Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

WACO – A multi-agency investigation into a methamphetamine distribution ring has led to multiple defendants being indicted and arrested.

On June 14, 2022, a federal grand jury sitting in Waco handed down five indictments charging a total of 27 defendants. 

The following defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.  According to the indictments the conspiracy began in January 2021. 

Charged in W22CR095:  Jason Fletcher, 38, of Belton and Luis Guillermo Martinez, 28, of Waco.  If convicted, Fletcher and Martinez face up to life in prison.

Charged in W22CR096:  Karen Pendola Bennett, 45, of Waco; Jesus Espinoza Lopez, 33, of Waco; Patricia Nelson, 49, of Waco; Robert Johnson, 46, of Woodway; and Clayton Wilkins, 62, of Waco.  If convicted, Bennett, Lopez, Nelson and Johnson face up to life in prison.  Wilkins, if convicted, faces up to 40 years in prison.

Charged in W22CR109:  Alejandro Solis, 32, of Waco; Jesus Castellanos-Renteria, 39, of Houston; Gustavo Alvarado Guerrero, 29, of Waco; William Charles Herrera, 30, of Waco; Maria Picon, 35, of Clifton; Rogers Anthony Marshall, 49, of Valley Mills; Denecia Alley, 32, of Waco; Jovita Ibarra, 28, of Waco; Lance John Showen, 51, of Waco; Hector Dominguez, 31, of Waco; Nicholas Ray Ramirez, 41, of Waco; Flocelo Mondragon Jr., 35, of McGregor; Alfred Turner, 28, of Waco; Areli Martinez Torrez, 38, of McGregor; Alexxus Briann Arocha, 26, of Waco; Felix Alberto Huezo-Hernandez, 33, of Waco; Sonya Renee Hughes, 44, of Waco; and Steven Merritt, 52, of Bruceville-Eddy.  If convicted, Arocha, Huezo, Hughes and Merritt face up to 40 years in prison.  All other defendants, if convicted, face up to life in prison.

Marshall and Picon are also charged with one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a federal drug trafficking crime.  If convicted, they face up to five years in prison to run consecutive to any other sentence they receive.

Not charged with the conspiracy drug count is Able Chavez, 25, of Waco.  Chavez is charged in W22CR094 with one count of possession with intent to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  If convicted, Chavez faces up to life in prison on the drug count and up to five years in prison on the gun count to run consecutive to any other sentence he receives. 

Also not charged with the conspiracy drug count is Andrew Ochoa, 36, of Waco.  Ochoa is charged in W22CR093 with one count of making a false statement in acquisition of a firearm. If convicted, Ochoa faces up to 10 years in prison.  Investigation revealed Ochoa was purchasing and delivering firearms to a 13-year-old child.

All defendants have been arrested except for Karen Pendola Bennett who remains a fugitive in this case.

U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff of the Western District of Texas; FBI Special Agent in Charge Oliver E. Rich Jr., San Antonio Division; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel Comeaux, Houston Division; Waco Police Department Chief of Police Sheryl D. Victorian; McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara; Bell County Sheriff Eddy Lange; and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Regional Director Todd H. Snyder made the announcement.

The FBI; DEA; Waco Police Department; McLennan County Sheriff’s Office; Bell County Sheriff’s Office; and DPS are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Smith-Burris is prosecuting the cases.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

BECKLEY, W.Va. – A Montana man pleaded guilty today to two counts of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on December 13, 2021, Gary Lee Hodges, 71, of Big Fork, Montana, contacted a woman in Beckley on a social networking website dedicated to individuals interested in sexual fetishes. Hodges learned that the woman had two daughters, ages 11 and 13. Hodges expressed interest in coming to West Virginia to establish a household with the woman and children, where he would engage in sexual activity with both minor females. Specifically, Hodges stated that he planned to engage in sexual intercourse and oral sex on a regular basis with both minor females.

During the next month, Hodges continued to make plans to travel to West Virginia to meet the woman and her daughters. To encourage the children to engage in sexual activity with him, Hodges sent them lingerie and other gifts and booked a trip to take them to Washington, D.C., to visit the zoo. Hodges reserved a hotel room in Beckley to meet the woman and the girls. Hodges flew to Charleston on January 14, 2022, where he was arrested.

Hodges is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 30, 2022, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, as well as five years to a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force.

United States District Judge Frank W. Volk presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald and third-year law student intern Ryan Vick handled today’s plea hearing.

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

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:22-cr-33.

 

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

BECKLEY, W.Va. – Lawrence Lee Hart, 61, of Raleigh County, and Steven Alfred Bennett, 57, of Kanawha County, were each sentenced today to 10 years in prison for crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Both face 20 years of supervised release following their prison sentences and each must register as a sex offender.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Hart, of Glen Daniel, contacted another user on a dating app on October 1, 2021, who told Hart that she was only 13 years old and located in Beckley. After learning her age and that she was a virgin, Hart offered to teach her about sex. Over the next month, Hart engaged in extensive text and phone conversations with the girl during which he instructed her on masturbation, oral sex, and sexual intercourse. Hart also asked her to send him a sexually explicit image of herself and he sent her sexually explicit photographs of himself. On November 5, 2021, Hart was arrested when he went to meet the minor to engage in sexual activity. Hart pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

Bennett, of Montgomery, admitted that he responded to a Craigslist ad in October 2020 from a woman allegedly located in Beckley. During their conversations, Bennett arranged to meet the woman in Beckley and pay $150 to engage in sexual activity with an 11-year-old girl who the woman had stated was her daughter. Bennett skipped the arranged meeting after he saw a local news story about a man getting arrested for responding to the same Craigslist ad. A subsequent search of Bennett’s home located computers that contained suspected child pornography, including an image of a prepubescent female that Bennett had received during a 2016 Skype conversation. Bennett pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force, the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the West Virginia State Police, and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office.

United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentences, citing the deplorable and horrendous conduct in each case. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald prosecuted the cases.

These cases were prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 5:21-cr-254 and 5:21-cr-20.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Baltimore, Maryland – Larry Haynes, age 25, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to attempt to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery.    

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, on January 21, 2022, Haynes attempted to rob a convenience store in Baltimore City.  After the clerk refused to comply with Haynes’ demands, Haynes showed the clerk a gun tucked within his waistband.  Subsequently, the clerk called the convenience store manager who fled to the manager’s office and called 911.

As stated in his plea agreement, off duty Maryland State Police officers responded to the scene and detained Haynes until Baltimore City police officers arrived.  MSP officers recovered a 9mm handgun loaded with 9mm cartridges from Haynes’ waistband.  The attempted robbery was captured on in-house store security cameras.

Haynes agrees that at the time of the attempted robbery, he was on supervised release for a prior federal firearms offense.

Haynes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by up by three years of supervised release for attempt to interfere with commerce by robbery.   U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar has scheduled sentencing for September 7, 2022 at 10:30 a.m.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  PSN, an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  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.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the ATF, MSP, and BPD for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia McLane, who is prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psnexile and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

EL PASO – Kevin Holguin-Cano, 29, of El Paso pleaded guilty this week to receipt of child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, in June 2021, agents executed a search warrant on the residence of  Holguin and found materials depicting a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Holguin pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of a visual depiction involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.  A sentencing date is not scheduled yet.  Holguin faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff of the Western District of Texas and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Frank Burrola, El Paso Division, made the announcement.

The HSI is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mallory Rasmussen is prosecuting the case.

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 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 www.justice.gov/psc.

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