Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PITTSBURGH – Priyanka Kumar was sentenced to two years of probation and a $5,000 fine for engaging in interstate transmissions in aid of racketeering between 2017 and 2019, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.

Kumar, age 35, of Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. 

Kumar conducted thousands of dollars of interstate wire transfers to federal inmates and their associates to fund a prison drug trafficking and money laundering enterprise on behalf of her boyfriend who was incarcerated in federal prison at the time.  Kumar transferred over $60,000 via interstate wire transfers in 2017 and 2018.  Over $40,000 of the $60,000+ of wire transfers were sent to federal inmate accounts.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General led the multi-agency investigation that also included the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations, the Pittsburgh Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Munhall Police Department, the Robinson Township Police Department, the McKees Rocks Police Department, the Stowe Township Police Department, the Etna Police Department, and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

This prosecution is a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten communities throughout the United States.  OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Acting United States Attorney Nicholas Vassallo announced today that PHILLIP AARON DOBBINS, 44, of Cody, Wyoming was sentenced for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Dobbins appeared for a sentencing hearing before United States District Court Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal on August 16, 2022. Dobbins was sentenced to 130 months’ imprisonment and four years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and $500 in community restitution.

In approximately November 2020, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began investigating Dobbins for the distribution of methamphetamine in the Cody, WY area. The investigation revealed that Dobbins was receiving methamphetamine from an in-person source in Aurora, Colorado and through the U.S. Mail from a source in California.

This crime was investigated by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the Cody Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Marshals Service. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy J. Forwood prosecuted the case.  

Case No. 21-cr-84-NDF

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON –Christopher Young, 31, of Washington, D.C., has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and second-degree child sexual abuse for abusing a minor child, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division, and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Young pleaded guilty on Aug. 23, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Amit P. Mehta scheduled sentencing for Dec. 6, 2022.

            According to the government’s evidence, Young, pretending to be a young girl, reached out to the victim, a 10-year-old child, in June 2019 through a messaging application. In the messages that Young exchanged with the victim, he blackmailed her for the purpose of sexually abusing her. While pretending to be a young girl, Young messaged the victim, stating that if the victim did not engage in sexual acts with Young, embarrassing photographs of the victim would be disseminated to the victim’s family. Young also photographed his sexual abuse of the victim. One of these photographs was recovered from Young’s e-mail account.

            The victim reported the abuse to her mother, and Young was arrested on July 23, 2019. He has been in custody since his arrest.

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.

            This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jacobs, and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, as well as the MPD’s Narcotics and Special Investigation Division, Human Trafficking Unit.  They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Alexis Spencer-Anderson, Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jodi Lazarus, Kathleen Kern, Rachel Bohlen, and Janani Iyengar.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

INDIANAPOLIS – Shane Theisz, 44, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

According to court documents, on July 28, 2021, Theisz was on state probation when Vigo County Drug Task Force officers conducted a search of his Terre Haute residence. During the search, officers found 141 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, plastic baggies, $7,195 in U.S. Currency, and two handguns: a loaded .40 caliber and a 9mm. The .40 caliber handgun was previously reported stolen. Theisz was arrested and transported to the Vigo County Jail where he admitted to law enforcement officers that the methamphetamine belonged to him and was the amount he normally obtained from his source of supply.

Theisz has a serious criminal history that spans over 13 years and involves a prior felony conviction for dealing methamphetamine in Vigo County as well as two domestic battery misdemeanors, one in which he threatened to kill a woman.

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Michael Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Indianapolis Field Office, made the announcement.

The DEA investigated the case. The Terre Haute Police Department provided valuable assistance. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II. As part of the sentence, Judge Sweeney ordered that Theisz be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for five years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Abhishek S. Kambli who prosecuted this case.