Month: July 2022

Posted on

Defense News: U.S. 2nd Fleet Participates in Operation Noble Defender

Source: United States Navy

Operation Noble Defender validates NORAD’s capability to defend the United States and Canada against threats from every avenue of approach, as well as demonstrate globally integrated layered defense. Each Operation Noble Defender evolves NORAD’s aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning mission areas.

This iteration allowed NORAD units to confirm capabilities designed to defend the southern approach to the United States from simulated cruise missile threats. The Continental U.S. NORAD Region coordinated and conducted joint operations with 2nd Fleet assets while concurrently launching jets from different locations across the United States’ Gulf Coast.

“Participating in joint cross-command operations, such as Noble Defender, only increases our operational readiness and our ability to work as a cohesive unit,” said Capt. James Johnston, U.S. 2nd fleet maritime operations center director. “This air defense operation demonstrated our joint abilities to outpace threats and defend North America.”

2nd Fleet was activated by U.S. Northern Command to direct the activities for the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 123. 2nd Fleet coordinated with U.S. Naval Forces Northern and the Continental U.S. NORAD Region for planning and execution. 2nd Fleet’s role in the operation was to facilitate the successful execution of a missile warning informational link.  

NORAD is a bi-national Canadian and American command that employs a network of aerial, ground-based, and space-based sensors, air-to-air refueling tankers, and fighter aircraft to deter, detect and defend against aerial threats.

U.S. 2nd Fleet, reestablished in 2018 in response to the changing global security environment, develops and employs maritime forces ready to fight across multiple domains in the Atlantic and Arctic in order to ensure access, deter aggression and defend U.S., allied, and partner interests.

Posted on

Security News: Federal Judge Hands Down Ten-Year Sentence, Lifetime of Supervised Release to Former Georgia Pastor for Sexually Assaulting Ugandan Minor

Source: United States Department of Justice News

U.S. Attorney Praises “True Bravery” of Ugandan Girl Displayed During International Case

MACON, Ga. – A former pastor from Georgia who was conducting missionary work in Uganda when he sexually assaulted a girl under his care was sentenced by a federal judge this evening to serve above the guideline sentencing range for his crime.

Eric Tuininga, 45, of Milledgeville, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release and $20,000 in restitution to the victim by Chief U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell after he previously pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. In addition, Tuininga will have to register as a sex offender for life upon his release from federal prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

“I want to recognize the true bravery displayed by the Ugandan girl for speaking out when she was assaulted by a trusted person of power from another country, courageously seeking justice across continents,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Law enforcement – both abroad and here at home – took on a challenging international case. Homeland Security Investigations’ Child Exploitation Unit worked tirelessly to ensure that the truth was uncovered and the defendant was held accountable for his crime.”

According to court documents, a U.S. citizen affiliated with the U.S.-based Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) operating in Mbale, Uganda, contacted U.S. Embassy Kampala American Citizen Services (ACS) in June 2019, to report that Tuininga, who was working as one of the group’s ministers, had sex with the Ugandan female minor who was approximately 14-years-old. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DSS) agents in Kampala, Uganda, opened an investigation into the allegation. Finding Tuininga had fled to his home in the Middle District of Georgia, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Child Exploitation Unit, Atlanta, continued the investigation.

Federal agents identified a Ugandan minor who was approximately 14-years-old in March 2019 when Tuininga had sex with her as he was working as a pastor with the OPC. Tuininga admitted that he came to know the victim in his capacity as a religious leader and that the victim would visit the OPC church, including a compound, overseen by Tuininga. Tuininga also admitted that he engaged in illicit sexual conduct with 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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, HSI-Child Exploitation Unit with special assistance from U.S. Department of State, DSS agents in Kampala, Uganda.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Kalim and Katelyn Semales prosecuted the case.

Posted on

Security News: Hanover, Maryland Man Who Used a Ghost Gun to Shoot at United States Secret Service Security Guards is Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Greenbelt, Maryland – On Tuesday, July 5, 2022, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Jeremiah Peter Watson, age 24, of Hanover, Maryland, to 10 years in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm in relation to a violent crime.

The sentence 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; and Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith of the U.S. Park Police.

According to his guilty plea, on February 25, 2021, Watson drove to the entrance of a United States Secret Service facility, positioning his vehicle in a manner that blocked the driveway and prevented other drivers from passing through the entrance of the facility.  When a security officer (Victim 1) approached Watson to ask him to move his vehicle, Watson became verbally combative and did not move his vehicle.

A second security officer (Victim 2) approached Watson and asked him to move his vehicle and informed him that if he did not move his vehicle, a United States Secret Service agent would arrest him. Watson continued to be combative towards the security.  During the confrontation, Watson approached Victim 1 aggressively and lunged at Victim 2, putting his face within inches of Victim 2’s face.

When Watson lunged at Victim 2 and reached into his pocket, Victim 2 was startled and believed that Watson was armed.  In response, Victim 2 began to pull out his firearm and Victim 1 sprayed pepper spray at Watson.  Watson then retreated into his vehicle and drove away.

Before Watson drove away, the victims noted Watson’s distinctive colored cell phone case and license plate number.  As Victim 1, Victim 2, another security guard (Victim 3) and a United States Secret Service agent (Victim 4), began to re-enter the facility building, the victims saw Watson’s vehicle return and saw a flash of a gunshot coming out of the driver-side window towards them.  Watson did another U-turn and fired at least four additional shots before he drove away.

As stated in his guilty plea, United State Park Police officers responded to the scene where law enforcement recovered three 9mm ammunition shell casings and located a bullet fragment within a wall.  Through the review of information associated with Watson’s license plate registration, law enforcement linked the vehicle to Watson’s Hanover, Maryland address and identified the vehicle at Watson’s residence later that night.

On February 26, 2021, law enforcement executed search warrants at Watson’s residence and recovered Watson’s cell phone, 9mm ammunition, two empty 9mm cartridge cases, and a privately made 9mm handgun without a serial number, also known as a “ghost gun”.  Forensic examination concluded that the cartridge cases recovered from Watson’s vehicle had been fired from the recovered ghost gun and that the bullet fragment recovered from the scene was consistent with having been fired from the same ghost gun. 

All four victims were acting in the course of their duties as federal officers or employees when Watson discharged his firearm at them.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the ATF and the U.S. Park Police for their work in the investigation and thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Secret Service for their assistance.  Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Wright, who prosecuted 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/community-outreach.

# # #

Posted on

Security News: Franklin County Man Sentenced to 300 Months for Production of Child Pornography

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FRANKFORT, Ky.— A Belfry, Ky., man, Edward Leonidas Lewis, 54, was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison on Wednesday, by U.S. District Judge Greg Van Tatenhove, after pleading guilty to producing child pornography.

According to Lewis’ guilty plea, on February 25, 2021, law enforcement found images of child pornography on four different electronic devices in his possession.  Lewis then admitted to using “spy cameras,” hidden in bathrooms and bedrooms of his residences, to produce child pornography images of a victim. 

Lewis was previously convicted of four counts of Possession of a Matter Portraying a Sexual Performance by a Minor, in Franklin Circuit Court, in May 2013.

Lewis pleaded guilty to the federal charge in March 2022.

Under federal law, Lewis must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jerry Templet, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Colonel Phillip Burnett, Jr., Commissioner, Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the sentence.

 The investigation was conducted by the HSI and KSP.  The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Marye.

This case was prosecuted 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 the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

– END –

Posted on

Security News: Louisville Methamphetamine Trafficker Sentenced to 7 Years in Federal Prison for Dealing Methamphetamine in New Albany

Source: United States Department of Justice News

INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Shanklin, 47, of Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced late yesterday to 7 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of methamphetamine.   

According to court documents, law enforcement officers began investigating Shanklin’s drug trafficking activities in 2021. Shanklin trafficked in numerous illegal drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, marijuana, and THC edibles. Starting on May 3, 2021, and on three additional occasions, Shanklin brought methamphetamine from Louisville, Kentucky to sell at the Beechwood Public Housing area in New Albany, Indiana.

In total, law enforcement officers seized approximately 120 grams of methamphetamine during the four drug transactions.

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Indianapolis, and New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Albany Police Department investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Chief Judge Tonya Walton Pratt. As part of the sentence, Judge Pratt ordered that Shanklin be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 4 years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney William L. McCoskey who prosecuted this case.