Month: November 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Two criminal complaints were unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging three correction officers employed by the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) at Rikers Island with federal program fraud.  Correction Officers Steven Cange, Monica Coaxum and Eduardo Trinidad were arrested earlier today, and their initial appearances are scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon. 

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, New York Field Office (FBI), and Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) announced the charges.

“As alleged, in the midst of an ongoing staffing crisis at Rikers Island, the defendants defrauded New Yorkers by fraudulently obtaining their full salaries while taking over a year of sick leave.  These correction officers abandoned their oath to protect inmates and put the safety of their fellow correction officers at risk” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.  “Today’s arrests demonstrate that this Office remains committed to rooting out corruption at Rikers Island and protecting New Yorkers from public officials who steal their tax dollars.”

“As alleged, the defendants deliberately violated their oath when they participated in an elaborate scheme to defraud our community.  The FBI and our partners are committed to disrupting these fraudulent scams and holding the public officials who perpetuate them accountable,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.

 DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “As charged, these New York City Correction Officers feigned illness and submitted false medical documentation to take sick leave during a staffing crisis, defrauding the City of New York of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Today’s arrests hold these Correction Officers accountable for the shameful dereliction of duty alleged in the Complaints.  I thank the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their continuing partnership and efforts to bring to justice those whose misconduct jeopardizes the safety and stability of the City’s jails.”

As alleged in one complaint, New York City Correction Officer Steven Cange fraudulently obtained more than $160,000 in salary by being on sick leave from March 2021 to the present.  Although Cange claimed that he suffered from symptoms of vertigo and side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, evidence obtained by law enforcement demonstrates that Cange was able to work.  During his sick leave, Cange submitted more than 100 fraudulent medical notes to DOC demonstrating that he was at physical therapy or another medical provider when records subpoenaed from those providers demonstrate that Cange was not at those appointments.  Law enforcement also observed Cange engaging in normal life activities with no apparent difficulty.

As alleged in a separate complaint, New York City Correction Officer Monica Coaxum fraudulently obtained more than $80,000 in salary by being on sick leave from March 2021 to May 2022, and her fiancée, Correction Officer Eduardo Trinidad, fraudulently obtained more than $140,000 in salary by being on sick leave from June 2021 to November 2022.  Although Coaxum claimed to suffer from multiple injuries, evidence collected by investigators shows that she was able to work.  During her sick leave, Coaxum submitted nearly 50 fraudulent medical notes to DOC stating that she had gone to a medical appointment at times law enforcement determined she was elsewhere.  Additionally, evidence shows that on some occasions where Coaxum claimed to be injured and at home, she was traveling and at parties.  When approached by law enforcement, Coaxum admitted to forging some medical documents.

Trinidad likewise obtained more than $140,000 by claiming to be too injured to work for over a year.  Although he went to medical appointments with DOC wearing some combination of a sling, cane, and/or boot, photographic and video evidence during the same period showed Trinidad doing normal life activities like home improvement work, bowling and traveling abroad, without any difficulty or help from equipment like a boot, sling or cane.

The charges in the complaints are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Philip Pilmar and Andrew Grubin.

The Defendants:

STEVEN CANGE
Age:  49
Brooklyn, NY

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-MJ-1204

MONICA COAXUM
Age:  36
Harrison, NY

EDUARDO TRINIDAD
Age:  42
Yonkers, NY

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-MJ-1203

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that, on November 9, 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced WILLIAM HARRISON FARRIS (“FARRIS”), age 43, of New Orleans, and KACIE DOUCET (“DOUCET”), age 41, of Larose, Louisiana, for their participation in a scheme to drug and kidnap an 18-year-old Slidell resident, resulting in the teenager’s death. FARRIS was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, along with a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. DOUCET was sentenced to serve 88 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, along with a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

Both defendants previously pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Ketamine in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(E), and 846. According to court records, FARRIS and DOUCET conspired with co-defendant Leilani Aspuria, along with Carlos Mario Cantu-Cox and Christopher Cantu-Cox (who were charged in a separate case), to kidnap the teenage victim and transport him to Texas against his will. The Cantu-Coxes were a married couple based in the Houston area who distributed methamphetamine in New Orleans. At the time of his kidnapping, the victim owed money to the Cantu-Coxes and was deliberately trying to avoid the two men.

FARRIS, who was a drug customer of the Cantu-Coxes and was aware that the Cantu-Coxes were trying to find the victim, knew that DOUCET was connected to the victim on Facebook. At the direction of FARRIS, DOUCET contacted the victim over Facebook on multiple occasions and suggested that they meet for a sexual encounter.

FARRIS and DOUCET were aware that DOUCET’s offer of a sexual encounter with the teenage victim was a ruse, and that the real purpose of picking up the victim was to provide him with a cocktail of powerful drugs and thus render him incapacitated so he could be delivered to the Cantu-Coxes, who were staying at a hotel in downtown New Orleans.  The Cantu-Coxes supplied the drug cocktail, as well as instructions on how to mix the drugs with alcohol so that it could be administered to the victim without him knowing what he was taking.

To accomplish the scheme, FARRIS and DOUCET enlisted the help of Aspuria, the only one of the three with a car. On February 23, 2016, DOUCET and Aspuria picked up the victim from his grandfather’s home in Slidell. DOUCET gave the victim the Cantu-Coxes’ drug cocktail, which the couple referred to as an “elixir.” DOUCET, Aspuria, and the victim then drove around New Orleans for a number of hours, waiting for the victim to pass out. FARRIS, who was not in the car, assisted by serving as the intermediary between DOUCET, who was texting updates of the victim’s condition, and the Cantu-Coxes, who were waiting at the hotel.

At one point, DOUCET and Aspuria drove to the back of the hotel and attempted to deliver the victim to the Cantu-Coxes and FARRIS, who were waiting outside with a wheelchair. The victim was barely awake but not yet unconscious. When the car arrived, FARRIS attempted to pull the victim out of the car, but the victim woke up and became aggressive. DOUCET and Aspuria then drove off with the victim and continued to wait for the victim to pass out.

Later, DOUCET and Aspuria again drove to the hotel with the victim, who at that point was unconscious in the back seat. The Cantu-Coxes produced two needles containing ketamine. Aspuria injected one of the needles into the victim’s body, while DOUCET and FARRIS watched without objection. The victim did not move when he was injected, and no one checked to determine whether the victim was still breathing after the injection.

At that point, the teenager’s body was transferred to the Cantu-Coxes’ car, and the Cantu-Coxes began driving back to Texas. Somewhere near the Louisiana-Texas border, the Cantu-Coxes realized that the victim was no longer breathing.  The Cantu-Coxes continued driving to their home in Pasadena, Texas and parked in their driveway. Because it was still daylight, they left the victim’s body in the car. At nightfall on February 24, 2016, the Cantu-Coxes drove to a bridge over Sims Bayou in the Houston area and put the victim’s body into the bayou. The victim’s body washed to the shore a week later. The Cantu-Coxes later paid FARRIS a quantity of methamphetamine for his efforts in capturing the victim.

On February 5, 2020, Judge Milazzo sentenced Leilani Aspuria to ten years of imprisonment. On June 29, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Vitter sentenced Carlos Mario Cantu-Cox and Christopher Cantu-Cox to twenty years of imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, Louisiana State Police, Houston Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Assistant United States Attorney Brandon S. Long is in charge of the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that earlier today LUIS RIVAS pled guilty to conspiring to commit bank bribery in connection with a business email compromise scheme that defrauded businesses of millions of dollars.  RIVAS was the seventh person charged in this international scheme. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Bank employee Luis Rivas used his inside knowledge and access to open bank accounts for fake businesses so that his co-conspirators could receive and launder millions of dollars from victims who had been deceived.  Now, Rivas is rightly being held accountable for his crime.  Today’s guilty plea reflects this Office’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting individuals who abuse positions of trust at financial institutions to engage in corrupt criminal conduct.”

According to the Indictment and other public filings and proceedings in the case: 

From at least in or about 2018 through at least in or about May 2020, LUIS RIVAS, who at the time of the offense was a financial sales advisor at a Houston branch of a national bank, agreed to accept payments in exchange for helping others open business bank accounts for phony companies.  Those bank accounts were then used to receive more than $2.2 million in fraud proceeds.  The money came from a business email compromise scheme in which businesses were defrauded by co-conspirators who impersonated, via email, individuals and businesses in the course of otherwise ordinary financial transactions, thereby fraudulently inducing the victims to transfer funds to bank accounts that the perpetrators controlled.  The names of the phony companies used for the bank accounts that RIVAS helped open were purposefully chosen to mirror the names of the true counterparties in those business transactions.

RIVAS also helped the perpetrators access and launder the fraud proceeds.  In particular, RIVAS assisted with unfreezing, transferring, and withdrawing money in transactions designed to conceal and disguise the funds’ source, ownership, and control. 

RIVAS was generally paid between $500 to $1,500 for each account that he helped open and each transaction where he provided assistance.  He received, in total, approximately $45,000 for his corrupt insider services.

*                *                *

RIVAS, 36, of Houston, Texas, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  As part of his guilty plea, RIVAS agreed to forfeit $45,000 to the United States.   

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as RIVAS’s sentence will be determined by the judge.  RIVAS is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel on March 21, 2023.

Mr. Williams praised the work of Homeland Security Investigations for their investigative efforts and ongoing support and assistance with the case. 

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Deininger is in charge of the prosecution.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Defendant accepted $860,000 in bribes in exchange for falsely designating student applicants as recruits for the Yale women’s soccer team

Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Lee’s Summit, Mo., man has been convicted by a federal trial jury of a $1 million extortion scheme against a Kansas City, Mo., victim.

Leon L. Dudley III, 24, was found guilty on Wednesday, Nov. 9, of one count of extortion.

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Dudley delivered an extortion note to a Kansas City, Mo., residence on Aug. 24, 2018. The victim reported to law enforcement that a contractor arrived at the residence that morning to complete some work and found an envelope containing a handwritten letter taped to the front of the house near the front door. The letter contained a threat to vandalize and burn down the residence if the victim did not pay $1 million by the next day. The note included a cell phone number for the victim to text when the money was ready, and warned against contacting law enforcement.

The next day, an unknown suspect broke several windows in the house. The homeowner hired a private security firm, but the suspect returned that evening and broke more windows and a sliding glass door.

Investigators traced the cell phone number on the extortion note to the residence where Dudley lives with his mother. Investigators also located Dudley’s Facebook account, which included a photograph of a handwritten note with similar handwriting to the extortion note, as well as photos of Dudley that matched the physical profile captured in surveillance video at the residence.

Investigators searched Dudley’s residence and found an Apple iPad in his bedroom. The iPad had been stolen during a burglary at the extortion victim’s residence while it was still under construction in June 2018. During a forensic examination of the iPad, investigators found it contained internet searches related to the victim, to burning down a house and purchasing explosive items, and two extortion notes similar to the handwritten note that was left at the victim’s residence.

Investigators also found fingerprints on the extortion note and on the envelope that matched to Dudley.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for two hours before returning a guilty verdict to U.S. Chief District Beth Phillips, ending a trial that began Monday, Nov. 7.

Under federal statutes, Dudley is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg R. Coonrod and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie C. Bradshaw. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.