Month: November 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Fredericksburg man pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to obtain pandemic unemployment benefits. His family members were also indicted for their roles in the scheme, along with a separate mail theft and bank fraud scheme.  

According to court documents, from in or about May 2020 through in or about January 2022, Eric Wilhoit, II, 28, conspired with his siblings, Odyssey Wilhoit, 23, and Jeremiah Wilhoit, 26, and cousin, Dejhaun Wilhoit, 26, to obtain pandemic unemployment benefits. Yesterday, Eric Wilhoit pleaded guilty and admitted that he applied for pandemic unemployment benefits in his name and in the names of others, many who were identity theft victims. He also admitted that he falsely represented, among other things, the applicants’ work history and that they lost their employment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of yesterday’s plea, Eric Wilhoit admitted that he instructed his coconspirators on how to make the claims and used VPNs and false or anonymized email addresses in an attempt to hide the fraud. Additionally, he admitted that he recruited others so as to use their physical addresses to receive the prepaid debit cards that contained the unemployment benefits. Eric Wilhoit admitted that he and his coconspirators made significant cash withdrawals and bought luxury goods with the benefits. Specifically, Eric Wilhoit purchased a diamond ring among other things. Eric Wilhoit admitted that the associated loss was somewhere between $550,000 and $3,500,0000.

While attempting to flee his arrest, Eric Wilhoit led law enforcement on a high-speed chase, resulting in him crashing his car with his minor children in the backseat.

In addition to alleging that Odyssey Wilhoit, Jeremiah Wilhoit, and Dejhaun Wilhoitm engaged in this pandemic unemployment benefits scheme, the indictment also alleges Odyssey Wilhoit conspired with Jaleai Morrison, 23, of Temple, Georgia, in a separate mail theft and bank fraud scheme. Morrison pleaded guilty on November 7 to participating in this scheme. According to court documents, Morrison would steal checks from a U.S. postal collection box and provide the checks or personal information from the checks to Odyssey Wilhoit. Odyssey Wilhoit then allegedly used the information to create counterfeit checks, which she would then deposit into bank accounts. After her conspiracy with Morrison ended, it is alleged that Odyssey Wilhoit continued her bank fraud scheme through at least July 2022.

Eric Wilhoit and Morrison are scheduled to be sentenced on January 25, 2023. Eric Wilhoit faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Morrison faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.  If convicted, Odyssey Wilhoit, Jeremiah Wilhoit, and Dejhaun Wilhoit face a mandatory minimum of 2 years and maximum penalty of 30 years. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division; Kevin Davis, Fairfax County Chief of Police; Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Troy Springer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Washington, DC Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga accepted the plea.

The Charles County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police provided assistance in this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly Shartar and Christopher Hood are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:22-cr-191.

An indictment is merely an accusation. Odyssey Wilhoit, Jeremiah Wilhoit, and Dejhaun Wilhoit are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Dr. Robert M. Cao, 39, of Lafayette, Louisiana, and previously of Falls Church, Virginia, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to five felony counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance outside the scope of his professional practice.  As detailed in court documents, the charges pertain to Cao prescribing various narcotic pain medications in the months and days leading up to an overdose death in Virginia last year.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division, and Kevin Davis, Chief of the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department.

            The Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan scheduled sentencing for Feb. 22, 2023.

            According to court documents, Cao is a physician who was licensed to practice medicine in the District of Columbia and Virginia.  As part of his guilty plea, Cao admitted that on at least five occasions in 2021, he knowingly and intentionally wrote a man identified in court documents as “V.C.” prescriptions for oxycodone and hydrocodone, Schedule II controlled substances with a high potential for abuse.  Cao provided the narcotic prescriptions to the victim without having any doctor-patient relationship with him, without any physical examination, diagnosis, or treatment plan, and knowing that the victim had no medical condition that would necessitate such prescriptions.

            On May 31, 2021, first responders were dispatched to a Fairfax, Virginia residence in response to a 911 call for assistance regarding “V.C.,” after his girlfriend found him cold and non-responsive. He was pronounced deceased under suspicious circumstances.

            A subsequent autopsy report documented the cause of death as acute combined oxycodone and ethanol poisoning. On the nightstand next to where “V.C.” was found were prescription bottles, including one containing Percocet (a brand name of the narcotic analgesic oxycodone/acetaminophen) pills filled on May 23, 2021.  Cao was the prescribing doctor listed on the bottle.

            Court filings also detail text message exchanges between Cao and “V.C.,” including discussions about Cao prescribing narcotic pain medications to “V.C.” in exchange for agreeing to give Cao a kickback of some of the pills he had prescribed, and meetings between the two, including a meeting in a parking lot on the night before the man’s death so Cao could get a portion of the narcotic pills from “V.C.” 

            As detailed in court documents, Cao took several steps to avoid detection from law enforcement and regulatory authorities. For example, he advised the victim not to create a paper trail, and to fill the prescriptions at times when they were least likely to be questioned by pharmacies.  Cao also hid the pad that he used to write the man prescriptions, which Cao took from a District of Columbia cosmetic office where he previously worked, at his home inside a hollowed-out container made to look like a diary. 

            After learning of the victim’s untimely death, Cao created fraudulent backdated medical records to make it appear that Cao had provided legitimate prescriptions to the victim as part of a lawful doctor-patient relationship.

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Fairfax County Police Department.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anne P. McNamara and Christine Macey of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Quinten Smith, 22, of Mexican Springs, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was sentenced on Nov. 7 to six years and six months in prison for manslaughter in Indian Country. Smith pleaded guilty on May 16.

On Sept. 24, 2021, Smith and other family members went to the home of the victim, identified as John Doe, to confront him for allegedly assaulting Smith’s mother. When they arrived at the home, a physical altercation ensued. During the fight, Smith stabbed the victim multiple times in the back with a pocketknife. Smith and the others fled the home immediately.

John Doe, who was also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was found deceased in his home later that day. The killing occurred on the Navajo Nation.

Upon his release from prison, Smith will be subject to three years of supervised release.

The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office and the Navajo Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Marshall prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found David Alan Quarles (51, Odessa) guilty of conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, threats, fraud, and coercion; importation of an alien for the purpose of prostitution; transportation of an individual in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution; and using a facility of interstate commerce in aid of prostitution. Quarles faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years, and up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 24, 2023. Quarles was indicted on January 13, 2021.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, for decades, Quarles recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised, and maintained young women and forced them to have sex with men in exchange for money. Quarles used physical violence, threats of violence, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and financial abuse to force and coerce the victims to engage in commercial sex across the United States and throughout the Middle District of Florida. The evidence revealed Quarles frequented strip clubs and bikini bars to target and recruit young vulnerable women who were in difficult financial situations. Many of the victims lacked a stable home and had recently aged out of the foster care system. Quarles promised the victims he would provide everything they had been desiring – financial security, love and affection, and a family. Quarles and his conspirators directed the victims to engage in prostitution, posted advertisements featuring these victims, and arranged for the victims to travel across the United States to work. In addition to recruiting and obtaining women from the United States, Quarles also imported non-United States citizens into the country for the purposes of prostitution.

Quarles required that his victims send him the money that they earned or seek his permission to spend funds on necessities. The evidence demonstrated that while Quarles lacked any legitimate source of income, he benefited financially from the victims. He used their earnings to rent large homes, buy luxury clothing items, and purchase high-end cars, including a Range Rover and a Porsche Panamera. At trial, Quarles testified he had been working as a “pimp” since at least 1994 but denied needing to force or coerce the victims to engage in commercial sex.

As a result of his conviction, the United States is forfeiting multiple electronic devices that facilitated these offenses.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa M. Thelwell and former Assistant United States Attorney Colin McDonell. Assistant United States Suzanne Nebesky is handling the forfeiture.

This case resulted from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s efforts to collaborate with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute coercive human trafficking in the Tampa area. This includes the trafficking of minors, forced labor, transnational sex trafficking, and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud, or coercion. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Allahjuan Calhoun, 32, of Yonkers, New York, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Burlington to a charge of failure to appear.  District Judge Christina Reiss ordered that Calhoun be detained pending his sentencing next March 21.  At today’s hearing, Calhoun also admitted that he violated conditions of his federal supervised release on a related case.  Based on that admission, Judge Reiss sentenced Calhoun to six months of imprisonment.  Calhoun has already served about five and one-half months since his arrest on a bench warrant last summer.

According to court records, in 2020, Calhoun pleaded guilty in Vermont to being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Judge Reiss sentenced Calhoun to 26 months of imprisonment, to be followed by a two-year period of supervised release.  Calhoun completed his prison term in 2021.  Soon after, the U.S. Probation Office filed a petition to revoke Calhoun’s supervised release because, among other things, he repeatedly smoked marijuana in violation of his conditions.  

The court scheduled a final hearing on the motion to revoke Calhoun’s supervised release for March 22, 2022 in Burlington.  Although he was aware of the court date, Calhoun failed to appear as required and the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest.  Calhoun was arrested on the warrant in late June.  On October 27, a grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Calhoun with failure to appear.  Calhoun pleaded guilty to that charge at today’s arraignment.

Calhoun faces up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.  The actual sentence will be determined with reference to federal sentencing guidelines.  By law, any sentence on the failure to appear charge must run consecutively to Calhoun’s supervised release violation sentence.

Calhoun is represented by Assistant Federal Defender Mary Nerino.  The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.