Source: United States Navy
Forty years is a lifetime. In fact, it can feel like several. For Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer 5 Phillip Brashear, son of legendary Master Chief Navy Diver Carl Brashear, four decades of service came full circle as he became an honorary inductee in a select group with a unique familial connection.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
A Gresham, Oregon, man is facing federal charges for selling fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of a 17-year-old Portland teenager.
Duane Robert Hill, 38, has been charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl.
According to court documents, an investigation leading to Hill began on June 16, 2022, when the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Interdiction Task Force (HIT), including members of the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) Narcotics and Organized Crime Division (NOC) and special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), responded to the overdose death of a 17-year-old teenager in Portland. Investigators found one full and one-half blue “M-30” pill on the victim’s desk along with small amounts of an unknown crystal substance and a white powder residue. Lab reports later confirmed that the pills recovered were counterfeit Oxycodone pills manufactured with fentanyl. Investigators believe the teen died of a fentanyl overdose.
Further investigation uncovered evidence that Hill is the third-level supplier of the fentanyl pills found in the teen’s room and that are believed to have caused the teen’s death. It was determined that Hill had been distributing fentanyl pills in quantities ranging from 10 to 100 pills in and around Portland for nearly a year. Hill sold the counterfeit pills for between $4 and $5 apiece. One week after the teen’s death, investigators set up and conducted a controlled purchase of more than three dozen M-30 pills from Hill.
Today, on September 7, 2022, investigators executed a search warrant on Hill’s Gresham residence. When PPB’s Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) entered the residence, Hill attempted to flush pills down the toilet. He was arrested without incident. More than 200 M-30 pills were found in Hill’s residence and vehicle along with a 9mm handgun, a scale, assorted drug packaging materials, and $4,480 in cash. A portion of the fentanyl pills recovered from Hill’s toilet were rainbow-colored.
Hill made his initial appearance in federal court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You. He was detained pending further court proceedings.
This case was investigated by the Oregon-Idaho HIDTA Interdiction Team, PPB NOC, and HSI with assistance from the Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott M. Kerin is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Rainbow fentanyl has appeared recently in several forms in cities across the country. Versions seized recently in the Portland area resemble thick pieces of brightly-colored sidewalk chalk or small multi-colored pills sometimes referred to as “skittles.”
If you are in immediate danger or encounter fentanyl in any form, please call 911.
If you or someone you know suffers from addiction, please call the Lines for Life substance abuse helpline at 1-800-923-4357 or visit www.linesforlife.org. Phone support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also text “RecoveryNow” to 839863 between 8am and 11pm Pacific Time daily.
Seized fentanyl in resealable bags.
Seized multi-color fentanyl in clear resealable bags.
Seized rainbow-colored fentanyl in a clear resealable bag.
Seized 9mm handgun.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
Gulfport, Miss. – A Moss Point man pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Michael Terrand Johnson, 40, pled guilty on September 6, 2022, in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
According to court documents, on June 22, 2022, officers of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force attempted to serve a warrant at a residence in Jackson County, Mississippi, when they encountered Michael Johnson. Johnson fled to a bedroom in the home where he stashed a firearm under a bed. Johnson is a previously convicted felon who is not permitted to possess a firearm. On July 19, 2022, Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Johnson will be sentenced on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Rose.
Source: United States Department of Justice
The United States filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas today to bar a Houston area tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others.
The suit was brought against Jonathan Perry, individually and doing business as X-Pert Tax Services and as JONATHAN PERRY. The complaint alleges that during 2017-2022, over 4,000 federal income tax returns were filed with the IRS using electronic filing identification numbers that the IRS issued to Perry. According to the complaint, in a substantial number of these tax returns, the defendants significantly overstated the customers’ tax refunds by fabricating employee business expenses, household help income, business losses and/or by falsely claiming education credits and fuel excise tax credits to which the customers were not entitled.
By repeatedly understating his customers’ tax liabilities, the complaint alleges, Perry and his tax preparation businesses cost the United States more than an estimated $4.4 million in tax revenue from 2017 to 2022.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a checklist of things to remember when filing income tax returns in 2022.
In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $73,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free. The IRS has tips on how seniors and individuals with low to moderate income can get other help or guidance on tax return preparation, too.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Source: United States Department of Justice News
A former Puerto Rico legislator was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for engaging in a bribery and kickback scheme. He was also ordered to pay $190,000 in restitution.
Nelson Del Valle Colon, 56, of Dorado, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty in the District of Puerto Rico to federal program bribery in March. According to court documents, Del Valle Colon was elected to be a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives in 2016. He thereafter hired Mildred Estrada-Rojas, 55, and her daughter, Nickolle Santos-Estrada, 33, both of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to work in his legislative office. In exchange for their employment and their salaries, however, Estrada and Santos paid biweekly kickbacks to Del Valle Colon of between approximately $500 and $1,300 from early 2017 until approximately July 2020.
According to statements made in connection with their pleas, Del Valle Colon, Estrada, and Santos admitted that the biweekly kickbacks were paid in a variety of ways. Estrada and Santos generally paid their biweekly cash kickbacks in envelopes that they provided to Del Valle Colon in offices in the Capitol building in Old San Juan. Estrada sometimes paid her kickback to Del Valle Colon over ATH Móvil, a mobile phone cash transfer application.
Estrada is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28. Santos is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico, and Special Agent in Charge Joseph González of the FBI San Juan Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI’s San Juan Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Jonathan E. Jacobson the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Anderson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico are prosecuting the case.