Month: December 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Mark Totten announced that Candi Taylor (39) of Kalamazoo, Michigan was sentenced to nine years in prison last Friday by Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou for possession with intent to distribute 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl.  A street-level drug dealer, Taylor, possessed the large quantity of fentanyl because she was transferring it from one higher-level dealer to another. 

          “Make no mistake about it, my office is committed to prosecuting the traffickers who are distributing fentanyl and other illegal drugs and the dealers who sell it,” said Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we are fighting to save lives against deadly drugs and working to keep our communities safe.”

          Taylor’s charges and conviction stemmed from her arrest on March 2, 2022.  The Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team (KVET), a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force, had been investigating Taylor for her involvement with fentanyl distribution in and around Kalamazoo.  KVET obtained a warrant to search Taylor’s residence, vehicle, and her elderly father’s residence, which law enforcement believed Taylor was using as a stash house.  Taylor was in her vehicle in the driveway of her home when KVET executed the warrants and officers found her with a baggie containing approximately ten grams of fentanyl in her hand and a digital scale nearby.  Investigators found two more baggies in her coat pocket containing over 100 grams of fentanyl.  The search of Taylor’s elderly father’s house yielded over 1,400 grams of fentanyl in a locked toolbox that Taylor was temporarily holding to transfer to a larger-scale dealer.  Taylor pled guilty to possession with the intent of distributing the fentanyl she stashed at her elderly father’s residence.

          “The potential consequences of Ms. Taylor’s actions, for the residents of Kalamazoo and surrounding communities, is unfortunately, not inconceivable,” said DEA Detroit Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene. “With our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, we are committed to providing the resources necessary to combat drug trafficking in our communities. These arrests should send a clear message that drug trafficking on any level will not be tolerated.”

          In announcing Taylor’s sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou recognized that Taylor was primarily a street-level dealer but observed that she made a “huge mistake” and took a “huge gamble” by offering to hold and transfer 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl from one dealer to another. Jarbou further observed that individuals who transport for larger-scale dealers must face consequences.  Taylor had prior convictions for retail fraud, carrying a concealed weapon, unarmed robbery, and fleeing from police, which Judge Jarbou also considered when imposing the sentence.         

          “The poisoning of our community by drug dealers pushing fentanyl into the hands of Kalamazoo residents is devastating,” said Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Acting Chief David Boysen.  “The end user, their family, and the community bear the burdens of the drug dealer’s desire for material gains.  Today’s sentence is clear evidence that the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety will, through targeted enforcement, work tirelessly to stop drug dealers from destroying lives” added Boysen.

          This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team, a narcotics task force operating in Kalamazoo County.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel S. Fauson.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Three men who sold a machine gun and silencer to an undercover ATF agent have been sentenced to more than 23 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Guy Mena, 34, and Stephen Kadlec, 39, were arrested and charged in November 2021. Mr. Kadlec plead guilty in January 2022 to transferring a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act and was sentenced in June to two years in federal prison. Mr. Mena pleaded guilty to transferring a firearm in violation of the NFA December 2021 and, in a separate case in July 2022, to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; he was sentenced last Thursday to a total of 14 ½ years in federal prison.

Their coconspirator Sergio Salgado, 37, was charged in May 2022. He also pleaded guilty to transferring a firearm in violation of the NFA and was sentenced in October to more than seven years in federal prison.

According to court documents, Mr. Mena offered to sell a confidential informant a firearm frame, two receivers – one semi-automatic and one fully-automatic – a silencer, and some firearm magazines for $6,000.

Accompanied by an undercover ATF agent, the confidential informant met Mr. Mena, Mr. Kadlec, and Mr. Salgado at a motel in Arlington on Nov. 18 2021. Mr. Kadlec showed the undercover agent the full-auto receiver, demonstrated how to swap the semi-auto receiver for the full-auto receiver on the firearm frame,  outlined the functionality of the silencer, and explained how to toggle the selector switch to full-auto to turn the firearm into a machinegun.

(Unlike semiautomatic firearms, machineguns – weapons that can shoot more than one shot, without manual reloading, by single function of the trigger – are generally unlawful for civilians under the National Firearms Act.)

The undercover agent handed over $6,000 and departed with the firearm, receivers, silencer, and magazines. Shortly after the ATF agent left the room, Texas DPS officers observed Mr. Mena, Mr. Kadlec, and Mr. Salgado exit the hotel room and get into a vehicle; when they pulled the vehicle over, they detained the three men and recovered the government funds.

Prior to the firearm transaction, Mr. Mena had sold more than 50 grams of methamphetamine to another confidential informant out of his apartment in Abilene.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation in cooperation with the Arlington Police Department, the Abilene Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s South Central Laboratory. Assistant U.S. Attorney Levi Thomas prosecuted the firearms cases against all three defendants while Assistant U.S. Attorney Juanita Fielden prosecuted the drug case against Mr. Mena.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A former supervisory correctional officer at the Kay County Detention Center (KCDC) was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for violating the civil rights of three pretrial detainees held at the KCDC.

On April 15, 2022, a federal jury convicted Matthew Ware, 53, of willfully depriving two pretrial detainees of their right to be free from a correctional officer’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm and of willfully depriving a third pretrial detainee of the right to be free from a correctional officer’s use of excessive force.

“This defendant is being held accountable for abusing his position of power and authority to, among other things, facilitate an attack carried out by white supremacists on a Black inmate,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentence handed down reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and ensures accountability for his unlawful conduct. The Justice Department will continue to hold corrections officials accountable, including those in leadership positions, when they willfully violate the constitutional rights of detainees and inmates in their custody and control.”

“A jury found that Mr. Ware abused his position of power over the individuals in his custody,” said U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma. “Today’s sentence holds him accountable for that conduct. Mr. Ware violated the laws he was sworn to uphold, betrayed the public trust and dishonored the many brave corrections officials who lawfully perform their important work each day. My office remains committed to protecting the civil rights of all Oklahomans, including those in custody.”

“The defendant disregarded the civil rights of those under his care and ultimately used his position to inflict physical harm on multiple pretrial detainees,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s sentencing clearly shows the FBI will aggressively pursue any law enforcement officer who abuses their responsibility to protect and serve.”  

“The vast majority of the men and women working in correctional institutions do their jobs honorably on a daily basis. However, Mr. Ware’s disgraceful actions undermined the public’s trust and deprived the detainees of their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution,” said Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office. “Rest assured, the FBI will work tirelessly alongside our law enforcement partners to ensure the civil liberties of every American are protected.”

According to court documents and the evidence introduced at trial, on May 18, 2017, Ware, while serving as the Lieutenant of the KCDC, ordered lower-ranking correctional officers to move two Black pretrial detainees, D.W. and M.M., to a cell row housing white supremacist inmates whom Ware knew posed a danger to D.W. and M.M. Later that same day, Ware gave lower-ranking officers a second order: to unlock the jail cells of D.W. and M.M., and those of the white supremacist inmates at the same time the following morning. When Ware’s orders were followed, the white supremacist inmates attacked D.W. and M.M., resulting in physical injury to both, including a facial laceration to D.W. that required seven stitches to close.

Court documents and evidence introduced at trial also revealed that, on Jan. 31, 2018, Ware, while serving as the Acting Captain of the KCDC, ordered lower-ranking correctional officers to restrain another pretrial detainee, C.D., in a stretched-out position — with C.D.’s left wrist cuffed to the far-left side of the bench and his right wrist cuffed to the far-right side of the bench — in retaliation for C.D. sending Ware a note that critiqued how Ware ran the KCDC. C.D. was left restrained in this position for 90 minutes, resulting in physical injury.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Troester, Assistant Director Quesada and Special Agent in Charge Gray made the announcement.

The FBI Oklahoma City Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Barry for the Western District of Oklahoma and Trial Attorney Laura Gilson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

CONTACT: Barbara Burns   
PHONE:       (716) 843-5817 
FAX #:          (716) 551-3051  

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Francis Cardinell, 76, of Penfield, NY, was charged by criminal complaint with obstruction of justice and lying under oath. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who is handling the case, stated that George Moses, former chairman of the board of the Rochester Housing Authority, was recently sentenced to serve 78 months in prison for defrauding three organizations, including the Rochester Housing Charities. According to the complaint, in April 2019, Cardinell, owner of Akwasasne Construction, a general contracting firm in Rochester, was interviewed on two separate occasions by the FBI as a witness in connection with the investigation into the fraud allegations against Moses. When asked about a $63,000 contract for boiler work to be performed by his company at the Rochester Housing Charities, Cardinell advised that he paid a cumulative amount of more than $20,000 in cash to Moses as kickbacks related to this contract. During another interview a few weeks later, Cardinell stated that he gave Moses $7,500 in cash out of a payment of $21,800 that he received from the Rochester Housing Charities. In subsequent interviews with the Internal Revenue Service and Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, Cardinell stated that he paid Moses three separate kickbacks totaling $25,000.

However, during the federal trial of George Moses, while under oath on the witness stand, Cardinell testified on cross-examination that he had lied about the kickback scheme and that he never made payments to Gorge Moses in exchange for contracts for his company. Cardinell later told federal investigators that he had fabricated these allegations against Moses because he was spiteful of Moses for the troubles he was having as a contractor.

The complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Stansbury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Jerome Winkle, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.      

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Jacqueline Mines, 66, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy to a misdemeanor charge of willful failure to file an income tax return, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno, who is handling the case, stated that in 2006, Mines founded a charitable organization named Helping Families and Children in America (HFCA), serving as president and CEO between 2006 and continuing through at least 2018. Mines maintained a checking account in the name of HFCA at Citizens Bank. In the calendar year 2018, she used approximately $61,477 from the account to pay personal expenses. In addition, in the calendar year 2018, Mines received $23,001 in Social Security income. As a result, and taking into account the $12,000 standard deduction, Mines’ gross taxable income in 2018 was approximately $72,478.00. However, she failed to file a federal income tax return or pay any federal income tax for the 2018 taxable year.  The total amount of tax loss to the United States, including interest and penalties, is $18,842.71.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 5, 2023, before Judge McCarthy.

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