Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Robert Sherman Kerber, age 32, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced on January 25, 2023, to 60 months in prison following his plea of guilty to Receipt of Child Pornography. Kerber will be required to register as a sex offender and serve five years of supervised release following his release from prison. Kerber was also ordered to pay restitution.

In May 2020, a social media application sent a cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an account that uploaded images of child pornography. The cybertip was referred to Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children and the Council Bluffs Police Department started an investigation. The investigation led to a search warrant at Kerber’s residence. A forensic analysis identified that Kerber received and possessed numerous images and videos of child pornography.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children, the Council Bluffs Police Department, the United States Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute who provided training and equipment and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Rock Port, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to selling fentanyl to another Atchison County, Mo., man that resulted in his fatal overdose.

Quentin W. Carder, 23, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, which caused the death of another person, and one count of distributing fentanyl and cocaine, which caused the death of another person.

By pleading guilty today, Carder admitted that he distributed four blue pills that appeared to be oxycodone, but which were counterfeit and actually contained fentanyl, to a person identified in court documents as “C.L.” on June 18, 2021. Carder had previously supplied C.L. with cocaine.

In the early hours of June 20, 2021, C.L. used one of the fentanyl pills he obtained from Carder. Later that morning, C.L.’s father found him in his bedroom, unresponsive and in medical distress. C.L. was transported to a hospital for medical attention but eventually succumbed and was pronounced dead on June 22, 2021. According to today’s plea agreement, a forensic toxicologist concluded that C.L. would not have died but for acute intoxication of fentanyl.

Under federal statutes, Carder is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life 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 Byron H. Black. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Atchison County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force

This case 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 https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            CONCORD – Michael Rosa, 62, of Salem, pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud, First Assistant United States Attorney Jay McCormack announced today.

            According to court documents and statements made in court, Rosa defrauded New Hampshire Employment Security (NHES), which administers the unemployment insurance program in New Hampshire. 

            In March 2020, Congress passed legislation providing additional unemployment benefits to individuals who lost their jobs because of the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  At the time, Rosa controlled several companies located in Plaistow, including Enviromart and KSC Industrial.  In late March 2020, Rosa and his co-defendant, George Adyns, directed company employees to file for unemployment benefits with NHES while continuing to work.  This caused the unemployment system to effectively pay the employees’ salaries.  As a result, NHES paid out almost $50,000 in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits.

            Rosa is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10, 2023. 

            Adyns previously pled guilty on May 25, 2022 and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 15, 2023.

            The case was investigated by the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General, New Hampshire Employment Security and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office with assistance from the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service.   The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew T. Hunter and Alexander S. Chen.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWARK, N.J. – A Saudi Arabian man was charged for transporting a stolen school bus across state lines, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Bader Alzahrani, 22, of Saudi Arabia, is charged by complaint with one count of receipt of a stolen vehicle and one count of transportation of a stolen vehicle. He is scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward S. Kiel in Newark federal court. 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Jan. 15, 2023, a break-in was reported in an unoccupied residential home in Livingston, New Jersey. During a search of a backpack in that home, law enforcement saw a Saudi Arabian passport with the name Bader Alzahrani, along with other items that appeared to belong to Alzahrani. On Jan. 17, 2023, the Livingston Board of Education reported that a school bus was stolen from a parking lot across the street from the unoccupied residential home where the break-in was reported. Law enforcement officers located Alzahrani in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and was later found to be in possession of the keys to the stolen school bus.

Each count charged in the complaint is punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and task force officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked agents of the FBI Field Office in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono; members of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel; members of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II; members of the Monroe County, Pennsylvania, Office of the District Attorney, under the direction of District Attorney E. David Christine, Jr.; members of the Livingston Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Gary Marshuetz; and members of the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s National Security Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.+