Month: September 2022

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Security News: Former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Inspector General Convicted of Falsifying Financial Disclosure Forms

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal jury convicted a former Assistant Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) yesterday for engaging in a scheme to conceal his financial indebtedness to a personal friend and government contractor to whom he steered tens of millions of dollars in government business.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Eghbal “Eddie” Saffarinia, 62, of Alexandria, Virginia, engaged in a scheme to conceal material facts, including the nature and extent of his financial relationship with a personal friend who was the owner and chief executive officer of an information technology company. During a period in which Saffarinia received payments and loans from his friend totaling $80,000, Saffarinia disclosed confidential internal government information to his friend and undertook efforts to steer government contracts and provide competitive advantages and preferential treatment to his friend’s company. Saffarinia also failed to disclose this financial relationship and another large promissory note on his public financial disclosure forms.

Saffarinia was convicted of one count of concealing material facts, three counts of making false statements, and three counts of falsifying a record or document. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19 and faces a maximum penalty of 80 years in prison. 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; Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Inspector General Thomas A. Monheim of the Intelligence Community made the announcement.

The FBI Washington Field Office and the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community investigated the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Edward P. Sullivan and Trial Attorneys Rosaleen T. O’Gara and John P. Taddei of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case.

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Defense News: Navy Price Fighters develop additive manufacturing cost, time model

Source: United States Navy

The NPF were tasked in October 2016 to develop a means to determine a business case for Additive Manufacturing. They reviewed numerous articles, industry publications, and Department of Defense guidance regarding AM and discovered there wasn’t a consistent path for determining a business case for AM.

“Even though AM has been around for a while, it’s still relatively new for the Department of Defense and the Navy,” said William Peterson, NAVSUP WSS NPF Operations Research Analyst and AMCAT Team Lead. “There’s a lot of information out there on where additive manufacturing can best be used and what the benefits are, but there’s no agreement on what metrics need to be collected to determine a business case or the cost of additive manufacturing.”

The NPF quickly realized in order to determine a viable business case they had to collect data to help calculate both AM cost and time, as well as, determine viable results for an AM business case.

“We needed to decide as a group what data we needed to collect in order to come up with additive manufacturing cost,” said Peterson. “The ultimate goal of the tool is to determine whether it’s more cost effective to use additive manufacturing or to use established supply systems.”

The NPFs developed the AMCAT web-based tool to provide the information necessary to make an informed value decision. The tool is designed around standard engineering processes accomplished by DoD AM production sites across the United States. AMCAT is a one-of-a-kind analytics tool standardizing the collection of AM data, enabling metric reporting and provides a comparison between AM and traditional supply chain solutions.

“Currently NAVAIR and NAVSEA are our biggest proponents and have started using the web-based AMCAT, and we continue to gather data,” said Peterson.

While other entities within the DoD are working on similar solutions, the NPFs believe the AMCAT should be accepted as the standard for cost and time modeling as a way to determine return on investment.

“Our tool captures everything and uses real data for things like non-recurring engineering (labor hours and equipment purchases), shipping, contracting and transportation costs,” said Peterson. “The intention is to capture all of the costs of AM. Our tool is the only one capturing all that data.”

As the AMCAT gathers more data, the tool will provide a more accurate business case for the use of additive manufacturing. If the NPFs have their way, the AMCAT will play an integral role in determining the viability of 3D printing decisions across the DoD.

To read more about the AMCAT and the PhD behind the development of the equations in the model please see: NAVSUP WSS Navy Price Fighters Put 3D Printing Costs On the Ropes > United States Navy > News-Stories and/or video: DVIDS – Video – NAVSUP WSS Navy Price Fighters have 3D printing costs on the ropes (dvidshub.net).

NAVSUP WSS is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP.   Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and sailor and family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss, and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.  

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Security News: Sorority Treasurer gets 45 months for Wire Fraud

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Oxford, Miss. – An Oxford woman was sentenced last Friday to 45 months in prison for wire fraud committed while she was a volunteer for the Kappa Delta sorority at Mississippi State University.

Court records state that Betty Jane Cadle, 75, issued checks from the Kappa Delta House Corporation banking account to herself and to a business she and her daughter owned in Oxford, Mississippi without authority. According to court documents, from 2012 through 2019, Cadle stole $2.9 million from the Kappa Delta Sorority House Corporation.

Representatives of the sorority spoke at the sentencing hearing and recounted how Cadle had bullied the sorority members and maintained an attitude of superiority to avert any questions about the finances of the sorority house.

“The defendant abused her position of trust and authority by stealing money she was entrusted with for her own personal gain.” Said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. “The Northern District of Mississippi’s United States Attorney’s Office will continue to prosecute those that abuse their positions to steal from others.”

In announcing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson also imposed a restitution judgment in the amount of $2,940,853.80.

Cadle is scheduled to report to prison on October 24. Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker S. King prosecuted the case.

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Security News: Mexican National Sentenced To More Than Three Years In Federal Prison For Possessing A Firearm

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Ocala, Florida – Senior United States District Judge John Antoon II has sentenced Miguel Vargas-Narez (44, Mexico) to 40 months in federal prison following his convictions for possession of a firearm by an alien unlawfully in the United States and illegal reentry into the United States. Vargas entered guilty pleas to the charges on June 1, 2022.

According to the court records, Vargas is a citizen and national of Mexico. He has previously been deported from the United States four times and has been convicted of illegally reentering the United States after being deported on two prior occasions. On November 18, 2021, Vargas fled from Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies in a stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed. Vargas eventually crashed the vehicle in a pasture but continued to flee on foot. When apprehended by a police K-9 unit, Vargas had a loaded pistol in his waistband. In his pants pockets, deputies discovered another pistol with a scratched-off serial number, 38 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and seven rounds of .25 caliber ammunition. As an person not lawfully present in the United States, Vargas is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition under federal law.

This case was investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Nowalk.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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Security News: Spirit Lake, ND, Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for Production and Distribution of Child Pornography

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Fargo – United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl announced that Johnson Shae Tollefson, age 29 of Spirit Lake, ND, appeared before Chief Judge Peter D. Welte, U.S. District Court, Fargo, ND, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison after having plead guilty on February 8, 2022, to Production, Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography. Judge Welte also sentenced Tollefson to lifetime of supervised release and he ordered Tollefson to pay $12,000 in restitution to four victims who were depicted in the images of child pornography.

This case came to the attention of law enforcement after the social networking website Tumblr reported that the Tumblr user “hornybiguysstuff” uploaded child pornography images during a private blog via the platform on December 19, 2019. A subsequent investigation by Homeland Security Investigation and North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation revealed that the user “hornybiguysstuff” was in reality Tollefson. Tollefson produced child pornography in Dilworth, Minnesota, that depicted a toddler-age female. While in North Dakota, Tollefson subsequently distributed the child pornography to other Tumblr users in exchange for other child pornography.

A federal grand jury in the District of Minnesota returned an Indictment charging Tollefson with production of child pornography and a federal grand jury in North Dakota returned an Indictment charging him with distribution and possession of child pornography. The Minnesota Indictment was eventually transferred to the District of North Dakota and Tollefson plead guilty to both Indictments in North Dakota. The two cases were combined for sentencing.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the nation, Project Safe Childhood, in conjunction with Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), help federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communications systems, or computer technology to sexually exploit children. The ICAC Program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces engaging in proactive investigations, forensic investigations, and criminal prosecutions. Project Safe Childhood also helps to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, with United States Attorney Jennifer Puhl assigned to the case.

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