Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A man from Belleville admitted to stealing more than $17,000 in Government benefits from a deceased in-law in a U.S. District Court on Tuesday.

Scott C. Gunnarson, 47, pled guilty to one count of Theft of Government Funds.

“By failing to notify the Government of a loved one’s passing and continuing to collect their benefits, individuals commit felony theft,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “Defrauding benefit agencies is a serious offense, and relatives tempted to swindle funds face going to federal prison.”

“This plea demonstrates that stealing Social Security benefits designated for another individual is a federal crime,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. “I want to thank OPM for working with us to investigate this crime and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecuting this case.”

“OPM OIG is committed to protecting federal funds from fraud,” said Conrad J. Quarles, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, OPM OIG. “I applaud the hard work of our investigators and our partners in recovering these misspent funds.”

According to court documents, Gunnarson’s in-law received monthly payments via direct deposit from the Social Security Administration and the Office of Personnel Management’s Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund as the beneficiary of her deceased spouse. The in-law passed away in April 2018, but neither the SSA nor the OPM were notified.

Gunnarson had access to the in-law’s bank account since July 2019, when his wife passed away. Since then, more than $17,000 has been withdrew from the in-law’s bank account, as stated in bank records.

The defendant’s sentencing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on May 2, 2023.

The SSA – Office of the Inspector General and the OPM – Office of the Inspector General contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Reed is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today charging Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, aka Tony Montana, a Mexican national, with international cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy.

According to court documents, Oseguera Cervantes, 64, of Michoacan, is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

According to court documents, Oseguera Cervantes is the brother of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka Mencho, who is the leader of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). CJNG, which is based in the State of Jalisco in Mexico, is one of the largest, most dangerous, and prolific drug cartels in Mexico. CJNG is responsible for trafficking significant quantities of illegal drugs into the United States for profit and employing violence to further their objectives.

Oseguera Cervantes is charged with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine for importation into the United States from January 1998 until December 2022, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense from January 2000 until December 2022. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram made the announcement.

The DEA Los Angeles Field Office is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Kate Naseef and Nhan Nguyen and Acting Assistant Deputy Chief Kaitlin Sahni of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section are prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. Additional information about OCDETF can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced today that William McCandless, age 59, of Elkton, Maryland, a former DeSales University priest, was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment followed by 15 years of supervised release. He is also required to register pursuant to the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

On May 27, 2022, McCandless pleaded guilty to access and attempted access with intent to view child pornography. In 2017, McCandless searched for images of young boys and accessed over 3000 web pages depicting and offering child sex abuse images. He also accessed dozens of stories which graphically detailed and described the sexual torture of young boys.

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 U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

“Those in positions of power and trust should never put the safety of our children in peril,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “The actions taken by the defendants in Project Safe Childhood cases cause trauma and heartache for the victims and their families. Our office will continue pursuing these cases to help ensure our communities are safe.”

“For a priest and university faculty member to violate his position of trust by engaging in the depraved activity for which he previously pled guilty is reprehensible,” said William S. Walker, Special Agent in Charge for HSI Philadelphia. “Homeland Security Investigations and our law enforcement partners around the world will continue to coordinate closely to ensure our communities are protected from child predators who exploit vulnerable victims.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sherri A. Stephan.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court in Richmond, Virginia, sentenced three defendants today for conspiracy to commit forced labor for compelling the domestic labor of a Pakistani woman for 12 years.

Zahida Aman, 80, was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison, Mohammed Rehan Chaudhri, 48, to 120 months in federal prison and Mohammad Nauman Chaudhri, 55, to 60 months in federal prison in the Eastern District of Virginia. Additionally, the Court ordered Aman and Rehan Chaudhri to pay the victim $250,000 in restitution for back wages and other financial losses she incurred as a result of the defendants’ criminal conduct.  

Following a seven-day trial in May 2022, the jury convicted all of the defendants of conspiracy to commit forced labor, convicted two of the defendants of forced labor and convicted Aman of document servitude. Aman arranged for her son’s marriage to the victim in 2002, but even after the victim’s husband moved away from the home, the defendants kept the victim in their Virginia home to serve the extended family. 

“These defendants callously exploited the victim’s vulnerabilities and brutally coerced her labor through physical violence and emotional abuse,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Human trafficking is an affront to human rights and to our nation’s core values. The Department of Justice is committed to vindicating the rights of survivors and bringing human traffickers to justice.”

“Human trafficking is a global issue that cannot be tackled alone,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI will remain committed to investigating all forms of human trafficking and work with our law enforcement partners in combatting the problem.”

According to the evidence presented in court, the defendants compelled the victim to serve the family as a domestic servant, using physical and verbal abuse, restricting communication with her family in Pakistan, confiscating her immigration documentation and money and eventually threatening to separate her from her children by deporting her to Pakistan. The defendants slapped, kicked and pushed the victim, even beat her with wooden board, and on one occasion hog-tied her hands and feet and dragged her down the stairs in front of her children. All of these coercive means were employed by the defendants to compel the victim’s labor in their home.

The evidence further showed that the defendants required the victim to work every day, beginning early each morning. They restricted her food, forbade her from learning to drive or speaking to anyone except the defendants’ family members and prohibited her from calling her family in Pakistan.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.  

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen Miller, Shea Gibbons and Heather Mansfield for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Leah Branch of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that DANIELLE DORSETT, age 54, and her brother, BYRON J. LAFOREST, age 50, both residents of Atlanta, Georgia, were sentenced on January 19, 2023 for conspiracy to use false or counterfeit passports.

According to documents filed in federal court, beginning in November 2021, DORSETT and LAFOREST obtained counterfeit passport cards with the names and other details of victims whose personal identifying information they stole. While these cards had victims’ personal information, they had DORSETT’s or LAFOREST’s photograph. DORSETT and LAFOREST then used these cards to withdraw money from their victims’ bank accounts. Over the course of the conspiracy, DORSETT and LAFOREST used the personal information of at least six individuals to withdraw (or attempted to withdraw) funds from these individuals’ accounts. They withdrew money from bank branches in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

The scheme drew to a close in early 2022. On January 28, 2022, DORSETT was arrested by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies while attempting to obtain a victim’s bank statement at an IberiaBank branch in Harvey, Louisiana. DORSETT was released on bond after her arrest. Approximately two weeks later, on February 14, 2022, she and LAFOREST were arrested together at a hotel in New Orleans East by federal agents. In the hotel room, agents recovered several additional false passport cards that portrayed LAFOREST’s photograph, but provided the victims’ personal identifying information instead.

DORSETT and LAFOREST were both sentenced to time served, supervised release for a term of 3 years and an $100 mandatory special assessment fee by United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier.