Month: September 2022

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Security News: Man Sentenced to More than Five Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing Loaded Gun and Engaging in Covid-Relief Fraud

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CHICAGO — A man has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for illegally possessing a loaded handgun in Chicago and fraudulently obtaining a small business loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act.

TYJUAN LIGHTHALL illegally possessed the gun on Jan. 17, 2019, while riding in a vehicle in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side.  The gun, which Lighthall had unlawfully purchased from an individual in Indiana for $400, was equipped with an extended magazine capable of holding more than fifteen rounds of ammunition.  As a previously convicted felon, Lighthall was not legally allowed to possess a firearm. 

Lighthall was free on bond in the firearm case when he engaged in the Covid-relief fraud.  In April 2021, Lighthall applied for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program, which was a source of relief for small businesses under the CARES Act.  A PPP loan allowed the interest and principal to be forgiven if businesses spend a certain amount of the loan on essential expenses, such as payroll, rent, and utilities.  Lighthall fraudulently represented to a lender that he was the sole proprietor of a business called “Tyjaun Lighthall,” which purportedly did business under the name “Infinite 5 Creations LLC.”  Lighthall submitted the fraudulent application knowing that this business did not exist.  After the loan application was approved, the lender deposited $20,833 in Lighthall’s bank account.

Lighthall, 25, of Chicago, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal firearm charge and admitted in a plea agreement that he also engaged in the PPP fraud.  U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis imposed a 63-month prison sentence on Sept. 1, 2022, after a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kristen de Tineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Richard Eddington, Interim Chief of the Evanston Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Jodrey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Niranjan Emani represented the government.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy.  In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.

Anyone with information about attempted fraud involving Covid-19 is encouraged to report it to the Department of Justice by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or filing a complaint online at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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Defense News: Federal Painter Wage Grade Standardization at All Four Navy Shipyards

Source: United States Navy

Previously, federal painter positions at some shipyards had a top tier wage grade of WG-9.

The effort to standardize wage potential was led by the Naval Sustainment System  – Shipyards (NSS-SY) People Pillar and required the coordination of the public shipyards, the Fleet and Defense Civilian Human Resource Offices. The wage-grade increase will affect approximately 145 shipyard painters who are eligible for competitive promotions and expand career growth opportunities for skilled tradespeople. The adjustment is scheduled to happen in September 2022.

“This is an important win for the People Pillar,” explained Rear Adm. Scott Brown, NSS-SY’s People Pillar lead. “NSS-SY is focused on delivering submarines and aircraft carriers out of maintenance availabilities on-time, every time. Foundational to that is ensuring our production and engineering professionals have what they need to do their job in a safe and efficient manner. Ensuring our top performers are paid appropriately not only rewards their years of dedicated service, but allows us to retain our senior tradespeople who can train and mentor our newest employees.”

This is the first increase for top-tiered federal painters in 60 years.

“The paints and coatings we use now require significantly more training and expertise than what we had when the wage grade system was established,” shared Brown. “Being a painter in a naval shipyard requires our people to be equal parts technical expert and artist.”

Modern coatings work to preserve metal surfaces exposed to the sea water and their application must be done with specific environmental controls that account for heat and humidity and applied within thousandths of an inch to ensure proper adhesion and protection of the surfaces.

“People are our number one priority, and everything we do within the NSS-SY construct is focused on ensuring our skilled shipyard personnel have what they need to do their job,” said Ms. Giao Phan, NAVSEA’s executive director. “We need to pay our people what they’re worth, and this is a real step toward that ultimate goal.”

The People Pillar is taking a holistic look at the current wage grade compensation scale with the ultimate goal of bringing it up to industry standards.

“We’re working with the Office of Personal Management to conduct wage surveys at the four shipyards,” said Brown. “Once we have that we’ll be able to determine what is required to ensure our skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen are paid equal to their counterparts in private industry.”

“Ensuring our people are paid properly is second only to their safety, and it is a very close second,” said Vice Adm. Bill Galinis, NAVSEA commander. “I have had the opportunity to share what we are doing in this area with members of Congress, specifically the recently formed Congressional Public Shipyard Caucus, and will continue to do so as our plans mature so we can properly compensate and retain our people.”

About the Naval Sustainment System – Shipyards (NSS-SY)

NSS-SY is a business and process improvement effort designed to increase the on-time delivery of submarines and aircraft carriers at the four public shipyards: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine; Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia; Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington; and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Hawaii. NSS-SY encompasses nine focus areas, called pillars, affecting systematic change throughout the lifecycle of naval warships maintenance and modernization.

The NSS-SY People Pillar (formerly Resourcing Pillar) is focused on optimizing trade skills, mechanics, and support billets to maximize productivity which includes creating retention incentives and trade career paths for the shipyard trades workforce. 

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Defense News: USS Arlington (LPD 24) arrives in Visby, Sweden

Source: United States Navy

VISBY, Sweden (Sept. 6, 2022) – The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24), assigned to the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), arrived in Visby, Sweden for a scheduled port visit, Sept. 6, 2022.

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Defense News: CNATTU Norfolk hosts two-day corrosion control TRR to improve corrosion control mitigation efforts

Source: United States Navy

CNATTU Norfolk hosts TRRs approximately every 60 months for each Type/Model/Series or stand alone course they are the course lead for.  Additionally, TRR’s can be requested by Type Wings/Stakeholders due to emerging changes in maintenance practices.  TRR’s are a vital avenue for the fleet to provide input on improvements to training, recommendations or changes, and additions. CDR Ellie Hurst, commanding officer, CNATTU Norfolk, discussed how TRR’s help to address training issues and improve the quality of instruction received at the schoolhouse.

“The stakeholders involved in performing corrosion control work at the squadron level, NATEC, Type Wings, and I-Level maintenance with both the Navy and Marine Corps attended and provided valuable feedback,” said CDR Hurst. This review provides an opportunity for stakeholders involved in corrosion control to “examine our curriculum thoroughly with other fleet experts to see if there are any possible gaps. Those gaps may be in the form of publications updates, new prevention methods, procedures or materials as well as new tooling or fleet-wide corrosion trends that need to be addressed.  Additionally, the gaps can also be in the form of repetitions in a hands-on laboratory setting in the schoolhouse to build base-line skills needed in the fleet.”

Maintenance technicians varying in experience from E-5 to E-9 as well as Aviation Maintenance LDO/CWO’s and AMDO’s participated in the TRR.  “They identified a variety of requirements to provide updated training to help prepare maintenance technicians when they arrive at their operational units,” added CDR Hurst.

During the two-day TRR, the discussions focused on the Corrosion Control Basic, Aircraft Corrosion, and Aircraft Paint/Finish courses that are utilized by both U.S Navy and U.S. Marine Corps technicians from all T/M/S of aircraft and levels of maintenance.
“Some of the recommendations we received pertained to the Focus Area List (FAL), the use of plotters to create stencils, sealant application techniques, use of corrosion damage assessment tools such as depth gauges and micrometers, and corrosion documentation procedures in OOMA,” added CDR Hurst.

“Currently, we do not discuss the FAL in our courses because we cover broad brush strokes to corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts,” said CDR Hurst, who added students receive basic apprentice knowledge from CNATTU courses and receive more follow-on, T/M/S specific corrosion control training upon arriving at their assigned squadrons or units.

“Explaining what the FAL is, how to understand it, is worth consideration,” said CDR Hurst. “The students leaving the schoolhouse are not experts in corrosion control, but we want to provide them that base level knowledge to be followed up by their operational units to build upon that initial set of skills and proficiency.”
 

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Security News: Man Sentenced for Attacking his Ex-Girlfriend on Mother’s Day 2021

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A 28-year-old Tulsa man was sentenced in federal court for breaking into a former girlfriend’s home and strangling her in a 2021 Mother’s Day attack, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III sentenced Anthony Lamont Mason II to 84 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

In May 2022, a jury convicted Mason of one count of assault of a former intimate and dating partner by strangling, suffocating, and attempting to strangle and suffocate in Indian Country and one count of  first degree burglary in Indian Country.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma is committed to prosecuting domestic violence cases and protecting victims,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Anthony Mason II will spend seven years in prison for a violent attack on his ex-girlfriend while children were in the home. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chantelle Dial and George Jiang are to be commended for their astute performance at trial and their advocacy for the victim in this case. ”

According to court documents, Mason initially confronted the victim in violation of a protection order the morning of May 9, 2021, while she was out with her child in Broken Arrow. He was upset and asked why she wouldn’t speak to him, who she was allowing into her home, and then questioned her about her phone.

Later that day, Mason broke into the victim’s home and assaulted her. Before Mason broke her door, the victim had been home spending Mother’s Day with several friends, her child, and her child’s friend. After her last adult friend left the residence, the victim received a call from a private number and out of concern, shut the front blinds. She then looked out the window and saw Mason approach the home. The victim tried to call 911, threw her phone under the bed, hid the children in a closet, then returned to the front of the home where Mason had forced his way through the front door, breaking her locks. The victim’s doorbell camera captured 25 seconds of the incident, first showing what looked like a hand covering the camera then the sound of the victim’s screams and terrified pleas for him to stop.

Inside, Mason grabbed the victim by the neck, demanding to know where her phone was located. He dragged her by her hair, strangled her until she nearly blacked out, poured water over her mouth and nose, continuing to obstruct her breathing, and then hit her on the head with a hard, heavy object the victim believed to be a gun. He told the victim if she told anyone, he would kill her, and then moved toward where she had hidden the children. To protect the children, the victim tried to distract the defendant by fleeing from her home, screaming, knowing he would follow and try to stop her. Surveillance video from a nearby home captured Mason chasing the victim from her home and down the street, throwing her to the concrete, then continuing to run from the scene.

During trial, federal prosecutors introduced numerous other domestic violence acts committed by Mason against the victim prior to the May 9, 2021, attack which showed an escalating pattern of violence. The victim reported that Mason had strangled her multiple times since March 2020, broke her driver’s side car window in anger, and broke a window to get into her home when she was not present on Feb. 27, 2021. Video surveillance from Feb. 27, played for the jury at trial, showed Mason in the victim’s home, rifling through her bedroom and flipping over her mattress. Mason also repeatedly violated a March 2021 protective order.

Mason also had prior domestic violence charges brought against him involving other intimate partners, including a conviction in Tulsa County District Court.

The FBI and Tulsa Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chantelle D. Dial and George Jiang prosecuted the case.