Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PROVIDENCE –  Another former bank employee today admitted to a federal judge that she stole the banking information of unsuspecting individuals and businesses and provided that information to co-conspirators, who used it to create fraudulent personal and business checks, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Isha-Lee Savage, 24, admitted that, while employed by Santander Bank, she accessed customer information and sent screenshots of that information to co-conspirators. The information was used to create fraudulent checks that the leader of the fraud conspiracy, Richard Koboi, provided to other individuals that he solicited on Facebook and paid to deposit the checks into bank accounts that they controlled.  Savage also used her position working in the bank’s call center to ask customers to provide their debit card information which Savage then provided to her co-conspirators so that they could make fraudulent purchases. 

On January 19, 2023, Savonnah Briggs, 28, a now former employee of Citizens Bank, admitted that, while employed by the bank, she similarly accessed customer banking information and check images and provided them to Kobi, who similarly used the information to create fraudulent checks for deposit by himself or others. After the checks were deposited, Koboi and others made, or attempted to make, rapid withdrawals of cash from ATMs or bank tellers.

According to information presented to the court, members of the conspiracy created and deposited approximately $330,000 worth of counterfeit checks.

Savage and Briggs each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Briggs is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, 2023; Savage is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2, 2023. The defendants’ sentences will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

 Richard Kobi pleaded guilty on April 27, 2022, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, ten counts of bank fraud, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in December 2022 to three years in federal prison.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ly T. Chin.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the FBI, United States Secret Service, ATF, Rhode Island State Police, Providence Police Department, and Delaware State Police.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

DETROIT –A Detroit man who photographed his sexual assaults of a young child and forced an adult to engage in prostitution was sentenced to life in prison, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced today.

Ison was joined in the announcement by Angie M. Salazar, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Detroit Field Division, and Michael Patton, Chief of West Bloomfield Township Police Department.

Ryon Travis, 39, was convicted of production of child pornography and sex trafficking after a jury trial in July 2022. Travis was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Bernard A. Friedman.

Police began investigating Travis in connection with identity theft. When detectives searched Travis’s cell phone for evidence of fraud, they found something far more alarming: explicit photographs of child sexual abuse depicting the penetration of a prepubescent child. And when law enforcement returned to Travis’s home a second time to gather additional evidence related to child pornography, they found an adult woman chained at the neck to a pole in the living room. Investigators learned that multiple women lived in Travis’s home, and he considered all of them his “wives.” Travis arranged commercial sex dates for all of the women. When one of the women tried to leave, Travis forced her to continue engaging in prostitution by placing a chain around her neck.

“Child sexual abuse leaves an indelible mark on victims. The documentation of the abuse makes this crime even more egregious. This defendant also forced an adult woman to engage in prostitution by physically restraining her with a chain. The public needs to be protected from Ryon Travis, and this lengthy sentence helps to do just that,” U.S. Attorney Ison said.

“Predators like Travis tear at the very foundation of our communities, not only victimizing children but subjecting multiple women to sex trafficking” said Angie Salazar, HSI Detroit Special Agent in Charge. “It is my hope that this sentence brings some measure of peace to the survivors, knowing that he will remain behind bars.”

This case was investigated by the West Bloomfield Township Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara Woodward and Andrea Hutting.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Sean M. Nelson, 44, of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced last week, by United States District Judge Susan R. Bolton to two years of federal probation and ordered to pay $133,999 in restitution to the Department of Homeland Security. Nelson pleaded guilty to Theft of Government Property in October 2022 and agreed to resign from the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as part of his plea agreement with the government.

Between November 2019 and October 2021, Nelson, then a Special Agent with HSI, worked without permission or authorization for several private companies while on duty for HSI, and used his government owned vehicle (GOV) for such unauthorized outside work. Nelson drove the GOV, that he agreed to use only for HSI duty purposes, while working for Amazon, Uber, and Lyft during time periods he was supposed to be working for HSI. Nelson’s actions in working for these companies while on duty for HSI resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in losses to the government.

“As a result of the conviction, Mr. Nelson has forfeited much of his salary during the time period of his on-the-job criminal activity, and as a federal felon he’ll never lawfully possess or use a firearm ever again,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “His dereliction of duty was a grave disservice to his hard-working law enforcement colleagues and the taxpayers alike.”

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant United States Attorney Sean K. Lokey, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:            CR-22-01307-PHX-SRB-1
RELEASE NUMBER:    2023-008_Nelson

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/

Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWARK, N.J. – A federal grand jury indicted a Brooklyn, New York, man for transporting stolen jewelry across state lines, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Tony Newton, 63, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged by indictment with two counts of interstate transportation of stolen goods. Newton was charged by criminal complaint in July 2022 for transporting stolen jewelry from a store located in a shopping center in Edison, New Jersey, to Brooklyn, and is detained.

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

On June 1, 2022, and July 16, 2022, Newton transported stolen jewelry across state lines from Middlesex County, New Jersey, and Union County, New Jersey, respectively, to New York. 

Each count of interstate transportation of stolen goods is punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited FBI Newark’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor William Daniel, officers of the Edison Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Tom Bryan; and officers of the Elizabeth Police Department, under the direction of Director Earl Graves and Chief Giacomo Sacca, with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked officers of the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department and the Milford, Connecticut, Police Department for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Farhana C. Melo of the General Crimes Unit in Newark.

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

Source: United States Department of Justice News

OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal jury recently convicted ROBERT LEE HARRISON, JR., 49, of Oklahoma City, of carjacking and other crimes, announced United States Attorney Robert J. Troester.

On April 6, 2022, a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against Harrison. Count 1 charged Harrison with illegal possession of ammunition. Count 2 charged him with carjacking. Count 3 charged him with kidnapping. Count 4 charged him with use and discharge of a firearm during the carjacking.  

The trial began on January 10, 2023, before United States District Judge Stephen P. Friot. At trial, Harrison’s ex-girlfriend testified that he forced her into her car at gunpoint as she left work at the Integris Baptist Medical Center parking garage in Oklahoma City. Harrison confined her in the car by repeatedly punching her before she was able to escape. Harrison again caught her in the elevator lobby of the parking garage, where he shot her approximately eight times before fleeing the scene. Harrison was arrested the following day after a brief foot chase with Oklahoma City police officers.

On January 11, 2023, the federal jury returned its verdict of guilty on all counts. The jury convicted Harrison of being a felon in possession of ammunition, kidnapping, carjacking, and using a firearm during the carjacking.  For the ammunition count, the jury convicted Harrison of possessing the spent cartridge cases found at the parking garage after the shooting.  Under federal law, a person convicted of a felony is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

A sentencing hearing will take place in approximately 90 days. At sentencing, Harrison faces up to life in prison, a $250,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. Count 4 carries a mandatory term of imprisonment of five years, to be served consecutive to any other term of imprisonment.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Oklahoma City Police Department, with assistance from the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.  Prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David  Nichols, Jr. and Jacquelyn Hutzell, the case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice program to reduce violent crime.  In October 2017, the Department announced the reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhoods and directed U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop crime-reduction strategies that incorporate lessons federal law enforcement has learned since the program’s launch in 2001.

This case is also part of “Operation 922” and “Operation Shots Fired.”  Operation 922 is the Western District of Oklahoma’s implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.  “Operation 922” prioritizes prosecution of federal crimes connected to domestic violence.  “Operation Shots Fired” targets cases involving individuals who discharge firearms as part of their criminal activity, such as drive-by shootings or when shots are fired during robberies, domestic disputes, or other incidents. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit https://justice.gov/psn and https://justice.gov/usao-wdok.

Reference is made to court filings for further information.