Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TUCSON, Ariz. – Rey David Marquez-Jimenez, 23, of Mexico, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 85 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Marquez-Jimenez pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Murder of a Federal Officer. The Court also ordered Marquez-Jimenez to pay $99.57 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Labor for expenses related to the agent’s medical care.

On January 26, 2022, near Hereford, Arizona, Marquez-Jimenez – without provocation – attacked a United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent. Marquez-Jimenez tackled the agent as he attempted to handcuff another individual. Marquez-Jimenez punched the agent several times and tried to pull the agent’s firearm from his holster. When the firearm came out of the holster, Marquez-Jimenez tried to point it at the agent. He then got on top of the agent and attempted to slash and stab him with a knife. The agent gained control of the knife, and Marquez-Jimenez fled on foot before being apprehended by other USBP agents.

“Our colleagues in the United States Border Patrol have a difficult and sometimes dangerous job,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “Most noncitizens who enter the United States do so peacefully, and with the intention of seeking a better life for their families. To the small number of undocumented aliens who ignore law enforcement commands and engage in aggressive behavior, be warned: We will vindicate the rights of Border Patrol agents by prosecuting violent offenders commensurate with their unlawful actions.”

“This agent fought for his life while working to protect the American people and safeguard our borders. Assaults on law enforcement officials continue to occur and this is just one of the thousands that happened in 2022,” said Akil Davis, special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix Field Office. “The FBI remains committed to ensure that those who commit acts of violence against law enforcement officials will be brought to justice.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Houston, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
 

CASE NUMBER:            CR-22-00175-TUC-JGZ-LCK
RELEASE NUMBER:    2023-004_Marquez-Jimenez

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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

A San Diego man who killed his boyfriend by stabbing him 93 times was sentenced today to life in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Alexander Yoichi Duberek, 25, was indicted in September 2021. He pleaded guilty in July 2022 to one count of interstate domestic violence resulting in death and was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix.

“This defendant looked his boyfriend’s family in the eyes and described the date night he had planned for the two of them. But instead of providing a romantic evening, he carried out a sadistic, premeditated plan to take the life of a 30-year-old man and callously dispose of his body,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “I cannot imagine the horror for this victim and his family. We are proud to bring this killer to justice.”

According to plea papers, Mr. Duberek admitted that on Oct. 31, 2020, he traveled from his home in San Diego to his boyfriend’s home in Plainview, Texas, where he committed the fatal stabbing on the side of a rural farm road.

Mr. Duberek admitted that after arriving at the Lubbock airport that evening, he took a cab to a Sam’s Club parking lot, where he purchased a Toyota Camry for $3,000 cash. He then drove to a Walmart, where he purchased a knife, a hatchet, a gas can, a collapsible shovel, a head lamp, a change of clothing, boots, personal hygiene items, and a first aid kit.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors said that when Mr. Duberek arrived at his boyfriend’s house, he told his boyfriend’s family that he planned to take him out to eat and then to a local hotel room to spend the night.

Instead, he killed the 30-year-old and dumped the body.  

Following the murder, Mr. Duberek fled to Houston, where he sold the vehicle used in the murder to an individual outside an auto auction. Investigators later searched the vehicle and found blood in the back seat that matched the victim.

The defendant remained at large for roughly five months before turning himself in to San Diego law enforcement on March 18, 2021. While being booked into jail, he was asked about a tattoo of his boyfriend’s first name on his ring finger; he answered that it was the name of the person he had killed.

“After viciously attacking him, the defendant left this wonderful human life, who he reportedly loved and wanted to marry, on the side of the road, like yesterday’s trash, like his life didn’t matter, to bleed to death,” the victim’s aunt said at the sentencing. “Why would he extinguish a light that shone so brightly for so many? Why didn’t he just stay in California, move on with his life?”

The Hale County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Rangers, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas and San Diego Field Offices conducted the investigation with the assistance of the U.S. Secret Service’s Dallas Field Office and the Texas Highway Patrol’s Houston Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Callie Woolam prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Esteban Latorre-Cacho, age 37, of Lockport, New York, pleaded guilty on January 10, 2023, before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, to the charge of possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Latorre-Cacho admitted to possessing 67 kilograms of cocaine for further distribution. The charge stems from an incident on April 30, 2021, in which members of the Pennsylvania State Police made a traffic stop of a vehicle in Lehigh County.  Latorre-Cacho was the sole occupant of the vehicle.  A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of 67 kilograms of cocaine found hidden inside boxes within the vehicle.  Further investigation showed that Latorre-Cacho had picked up the boxes containing the cocaine at a location within the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  

The investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. O’Hara is prosecuting 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. On May 26, 2021, the Department 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.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison.  The maximum penalty under federal law is up to life in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances, and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational, and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal district court in San Diego ordered today that over $17 million in restitution be distributed to approximately 800 victims from over 40 different countries due to their investment losses in BitConnect, a massive cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded thousands of investors worldwide. 

On Sept. 16, 2021, Glenn Arcaro, 44, the top U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Separately, on Feb. 25, 2022, the founder of BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, was indicted for his central role in the multibillion-dollar fraud. 

As part of Arcaro’s plea, he admitted to conspiring with others to exploit investor interest in cryptocurrency by fraudulently marketing BitConnect’s initial coin offering and digital currency exchange as a lucrative investment. Arcaro and co-conspirators misled investors about BitConnect’s “Lending Program.” Under this program, Arcaro touted BitConnect’s purported proprietary technology, known as the “BitConnect Trading Bot” and “Volatility Software,” as being able to generate substantial profits and guaranteed returns by using investors’ money to trade on the volatility of cryptocurrency exchange markets.   

In truth, however, BitConnect operated a textbook Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors. Arcaro and his co-conspirators ensured that up to 15% of the money invested into BitConnect went directly into a slush fund to be used for the benefit of its owner and promoters.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Cleveland Field Office and IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and U.S. Postal Inspection Service provided indispensable assistance to the investigation.

Trial Attorney Kevin Lowell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carl Brooker, Lisa Sanniti, and Mark W. Pletcher and Contract Attorney Mark McDonald for the Southern District of California are prosecuting the case.

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

U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson announced today that the Northern District of Oklahoma collected $2,954,438.70 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $1,958,593.62 was collected in criminal actions and $995,845.08 was collected in civil actions. 

“The Asset Recovery Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office ensures that court ordered restitution is paid to victims, fines are collected, and civil financial obligations are met. In fiscal year 2022, this team of federal prosecutors, investigators, and professional legal staff diligently worked to collect almost $3 million on behalf of taxpayers and victims of crime,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “I am proud of their commitment to this important mission.”

Cases and collection amounts varied.

For example, in March 2022, the Asset Recovery Unit recovered $7,444 in court ordered restitution from Shannon Kepler who was convicted of the murder of Jeremey Lake. The victim’s family requested the funds to purchase a headstone for Lake. 

Also in March, Adena Collard, who in 2004 was convicted of defrauding several Tulsa area churches, made a lump sum payment of $141, 975 after 18 years of nominal payments. The funds paid, in full her, court ordered restitution of $151,529.

In May 2022, defendant Igor Kolosha was convicted of possession of child pornography. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution. The final payment was received in May 2022. Individuals who commit child pornography crimes are often ordered to pay restitution to identified victims as required by the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistant Act of 2018.

In November 2022, Dr. Adam Gallardo Arredondo paid $216,624 of his court ordered restitution for accepting illegal kickback payments. Arredondo solicited and received checks from OK Compounding in exchange for referring his patients’ compounding prescription to the pharmacy, which is now closed. The compounding prescriptions were paid for by federal healthcare programs; therefore, the kickbacks paid to Arredondo violated federal law.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Oklahoma, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $633, 952 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2022. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.