Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Davenport, IA – A Davenport man, Keith Deshon Euring, Sr. (also known as “Sweat”), age 54, was sentenced on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, to 235 months in federal prison for sex trafficking of a minor and distribution of marijuana to a person under age 21. Euring was found guilty of these offenses following a jury trial in September 2022. Following his prison term, Euring was ordered to serve a five-year term of supervised release.

According to trial testimony, on November 6, 2018, a missing persons report was filed at the Bettendorf Police Department regarding a minor victim. The investigation revealed that Euring had taken the minor victim to Chicago, Illinois for the purposes of sex trafficking the victim on multiple weekends in October and November 2018. While in Chicago, Euring supplied marijuana and other drugs to the minor victim while engaging in commercial sex acts.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Bettendorf Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigations investigated the case.

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 nation-wide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

DAVENPORT, IA – A Davenport man, Derik Ashley Otero, age 35, was sentenced on January 25, 2023, to seven years in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. Following his prison term, Otero will serve a three-year term of supervised release.

According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, in June 2020, the Johnson County Sherriff’s Office responded to a report of a wanted person in possession of a firearm in an Oxford home. Officers found Otero, a convicted felon, in that home in possession of a stolen Smith & Wesson nine-millimeter handgun with an extended magazine. Otero attempted to conceal the firearm in the air vent of the bathroom.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. 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. In May 2021, the 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Davenport, IA – A Davenport man, Juan Dontae Shelton, age 39, was sentenced on Monday, January 23, 2023, to 330 months in federal prison for production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and felon in possession of a firearm. Shelton was found guilty of these offenses following jury trials on August 8th and August 15th, 2022. Following his prison term, Shelton was ordered to serve a seven-year term of supervised release.

According to trial testimony, multiple witness identified Shelton’s vehicle as involved in a June 1, 2021 hit-and-run accident in Davenport. One witness told law enforcement that Shelton was arguing with passengers in the car when he got out and retrieved a rifle and body armor from the trunk. Shelton then got back into the vehicle and left the scene. Officers soon found Shelton’s vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. Officers searched the vehicle and found three firearms, one of which was stolen, and methamphetamine and marijuana, all belonging to Shelton. Shelton’s fingerprints were found on the rifle and on the magazine of one of the other firearms. Upon further investigation, Shelton was found to be in possession of multiple child pornography videos on his phone in which he had recorded himself and a minor victim engaged in sexual acts.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Davenport, Iowa Police Department’s Tactical Operations Bureau investigated the case.

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. In May 2021, the 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.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

DAVENPORT, IA – A Burlington man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in federal prison for drug trafficking.

Shawn Henry Lewis, age 37, possessed over 380 grams of cocaine and 2,200 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute them. Lewis has multiple prior felony convictions related to drug trafficking offenses. Following his prison term, Lewis will have to serve seven years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Taskforce, Burlington Police Department, Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

MIAMI – Anthony Wayne Santiago, 28, of Novi, Mich.; Jacob Dominic VanDyke, 25, of Muskegon, Mich.; Johnathan Scott Fleak, 32, of Pryor, Okla.; Aaron Ray Iuliano, 27, of Ravenna, Ohio; and Michael Paul Gianfrancesco, 39, of Livingston, Tenn., all have pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute child sexual abuse material and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of children under the age of 13 years.

According to Court records, from September to October 2021, the five defendants entered and participated in a private chat room within a social networking application. Each had to distribute CSAM of children under the age of 13 to enter the chat room. These defendants all distributed and solicited CSAM and discussed the sexual abuse of children among more than 50 other individuals. The children in the images and videos were as young as 4-years-old.

Johnathan Scott Fleak, who also was distributing CSAM through another online message board, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Anthony Wayne Santiago, a registered sex offender who was on a GPS monitor at the time of his arrest, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Aaron Ray Iuliano is to be sentenced February 16, 2023. Michael Paul Gianfrancesco and Jacob Dominic VanDyke will be sentenced March 31, 2023.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, acting Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Buckley, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw made the announcement.

HSI, West Palm Beach Office, and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case as part of a joint effort of the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Schiller and Brian Ralston are prosecuting it.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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 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 the Project Safe Childhood initiative and for information regarding Internet safety, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov  or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 22-cr-80127.