, 33, Carlos Ramos, 21, Joel Vargas, 30, Danzell Walker, 31, Gerald Knight, 43, Tatiana Ray, 29, and Ana Morales, 27, all of Kansas City, Mo.; Robert Manley Jr., 30, Bernard Kelly, 35, and Miranda Sanchez, 40, all of Kansas City, Kan.; Christian Love-Barker, 26, and Tyreece Dickerson, 34, both of Independence, Mo.; were charged in a 19-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, June 21. That indictment was unsealed and made public today following the arrests of most of the defendants in a metro-wide law enforcement operation this morning.

The federal indictment alleges that 13 of the defendants (with the exceptions of Ray, Morales, and Sanchez) participated in a conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine, as well as methamphetamine and fentanyl, from Jan. 1, 2019, to June 21, 2022. According to the indictment, Orozco, Manley, and Valdivia were leaders of the conspiracy.

Orozco, Manley, Valdivia, Ray, Morales, and Sanchez are also charged with participating in a money-laundering conspiracy from Oct. 1, 2015, to Sept. 9, 2020. They allegedly engaged in financial transactions that involved the proceeds of the drug-trafficking conspiracy.

In addition to the conspiracies, various defendants are charged in seven separate counts related to drug trafficking and nine separate counts related to using their cell phones to facilitate a drug-trafficking crime.

Walker is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He allegedly was in possession of a Springfield .40-caliber handgun on Aug. 16, 2021.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence

.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matt Moeder, Patrick Edwards, and Mary Kate Butterfield. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

KC Metro Strike Force

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces 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 against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ERIE, Pa. – A resident of Wattsburg, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Erie on charges of violating federal laws relating to the sexual exploitation of children, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.

The two-count Indictment named Troy Eugene Anderson, 41, 10960 Backus Road, Wattsburg, Pennsylvania, as the sole defendant.

According to the Indictment presented to the court, in and around February 2021, Anderson received images depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, from in and around June 2018 to in and around February 2021, Anderson possessed and accessed with intent to view visual images and videos in individual computer files depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Anderson has a prior federal conviction for receipt of child sexual abuse material for which he was sentenced to 71 months in jail and 5 years of supervised release in August 2008.

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

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 60 years in prison, a fine of $500,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Pennsylvania State Police conducted the investigation leading to the Indictment in this case.

An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.