Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Spokane, Washington – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Clifton Frank Peter, 37, of Wapato, Washington, to 600 months in federal prison, to be followed by a 5-year term of court supervision after he is released, and restitution in the amount of $86,170. Earlier this year, Peter pleaded guilty to three counts of Second-Degree Murder. In announcing the 50-year sentence, Chief Judge Bastian described the murders as “horrible if not monstrous.” He also stated, “This case was senseless, pointless, [and] a horrible act – leaving three people dead and their families traumatized for life.”

According to information disclosed during court proceedings, Peter is an enrolled member of the Confederated Bands and Tribes of the Yakama Nation and has a violent criminal history. In 2011, he was convicted in Yakima County Superior Court of First-Degree Robbery with a Deadly Weapon and Theft of a Motor Vehicle and was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment. In 2013, he was convicted of Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and sentenced to 9 months of imprisonment.

On June 1, 2020, Peter was at his home, which is located within the external boundaries of the Yakama Nation. Peter spent the day consuming alcohol and playing video games. He became visibly upset while playing a video game and began yelling; his family members decided to leave the residence due to his outbursts.

Peter attacked his mother as she attempted to leave, and then took her vehicle. As Peter backed out of his driveway, he nearly collided with a vehicle being driven by a person identified in court proceedings as Victim 1. Peter exited his vehicle and shot Victim 1 with a shotgun. Victim 1 died due to the shotgun blast. Peter then re-entered his mother’s vehicle and, traveling northbound, slammed into the back of another vehicle that was occupied by people identified in court documents as Victims 2 and 3. Peter got out of his mother’s vehicle and shot Victims 2 and 3 with the shotgun. Victims 2 and 3 each died as a result of the gunshot blasts.

After the murders, Peter attempted to hide the shotgun before walking to the residence of a family member. Peter told a family member that he had “done something bad,” and his family member refused to allow him to enter the residence. Deputies from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Yakama Nation Police Department quickly responded the crime scene, and officers apprehended Peter. Members of the Washington State Patrol arrived and assisted with the crime scene, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation assumed jurisdiction over the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref condemned Peter’s acts as senseless violence that undermine the safety and strength of the Yakama Nation and all of Eastern Washington: “Three people are dead. Two children have been orphaned without any immediate family in the United States. A family patriarch will never see his grandchildren graduate from high school or walk his daughter down the aisle,” said U.S. Attorney Waldref. “Violence like this is not normal, and it cannot be normalized. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to prosecute violence throughout Eastern Washington, in the big cities and small towns, on the farms and on the Palouse, and on every Indian Nation. I commend the collaborative efforts of the Yakama Nation Police Department, the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their seamless partnership in this case, which resulted in a significant sentence. But for the families of Mr. Peter’s victims, nothing will ever be the same again. No sentence could ever bring back their beloved family members, but I hope there is some comfort in knowing that today, the Court removed from the Yakama Nation a dangerous offender whose hair-trigger response to being angry at a video game was to murder three people in cold blood.”

“The FBI, along with our partners, have made combating violent crime in Washington a priority,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Office of the FBI. “Three innocent people were murdered in what can only be described as utterly senseless acts. Today’s sentence is particularly resonant, given the nature and violence of Mr. Peter’s crimes.”

This case was investigated by the Yakima Resident Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Richard C. Burson and Tom Hanlon, Assistant United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Washington.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – A search warrant executed last week in Morgantown led to the recovery of a large batch of “Rainbow Fentanyl,” a colorful version of the deadly drug that resembles candy.

United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld was joined by officials from the Mon Metro Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force today to discuss the case and to notify the community about how fentanyl is being marketed in the region. The pills, seized last week by Task Force officers, are multi-colored and stamped with M/30 like a conventional oxycodone pill. Ihlenfeld noted that the production quality of the counterfeits was superior to pills seized in the past, and that they are suspected to have originated Mexico and shipped to Morgantown from California.

“Adolescent drug overdose deaths have doubled over the past decade due to the emergence of illicit fentanyl and the manner in which it is being marketed,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld. “This another example of drug cartels being creative in how they produce and sell their product.”

In addition to the fentanyl pills, officers recovered significant quantities of crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, and powdered fentanyl. The investigation is ongoing, and criminal charges will be announced in the future.

The candy-colored pills seized in Morgantown are consistent with a trend being seen in other parts of the country. Last week in in Nogales, Arizona, U.S. Custom and Border Patrol agents seized 15,000 multi-colored pills from an individual attempting to smuggle them into the country. Similar seizures have been made in California, Oregon and Washington, D.C.

“We will relentlessly pursue drug dealers who are targeting our youth with drugs disguised as candy,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Mike Nordwall. “These pills may look harmless, but they are potentially deadly.  We ask the community to talk with your children about the dangers of illegal drugs and to not take something if they aren’t sure what it is or where it came from.”

The Mon Metro Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, is comprised of representatives from the Morgantown Police Department, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office, the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, West Virginia State Police, West Virginia University Police Department, Granville Police Department, and the Star City Police Department.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

INDIANAPOLIS – Jasaun Pope a/k/a “Biz”, 31, of Valley Stream, New York, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison late yesterday for mail fraud and money laundering offenses related to his role in a nationwide elder fraud scheme. Pope and four co-conspirators have all signed plea agreements for their roles in the offense, and Pope is the first to be sentenced.

According to court documents, from at least April 2020 and continuing through January 2021, Pope, along with co-conspirators Darlens Renard, Princess Elizer, Jennifer Glemeau, and Kareem Brown, targeted and exploited the elderly and their relationships with their relatives for personal financial gain. This sophisticated criminal network, through extortion and fraud, induced elderly Americans across the United States to pay tens of thousands of dollars to help their grandchild or other close family relative in a scam known as a “Grandparent Scam.” 

Unidentified members of the conspiracy made scam telephone calls to elderly victims in Indiana and nationwide claiming that their grandchild or other relative had an urgent legal or medical problem and needed money immediately. The caller, who often claimed to be an attorney, police officer, or other authority figure, told the victims to send an overnight delivery of cash to help the purported relative in need—typically between $5,000 and $15,000—to a delivery address used by the conspiracy. Pope’s crew, consisting of Elizer, Glemeau, and Brown, traveled to cities around the country to identify unoccupied residences to use as cash delivery addresses. Pope’s crew relayed the delivery addresses to Pope, who in turn, sent them to Renard, who provided them to other members of the conspiracy. Pope’s crew then traveled to the delivery addresses to retrieve the cash sent by the elderly victims and the conspirators divided the criminal proceeds amongst themselves.

To date, investigators have identified over sixty-eight suspected victims of the defendants’ scheme and identified losses amounting to over $683,464.

“These sophisticated criminal organizations exploit the elderly by preying on the love and commitment they have for their families,” said United States Attorney Zachary A. Myers. “These heinous frauds wreak immeasurable financial and emotional harm on victims to satisfy the greed of networks of criminals. Our office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute scammers who seek to take advantage of vulnerable members of our community.”

“Honest and hard-working citizens are fed up with criminals who exploit the vulnerable through scams and deceit,” said Justin Campbell, Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Those who engage in this type of cruel financial fraud should know they will not fly under the radar and will be held accountable.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service will continue to vigorously pursue those who utilize the U.S. Mail to advance their fraud schemes,” said Rodney Hopkins, Inspector in Charge of the Detroit Division. “Crimes of these type bring grave financial and personal hardships to their victims.  Criminal misuse of the U.S. Mail will not be tolerated, and our agency will continue to go after those who seek to take advantage of vulnerable individuals.”

“The Metro Drug Task Force is proud of the work of our investigators who stepped outside their normal scope of investigations to bring these criminals to justice,” said Bryan P. Smith, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. “We want to thank our federal and international partners for their cooperation to bring this case together. For those criminals that wish to victimize central Indiana communities, the Task Force will continue to use whatever means available to them to find bad actors and make our communities safer.”

The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Metro Drug Task Force investigated the case. The investigation was supported by the Baltimore Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshal’s Service, and state and local law enforcement partners in Orleans, Massachusetts; Bartonville, Illinois; Starkville, Mississippi; New York, New York; Ossining, New York; Westchester County, New York; Delaware County, Ohio; Hermantown, Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Sumter County, South Carolina; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Sumner County, Tennessee; Hurst, Texas; and Richmond, Virginia.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson. As part of the sentence, Judge Magnus-Stinson also ordered that the defendant be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for two years following his release from federal prison and to pay restitution in the amount of $554,574.02 to the victims.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys MaryAnn T. Mindrum and Nicholas J. Linder who prosecuted this case.

The Justice Department has established a National Elder Fraud Hotline to provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud. If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish, and other languages are available.  

This Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The best method for prevention, however, is by sharing information about the various types of elder fraud schemes with relatives, friends, neighbors, and other seniors who can use that information to protect themselves. 

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – This week a federal judge sentenced a convicted felon charged with drug trafficking while armed announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosives, and Firearms (“ATF”) Special Agent in Charge Mickey French.

Chief United States District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced Clemmie Lee Spencer, 43, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to 25 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm after previous convictions of drug trafficking and possession.

“Reducing violent crime is top priority of our office,” U.S. Attorney Escalona said. “Spencer repeatedly ignored the law, and today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of his crimes.    Thank you to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners for working diligently to continue to remove the worst offenders from our communities.”

“Drug trafficking and the prevalence of guns on our streets continue to plaque our community at alarming rates,” SAC French said. “The ATF will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and charge those individuals who continue to make our neighborhoods unsafe with their armed drug trafficking activities.”

On August 15, 2019, Spencer was arrested at 1115 28^th Street in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, following the execution of a search warrant. Upon arrival in the early morning, agents had to forcefully enter the home due to no response when they announced their presence.  Once inside the house, agents found Spencer and his girlfriend. Agents seized over 60 grams of “crack” cocaine, 17 grams of marijuana, cash, a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver, a loaded H&R Arms Company .38 caliber revolver, a loaded Winchester .22 caliber rifle, assorted ammunition, and digital scales.  The loaded rifle was found in a utility closet with children’s toys and bicycles. 

Spencer’s prior convictions include a January 4, 2006 conviction for trafficking marijuana.  He was sentenced to the Alabama Department of Corrections for 10 years. While incarcerated, he was disciplined 11 times, including 5 times for possession of prison contraband.  Three months after being released, on February 22, 2011, Spencer was arrested for being in possession of marijuana packaged for sale. He was convicted on September 6, 2012, for unlawful possession of marijuana first degree, and sentenced to 32 months of home confinement.  That sentence was suspended, and he was placed on probation for three years. While on probation, Spencer was a repeated violator. 

Spencer was arrested again on December 10, 2014, and indicted for second degree rape and sex abuse of a child less than 12 years of age. These charges were dismissed on January 4, 2018, because the mother of the victims and the victims failed to cooperate with the prosecution of Spencer.

On November 17, 2020, a grand jury in the Northern District of Alabama charged Spencer in a three-count superseding indictment with possession with the intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  The jury trial in this case began on March 22, 2021.  After eight prosecution witnesses testified, Spencer knowingly and voluntarily pleaded guilty on March 23, 2021.  The Court accepted Spencer’s plea of guilty to all three charges in the superseding indictment and found Spencer guilty. While in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting trial, Spencer committed numerous institutional violations including possession of drugs and weapons.

ATF investigated the case along with the Tuscaloosa Police Department and the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Cross and Brittany T. Byrd prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The Three Defendants Together Earned Millions of Dollars from Nationwide Yoga Business But Did Not File Tax Returns – or Pay Taxes – from at least 2013 to 2020