Month: December 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

FRESNO, Calif. — Ten defendants arrested as part of Operation Red Reaper have pleaded guilty today to drug trafficking offenses, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

In 2019, Operation Red Reaper was a federal, state, and local law enforcement operation that targeted the criminal activities of the Nuestra Familia Prison Gang in the counties of Kings and Tulare. At the conclusion of the operation, federal charges were brought against 23 of those defendants, with the remaining being charged by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

Pleading guilty today are Raymond Lopez, 35, of Pleasant Valley State Prison; Jesse Juarez, 32, of Visalia; Daniel Juarez, 30, of Visalia; Michael Rocha, 40, of Visalia; Angel Montes, 26, of Visalia; Rafael Lopez, 41, of Visalia; Manuel Barrera, 28, of Kettleman City; Joann Bernal, 36, of Armona; Ramon Amador, 33, of Riverdale; and Raul Lopez Jr., 51, of Visalia.

Two co-defendants have been sentenced after pleading guilty. On May 24, 2021, Salvador Castro Jr., 52, of Fresno, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison, and on July 11, 2022, Manuel Garcia, 36, of Armona, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

According to court documents, in March 2019, various agencies partnered in an investigation into the Nuestra Familia prison gang and the Norteño street gang in Kings County. The investigation uncovered that the Nuestra Familia was responsible for large-scale trafficking of methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as various firearms offenses and other violent crimes. 

According to court documents, high-ranking Nuestra Familia members Salvador Castro Jr. and Raymond Lopez used contraband cellphones from inside Fresno County’s Pleasant Valley State Prison to arrange the transport of illicit narcotics from drug sources in California and Mexico to a stash house in Kings County. From that stash house, gang members outside of the prison coordinated the preparation and delivery of the drugs to distributors throughout Kings and Tulare Counties.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kings County Gang Task Force, the Special Operations Unit of the California Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin J. Gilio, Kimberly A. Sanchez, and Jessica A. Massey are prosecuting the case.

Barrera, Amador, Montes, and Raul Lopez are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ana de Alba on March 6, 2023, and the remaining defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge de Alba on March 20, 2023. They face a range of mandatory minimum sentences from between five to 15 years in prison and a range of maximum sentences, including up to life in prison. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Charges are pending against the remaining defendants. The charges are only allegations; they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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 U.S. Department of Justice 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.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Seattle – A 36-year-old resident of Bothell, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.  Gabriel Vasquez-Ruiz has been in custody since a major drug ring takedown on December 16, 2020. At today’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed five years of supervised release to follow the prison term.

According to records filed in the case, Vasquez-Ruiz was a high-volume drug distributor, able to order up pound quantities of methamphetamine for his customers.  On multiple occasions in early 2019, Vazquez-Ruiz sold a total of more than three pounds of methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement.  Conversations intercepted by police in November 2020 established that Vazquez-Ruiz agreed to trade a half kilo of cocaine for an SUV and later ordered 5 pounds of meth.

The investigation of the drug ring resulted in the seizure of more than 247 pounds of methamphetamine, 35 pounds of heroin, 42,000 fentanyl pills, 24 firearms and more than $625,000 in cash and bank accounts.

Vazquez-Ruiz pleaded guilty on May 3, 2022, and in his plea agreement resolved both the federal charges and serious state charges.

In asking for a ten-year sentence prosecutors noted that Vazquez -Ruiz had been involved in drug dealing for many years.  “…he did not simply sell small amounts of drugs to support his own habit. Rather, he worked alongside high-ranking members of a large transnational drug organization, selling significant quantities of drugs and at points supplying the organization with cocaine,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Tacoma Residence Office in partnership with Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team (TNET), Kent Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, SeaTac Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force (SRDTF), the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys C. Andrew Colasurdo and Amy Jaquette.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PITTSBURGH – A resident of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh to 60 months’ imprisonment and eight years’ supervised release upon his conviction for possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed the sentence on Christopher A. Sennett, age 34, of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court during the earlier guilty plea hearing, Sennett was found in possession, on Sept. 26, 2018, of 120 videos and nine still images depicting the sexual exploitation of minors and determined to have distributed one such video over “Motherless.com”, an infamous pornography website.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Bissoon emphasized the dangerous nature of Sennett’s conduct and stated that she hoped that he would take advantage of sex offender treatment while incarcerated. Judge Bissoon further ordered Sennett to pay a $5000 special assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Chung commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other members of the Western Pennsylvania Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Sennett.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

EUGENE, Ore.—A California man with multiple prior felony drug trafficking convictions over more than two decades was sentenced to federal prison today after he was arrested transporting nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine from California to Oregon.

Jose Baldemar Izar, 42, of Lancaster, California, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison.

According to court documents, in October 2020, investigators from the Douglas Area Interagency Narcotics Team (DINT) received a tip that Izar was trafficking drugs from California to Oregon for distribution in the Roseburg, Oregon area. Further investigation revealed that Izar was in frequent contact with several suspected methamphetamine dealers in the Roseburg area and that he was known to drive vehicles rented under another name.

On March 17, 2021, DINT officers learned Izar would be traveling from California to Douglas County. The same day, they stopped a rented vehicle in which Izar was a passenger. Investigators searched the vehicle and located more than 1,700 grams of methamphetamine, a small quantity of heroin, and drug packaging materials.

On March 18, 2021, Izar and a co-conspirator were charged by criminal complaint with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Later, on August 19, 2021, Izar and his co-conspirator were charged by criminal information with conspiring with one another to possess with intent to distribute and distribute methamphetamine. On November 3, 2022, Izar waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

This case was investigated by DINT and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Formed in October 1989, the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team is a special investigative unit formed to combat illegal narcotics activity in Douglas County. DINT member agencies include Douglas County, including the Douglas County Sheriff and District Attorney’s Offices, the Oregon National Guard, Oregon State Police, and Roseburg Police Department.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – Matthew Lee Ostrander, 36, of Missouri, was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison following his conviction for possession of obscene visual depictions of minors. The sentence was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

“This sentence is yet another example of the unwavering commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would attempt to harm them,” said U.S. Attorney Coody.  “We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who prey upon our children.”

Ostrander was convicted by a federal jury on May 12, 2022. Evidence introduced at trial revealed that in September 2020, Ostrander was arrested in Gainesville, Florida for an outstanding warrant from Missouri. At the time of his arrest, he had also failed to register as a sex offender in the State of Florida. He knowingly possessed electronic devices that contained over three hundred computer-generated images depicting children engaged in sexual activity. The activity included sadistic and masochistic abuse and sexual intercourse with children.  

According to court documents, Ostrander is a registered sex offender who was previously convicted of possession of child pornography on October 18, 2017.

“This twice-convicted sexual predator saved hundreds of heinous computer-generated images depicting children being sexually abused,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips.  “Working with our law enforcement partners, such as the Gainesville Police Department, HSI will continue to focus on identifying and prosecuting those who prey on our most vulnerable. This sentencing is another exemplary example of those efforts.”

Ostrander’s prison sentenced will be followed by lifetime supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to all sex offender conditions. 

This conviction was the result of an investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations, the Gainesville Police Department, and the United States Marshal Service. Assistant United States Attorney Frank Williams prosecuted this case.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.