Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BOSTON – The former director of a private elementary and high school in West Hollywood, Calif. was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his participation in the college admissions case.

Igor Dvorskiy, 56, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one year of supervised release, which includes three months of home detention, and forfeiture of $149,540. In November 2019, Dvorskiy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.

Dvorskiy administered the SAT and ACT exams at the private school in Los Angeles where he was a director. In exchange for bribe payments directed to his school by co-conspirator William “Rick” Singer – typically $10,000 per student – and in violation of his duty of honest services to the ACT and the College Board, Dvorskiy allowed another co-conspirator, principally Mark Riddell, to purport to proctor the ACT and SAT exams for the children of Singer’s clients and to correct their answers after the exams. Dvorskiy then returned the falsified exams to the ACT and College Board for scoring. Dvorskiy cooperated with the government’s investigation.

On April 8, 2022, Riddell was sentenced to four months in prison and two years of supervised release. Riddell was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and to forfeit $239,449. Singer previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Case information, including the status of each defendant, is available here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme.          

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Terry Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General Eastern Regional Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen E. Frank, Leslie A. Wright, Kristen A. Kearney and Ian J. Stearns of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BANGOR, Maine: Two New York men were convicted yesterday of Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery after a six-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Bangor, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in July 2016, Andre Muller, 51, and Robert Holland, 42, both of New York, N.Y., along with three other men, developed a plan to steal controlled substances from a Rangeley residence. On July 26, 2016, Muller traveled from New York City with two co-conspirators, meeting up with Holland and another co-conspirator at a property just outside of Rangeley. Muller, Holland and the three other co-conspirators discussed how to carry out the robbery. On July 28, 2016, two co-conspirators entered the Rangeley residence armed with knives and a baseball bat with the intent to take the controlled substances.

Muller and Holland both face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. They will be sentenced after the completion of presentence investigation reports by the U.S. Probation Office.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Maine State Police; and the Rangeley Police Department investigated the case, with assistance provided by the Maine Office of the Attorney General.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Lorenz Quiambao, age 41, of Easton, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on August 9, 2022, to 120 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a 10-year term of supervised release, by United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani for using the internet to attempt to entice a 12-year-old minor female to engage in prohibited sex acts.  

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, on September 25, 2020, during an on-line communication with a law enforcement officer posing as the mother of a minor female, Quiambao agreed to pay money to the mother in exchange for receiving oral sex from the minor and having other sexual contact with the minor and then traveled to a location in Tannersville, PA for the purpose of meeting the mother and minor and paying for sex.  Quiambao was arrested on scene.

At sentencing, Judge Mariani also ordered Quiambao to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Philadelphia Division and its state and local law enforcement partners in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.  Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St. John prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ 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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc. 

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

HARRISBURG—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Eseyuiel Caraballo, age 37, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson to five years of probation for making false statements when purchasing firearms.  

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Caraballo previously admitted to making false statements when he purchased or attempted to purchase eighteen firearms at various stores in Dauphin, Cumberland, and Schuylkill Counties between March 2017 and August 2018. With respect to each purchase or attempted purchase, Caraballo falsely represented that he was the actual buyer of the firearms, when in fact he purchased or attempted to purchase the firearms for other individuals.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlo D. Marchioli prosecuted the case.

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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Todd Houghtlin, age 52, of Duryea, Luzerne County, pleaded guilty on August 2, 2022, before U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, to the charges of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and illegal possession of a firearm.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Houghtlin admitted to possessing fentanyl for further distribution in Luzerne County in 2020 and to being a user of illegal drugs in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The charges stem from an incident, in July 2020, in which law enforcement investigators conducted a stop of Houghtlin’s vehicle and found him in possession of 50 packets containing fentanyl, as well as a .380 caliber pistol loaded with four rounds of ammunition. Further investigation revealed that Houghtlin purchased fentanyl on multiple occasions which he sold to others.

Houghtlin previously worked as a police office in Pittston Township but had his police certification suspended by the Municipal Police Officer’s Education and Training Commission.  (MPOETC). 

This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Luzerne County Drug Task Force and the Kingston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. O’Hara is prosecuting the case.

Judge Mariani ordered that a presentence report be completed for Houghtlin.  Sentencing has been scheduled for November 1, 2022.

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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The maximum penalty for the drug trafficking offense is twenty years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.  The maximum penalty for the firearms offense is ten years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. 

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