Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis man was sentenced to 272 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for possessing a firearm as a felon, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. 

According to evidence presented at trial and court documents, law enforcement received information from a confidential informant that Gregory Lynn McCoy, 60, was in possession of a handgun and illegal narcotics. On October 22, 2019, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant of McCoy’s residence and nearby vehicle. McCoy was inside the residence at the time. Upon his arrest, McCoy tossed multiple bags of illegal narcotics into a nearby closet. Officers found 20 bags of illegal narcotics and a box of .45 caliber ammunition hidden inside his residence. Officers also found a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol with a loaded magazine and two additional magazines in the center console of McCoy’s Dodge Durango. The vehicle was registered to McCoy and McCoy’s DNA was found on one of the three magazines.

On November 1, 2021, McCoy was convicted at trial of possessing a firearm as a felon. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel. McCoy was sentenced to 262 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon and to an additional 10 months in prison for having committed the crime while on supervised release. Due to his multiple prior felony convictions, McCoy qualified for an increased penalty under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David J. MacLaughlin and Joseph S. Teirab prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that NICOLAE MARIUS BARBU, 50, a citizen of Romania, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 21 months of imprisonment for his participation in an extensive ATM skimming scheme that defrauded banks in Connecticut and elsewhere.

According to court documents and statements in court, between February and June 2017, a Connecticut bank experienced approximately 35 incidents of ATM skimming at locations in Stratford, Monroe, Trumbull, Greenwich, Fairfield and elsewhere in Connecticut.  As part of the scheme, conspiracy members placed skimming devices at the ATMs to capture account numbers and personal identification numbers (“PINs”) from customers who used their ATM cards at the ATMs while the devices were in place.  Conspiracy members then used the captured information to make substitute ATM cards, and obtained money and made purchases using those cards.  Barbu joined this conspiracy in April 2017.

In addition, in April 2018, Barbu and another individual stole credit cards from an individual’s belongings at a gym in Rockville, Maryland.  They then used the cards to make more than $9,000 in purchases at Microsoft and Apple stores in Maryland.

Judge Shea ordered Barbu to pay restitution of $139,533 to the victim bank, and $9,536 to the banks that issued the credit cards used for his fraudulent purchases.

Barbu was arrested in Michigan in September 2020.  He subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Michigan for state offenses related to credit card theft and possession of forged identification.

On March 25, 2022, Barbu pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Barbu, who has been detained since his arrest, faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term.

This investigation was conducted by the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, U.S. Secret Service, Greenwich Police Department, Monroe Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and several local police departments.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anastasia E. King.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Dublin, Ohio, man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to sexually exploiting at least five minors and possessing child pornography.

Timothy W. Wright, 50, faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison.

Wright admitted to placing a hidden camera in the bathroom of his home, thereby producing pornographic images of two minors via that hidden camera. To save videos or images of the minors from the hidden camera to his phone, Wright admitted that he would watch the video feed live. Investigators discovered approximately 27 videos and 152 images from the hidden camera on Wright’s phone.

In addition, Wright admitted he paid three additional minor victims at least $300 on numerous occasions in exchange for those minors lying nude on Wright’s bed while Wright engaged in sex acts or acts of masturbation with the minors. The defendant also admitting to paying for nude images from these three minors and those images were also recovered on Wright’s phone.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced the plea entered today before Chief U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this case.

The case was being primarily investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with the assistance and cooperation of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which operates under Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, and, Columbus Division of Police, Dublin Police Department, Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Unit, Delaware County Drug Task Force, and the United States Marshals Service.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

PITTSBURGH – A resident of Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced in federal court yesterday for one count of health care fraud, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced.

United States District Judge David S. Cercone sentenced Varanise C. Booker, 67, to 36 months of probation and ordered that she pay restitution totaling $24,217.26 to the Kentucky Medicaid program.

During the defendant’s plea hearing on October 5, 2021, Booker admitted that she was a licensed psychiatrist who operated a medical practice, Family and Children Behavioral Health Services, in Louisville, Kentucky. Between approximately October 2011 and August 2013, the defendant further admitted that she referred patients for drug testing and related services performed by Universal Oral Fluid Labs (“UOFL”), a clinical drug testing and drug screening laboratory located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The court was further advised that the defendant engaged in health care fraud by causing UOFL to bill the Kentucky Medicaid program for testing based on referrals that were outside the ordinary course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Specifically, the defendant acknowledged that she did not document a legitimate justification for ordering certain drug tests and services, failed to document the results of certain drug tests and services performed by UOFL in her medical files, and failed to address the results of certain drug tests and services in the treatment of her patients. The defendant further admitted that she caused UOFL to pay her a certain portion of the reimbursements the laboratory received from Kentucky Medicaid in connection with her referral of unlawful drug tests and related services. As a result, the defendant caused losses to Kentucky Medicaid in excess of $20,000.

Assistant United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Booker.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

LAS VEGAS – A California resident was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for fraudulently obtaining over 700 credit card numbers to purchase more than $500,000 in tickets for various events in Las Vegas over a one-year period.

Carl Dewain Jefferson (36) pleaded guilty in September 2021 to use or trafficking of unauthorized access devices and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, between March 14, 2014, and March 13, 2015, Jefferson — who operated LV Show Tickets, LLC — fraudulently obtained credit card numbers to purchase tickets for various events in Las Vegas. Later, he resold the tickets on his own website, www.lvshowticket.net, and Craigslist. In total, Jefferson used more than 700 different credit card accounts to fraudulently purchase more than $500,000 worth of event tickets.

On September 4, 2014, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers executed a search warrant for two rooms reserved under Jefferson’s name. Officers seized a laptop, cell phones, a credit card embossing machine, forged debit cards, and business cards.

U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Fang prosecuted the case.

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