Source: United States Navy
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22 held a Theater Undersea Warfare Symposium and a digital fleet synthetic training (FST) exercise to coordinate homeland defense across multiple platforms at Naval Support Activity Oceana Dam Neck Annex, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Naval Station Mayport, Florida, July 22.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
A New York man pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2009 to 2014 David Seruya was an original owner and shareholder of a New Jersey-based home warranty business. In 2014, Seruya entered into a buyout agreement whereby he agreed to sell his shares of stock back to the business and exit the company. In exchange for his stock shares, the home warranty company agreed to pay Seruya a total of more than $4.1 million, which included a lump sum payment and installment payments spread out over 24 months. Seruya underreported to his return preparer the actual amount of income he received from the sale of his stock. In addition, Seruya did not inform his return preparer about income received from canceled mortgage debt. As a result, Seruya caused his return preparer to prepare and file false income tax returns for the tax years 2014 through 2016. As part of his plea, Seruya also admitted to evading taxes for the years 2010-2013. In total, Seruya’s tax evasion caused a loss to the IRS of more than $1.1 million.
Seruya is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each of three count of tax evasion. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.
IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Shawn Noud of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Silane for the District of New Jersey are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Navy
T-AO 205’s delivery follows the completion of Acceptance Trials with the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey to test the readiness and capability of the craft and to validate requirements.
“USNS John Lewis will provide much needed capability to the fleet as the primary fuel pipeline at sea,” said John Lighthammer, program manager, Auxiliary and Special Mission Shipbuilding Program Office. “This is the first of a 20-ship class providing the Sailors and merchant mariners another tool to support at-sea operations.”
The new John Lewis-class T-AOs will be operated by Military Sealift Command to provide diesel fuel and lubricating oil, and small quantities of fresh and frozen provisions, stores, and potable water to Navy ships at sea, and jet fuel for aircraft. The new T-AOs will add capacity to the Navy’s Combat Logistics Force and become the cornerstone of the fuel delivery system.
NASSCO is currently in production on USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO 206), USNS Earl Warren (T-AO 207), and USNS Robert F. Kennedy (T-AO 208). The future USNS Lucy Stone (T-AO 209) and USNS Sojourner Truth (T-AO 210) are under contract.
As one of the Defense Department’s largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, boats and craft.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
Assistant U. S. Attorneys Mario Peia and Alexandra F. Foster (619) 546-9706/6735
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – July 28, 2022
SAN DIEGO – Luis Armando Dorantes Rivera Jr. of Tijuana pleaded guilty in federal court today for his role in the kidnapping of Miguel Anthony Rendon, a U.S. citizen, which resulted in Rendon’s death.
Dorantes pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew G. Schopler to Hostage Taking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1203. Dorantes is the third defendant to plead guilty in connection with this crime, after Alan Lomeli-Luna and Wyatt Valencia-Pacheco.
In his plea agreement, Dorantes admitted that on May 29, 2020, at approximately 11:50 p.m., Dorantes and others forcibly removed the victim, Miguel Anthony Rendon, from his hotel room in Tijuana, Mexico. Dorantes and others punched, kicked, and pistol-whipped Rendon. Once subdued, Dorantes and others placed Rendon in a waiting car and drove away.
Dorantes’ co-conspirators then took Rendon to another hotel in Tijuana, Mexico. There, while Rendon was held and detained, Dorantes’ co-conspirators called Rendon’s family and made ransom demands for Rendon’s release. Specifically, Dorantes’ co-conspirators demanded $2,000 to $3,000 or methamphetamine in exchange for Rendon’s release.
On or about May 30, 2020, Dorantes’ co-conspirators intentionally killed Rendon.
“This is a tragic case where a young man paid the ultimate price for getting involved with the wrong people, and his family is forever devastated,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Drug traffickers don’t hesitate to use extreme violence. We will not hesitate to seek justice for victims.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team as well as the investigating FBI agents for their excellent work on this case.
“Dorantes’ guilty plea confirms the FBI’s commitment to fully investigating violent crimes against U.S. citizens abroad and ensuring everyone involved in the senseless killing of victim Miguel Anthony Rendon is held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. “This case shines a light on the disregard for human life these defendants had assuming they were outside U.S. jurisdiction and U.S. law enforcement. No defendant is safe from the FBI’s reach. We will pursue any criminal around the world to ensure justice is served – today’s guilty plea is another example.”
Dorantes is scheduled to be sentenced October 31, 2022, at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes. Valencia-Pacheco is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3, 2022 at 9 a.m. and Lomeli-Luna is scheduled to be sentenced on September 12, 2022 at 9 a.m., also before Judge Hayes.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 21CR1683-WQH
Luis Armando Dorantes Rivera, Jr.,
aka “Gordo Rivera” Age: 26 Tijuana
SUMMARY OF CHARGE
18 U.S.C. Sec. 1203 – Hostage Taking
Maximum Penalty: Life in prison
INVESTIGATING AGENCY
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Source: United States Department of Justice News
EUGENE, Ore.—The owner of a Roseburg, Oregon in-home daycare facility pleaded guilty today in federal court for stealing federal childcare funds.
Katie Jo Thompson, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds.
According to court documents, Thompson cared for her disabled child while also operating a licensed childcare business out of her Roseburg residence. Thompson applied for various federal benefit programs administered by the Special Security Administration (SSA) on her child’s behalf. In these applications, Thompson misrepresented her household income, prompting an SSA investigation.
The investigation revealed that Thompson had applied for and received federal Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) program funds administered by the Oregon Department of Human Services (Oregon DHS) to support her business. The ERDC program requires that childcare program operators maintain attendance logs for one year. When SSA investigators obtained these logs from Thompson, they showed that Thompson had misrepresented the number of children in her daycare facility resulting in ERDC payments for childcare not provided. Thompson further claimed children were present in the facility who had never attended.
Thompson also used individuals hired to care for daughter who were funded by Medicaid’s Personal Support Worker program to work in her daycare facility thereby allowing Thompson to forgo paying daycare employees herself.
Between January 2018 and December 2019, Thompson fraudulently received and converted to personal use more than $329,000 in federal assistance funds provided by SSA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
On April 20, 2022, Thompson was charged by criminal information with one count of theft of government funds.
Thompson faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years’ supervised release. She will be sentenced on November 14, 2022, by U.S. District Court Judge Ann L. Aiken.
As part of her plea agreement, Thompson will pay restitution to the agencies she defrauded.
This case was investigated by the SSA Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) with assistance from Oregon DHS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Sowray is prosecuting the case.