Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A federal judge convicted an Illinois man yesterday on charges of escaping from the Bureau of Prisons and failing to register and update a sex offender registration.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Francis David Sherman, Sr., aka “Robert Copeland Shields”, 65, was convicted of rape in Peoria County, Illinois, in 1981. He was also convicted of deviate sexual assault in Douglas County, Missouri, in 1998. Both convictions required the defendant to register in a sex offender registry every 90 days for the course of his life. In 2010, he was convicted in the Western District of Virginia of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle and access device fraud. He received a sentence of 144 months in the Bureau of Prisons. In 2020, he was transferred to the James River Residential Reentry Center in Newport News. On or about October 27, 2020, he signed out of the Bureau of Prisons facility to go to work and never returned. On July 7, 2021, he was arrested in Escambia County, Florida, by members of a fugitive task force with Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. He last registered as a sex offender in Virginia on August 3, 2020. Under federal law, a sex offender must register and keep the registration current where the offender resides. He failed to register as a sex offender in Florida and update his registration in Virginia. The Virginia Department of State Police maintains the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.

Sherman was convicted of escape from custody and failure to register and update a sex offender registration and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison when sentenced on October 20. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Roderick C. Young accepted the verdict.

Special thanks to the U.S. Marshal Service and Escambia County Sherriff’s Office for their assistance in this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa McKeel and Devon Heath are prosecuting the case.

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

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:21-cr-51.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced that, ERIKA JAMES (“JAMES”), age 48, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was charged on  June 21, 2022 with one count of health care fraud.

According to the bill of information, JAMES was a Denial Specialist at Crescent Care, a Federally Qualified Health Center and AIDS Service Organization. Crescent Care provides HIV medical care, other health care, and social services in the New Orleans area.

From March 2020 through April 2021, JAMES created fraudulent invoices with falsified supporting documents, such as explanation of benefits documents from insurance companies. JAMES endorsed checks that were issued to patients that were in higher amounts than the usual range of the refund amount. JAMES made claims in the system that made it appear that patients came into Crescent Care and paid out of pocket for services. JAMES would then have the Finance Department issue the patient refund check, and JAMES would then deposit the refund check into her personal bank account.  JAMES filed additional claims with the Louisiana Health Access Program (“LAHAP”) in December 2020 and told LAHAP to mail the checks to her residence. The checks that were sent to JAMES’s residence were made out to Crescent Care. JAMES then proceeded to deposit those checks into her personal bank account.

If convicted, JAMES faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, up to three years of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee per count.

The United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana stated that the bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being investigated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General.  The prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Ryan McLaren and Kathryn McHugh.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

SAVANNAH, GA:  A Georgia man has been indicted on multiple charges alleging his involvement as the leader in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funding.

Bernard Okojie, 40, of McDonough, Ga., is charged in a newly unsealed indictment with Conspiracy to Commit Wire and Bank Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Money Laundering Conspiracy, said David H. Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The charges carry statutory penalties of up to 30 years in prison, along with up to $1 million in financial penalties and up to five years of supervised release after completion of any prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Congress provided funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act as a vital safety net for small businesses financially struggling during the global pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Estes. “Sadly, the significant amount of available funding also attracted those who sought to tap into those funds from greed rather than need.”

As alleged in the indictment, Okojie is alleged to have used information for non-existent companies to file fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for himself and others from May 2020 through January of 2021, seeking millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds for himself and others. Okojie is alleged to have either received the funding directly, or was paid by other recipients of the fraudulently obtained funding for his work in submitting the EIDL applications. Okojie is further charged with conspiring to launder the fraudulent proceeds.

Okojie has appeared in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia for his initial appearance hearing, but will be prosecuted in the Southern District of Georgia.

Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan A. Porter and Patrick J. Schwedler.

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.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Case Marks First Conviction in District of South Carolina Related to Fraudulent Vaccine Cards

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — A federal grand jury in Charleston returned a three-count indictment against Perry JaQuan Jackson, 23, of Summerville, South Carolina for felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The indictment alleges that on March 3, 2022, law enforcement officers arrested Perry Jackson for multiple outstanding arrest warrants. Officers searched Jackson’s vehicle and located a loaded Glock 19 9mm handgun, $7,740 in cash, over 300 grams of marijuana, and three digital scales. Jackson is federally prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition due to a previous conviction of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.

Jackson faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted and is currently detained pending trial.

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.

The case was investigated by the North Charleston Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Chris Lietzow is prosecuting the case. 

United States Attorney Corey F. Ellis stated that all charges in the indictment are merely accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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