Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A former Statesboro, Georgia city councilman was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for evading taxes on income from bars he co-owned.

According to court documents and statements made in court, William Britt, now of Bluffton, South Carolina, evaded taxes on income from various bars he co-owned near college campuses in Georgia. As part of the scheme, each establishment was nominally owned by a single individual. In reality, a group of business partners, including Britt, owned the bars in varying ownership percentages. Britt and the other true owners skimmed cash from the establishments and disbursed it amongst themselves in accordance with their ownership percentages without reporting that income to the IRS.

To complete the fraud scheme, Britt personally ensured that some of the nominal owners of the bars filed false tax returns. Britt also provided false information to an accountant who prepared tax returns related to some of these businesses. Specifically, Britt misrepresented the businesses’ true ownership, underreported the bars’ income, and omitted cash distributions to the owners. This conduct enabled Britt and the other true owners of the bars to file tax returns with the IRS that omitted their full income tax liabilities. As part of his guilty plea, Britt admitted to willfully underreporting his income on his 2014 individual tax return.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Chief Judge J. Randal Hall of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ordered Britt to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $352,404.54 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney David H. Estes for the Southern District of Georgia made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI investigated the case.

Assistant Chief David Zisserson and Trial Attorney Casey S. Smith of the Tax Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Tulsa man was sentenced in federal court Monday for repeatedly neglecting to adequately care for a child with mental and physical special needs, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan sentenced 37-year-old Victor Manuel Castro Huerta to 14 months in prison, after ordering Castro Huerta receive credit for the 70-months he has served for his state conviction for the crime. The federal sentence will run concurrently with the state of Oklahoma’s 35-year sentence.

The adjustment and federal sentence was pursuant to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the agreement between the parties. The sentence took into consideration the plea agreement in which the United States and the defendant agreed to an 84-month sentence. The parties also agreed that Castro Huerta would recieve credit for the time he had already served in state prison.

In his plea agreement, Castro Huerta admitted that from 2012 to Nov. 29, 2015, he did not provide adequate nurturance, food, hygiene, sanitation, education, supervision and specialty care, and medical and dental care for a child with cerebral palsy. Specifically, Castro Huerta stated that he did not appropriately care for the victim, his step-daughter, nor transport her to required medical appointments.

Castro Huerta was charged with child neglect in federal court on Nov. 2, 2020, in anticipation that his state conviction would be vacated. The state conviction was later vacated by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in April 2021.

On June 29, 2022, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling.

The defendant remains in federal custody.

The Tulsa Police Department and FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin F. Harrington and Vani Singhal prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Martin Perez-Amaro, age 33, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to 8 months’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani for illegally reentering the United States after being previously deported.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Perez-Amaro, who had been deported on two prior occasions, most recently in 2018, unlawfully reentered the country sometime thereafter and was located in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in May of 2022.  Perez-Amaro did not obtain the required authorization prior to reentering the country.  He had pleaded guilty to the offense immediately before sentencing.      

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that FABIO VARGAS-GONZALEZ, 47, of Wethersfield, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for a fentanyl trafficking offense.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the DEA’s Hartford Task Force developed information that Vargas-Gonzalez was involved in narcotics trafficking activities in the Hartford area.  On March 11, 2020, investigators conducted surveillance of Vargas-Gonzalez as he drove a minivan from Connecticut to New Jersey and then back to Connecticut.  In Danbury, investigators stopped Vargas-Gonzalez’s minivan for a motor vehicle violation and, after Vargas-Gonzalez consented to a search, found approximately two kilograms of fentanyl hidden in the minivan’s spare tire compartment.

On April, 29, 2022, Vargas-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

Vargas-Gonzalez, a citizen of the Dominican Republic and a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., faces immigration proceedings when he is released from prison.

The DEA’s Hartford Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic Police Departments.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.