Month: January 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on January 10, 2023, United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani sentenced Juan Esdrada-Beret, age 41, a native and citizen of Mexico, to 8 months’ imprisonment, for illegally reentering the United States after being previously removed following a prior illegal reentry conviction.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, after two prior removals from the United States to Mexico, Esdrada-Beret was arrested in 2017 in Schuylkill County and prosecuted in the Middle District of Pennsylvania for Illegal Reentry.  He was sentenced to a period of imprisonment of time served (113 days) on April 10, 2018 and removed through Hidalgo, Texas on April 25, 2018. Sometime thereafter, Esdrada-Beret once again reentered the United States without the required permissions. 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The former owner of an Olathe, Kansas, clinic that treated opioid addiction has been sentenced in federal court for possessing methamphetamine to distribute.

Trevor J. Robinson, 46, of Olathe, Kan., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner on Tuesday, Jan. 10, to 11 years and three months in federal prison without parole.

Robinson owned and operated Nuvista, LLC, a Suboxone outpatient clinic in Olathe for individuals with opioid addiction, from June 2013 until his arrest in October 2020, after which the business closed. On Nov. 3, 2021, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.

According to court documents, Robinson used the Nuvista clinic location to process, store, and distribute methamphetamine. A confidential informant purchased a pound of methamphetamine from Robinson during a controlled transaction in the clinic’s parking lot a few days before his arrest. Robinson also showed the confidential informant another pound of methamphetamine inside the Nuvista clinic that he was in the process of converting from liquid to crystal.

Although the government does not currently have evidence Robinson sold drugs to specific clients of the clinic, according to court documents, the evidence does show he distributed drugs into the same community he was trying to service with treatment. Robinson was a large-scale supplier and did not sell directly to users, who would be clients of the clinic. Therefore, the government maintains it is possible the drugs he distributed made their way to the addicts he was also treating.

Robinson admitted he was in possession of illegal drugs when he was arrested by Kansas City police officers on Oct. 22, 2020. Law enforcement officers had Robinson, who had an outstanding arrest warrant, under surveillance at a Northland hotel. Robinson conducted several short meetings with individuals in the parking lot. Those meetings were consistent with hand-to-hand drug transactions. Robinson left the hotel carrying a grey backpack, got into his Dodge Ram truck, and drove to a downtown parking garage. Robinson left his truck in the parking garage and drove away in his 2014 Maserati, which he parked on the street nearby. Officers then surrounded the Maserati and arrested Robinson.

Robinson was in possession of a plastic bag that contained 15 white round pills imprinted with “M30” in his front right pocket and $900 in his wallet. Laboratory tests confirmed 14 of the pills contained fentanyl and one pill contained oxycodone.

Officers searched Robinson’s Maserati and found a grey backpack on the front passenger’s seat. The backpack contained a digital scale, plastic bags that contained approximately 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, plastic bags that contained cocaine and heroin, several plastic bags that contained various pills, including MDMA/ecstasy, a plastic bag that contained marijuana, $12,548 in cash, two iPhones, and a leather-bound ledger notebook.

After his arrest, Robinson told investigators that he sold methamphetamine in ounce or pound quantities. He admitted he bought pound and kilogram quantities of methamphetamine from at least three different suppliers on a regular basis. He paid $6,000 per pound of methamphetamine, which he sold for about $700 per ounce.

According to court documents, Robinson has four prior felony convictions for drug trafficking in California from 1999 through 2003. He was released to parole in 2005 and discharged from supervision in 2008.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashleigh A. Ragner. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the FBI, and the Northeast Kansas Drug Task Force.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

EL PASO – An El Paso man was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for charges related to receipt and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Peter Sebastian Felix, 29, had been exchanging sexually explicit images with a minor.  Felix was in a rock band and used his popularity to gain the trust of underage girls.  Homeland Security Investigations agents discovered a USB drive containing several video files of the minor engaging in sexual acts.  Agents also searched an external hard drive, revealing approximately 50 files containing suspected child sexual exploitation material, one of the files depicting a minor between eight and 10 years old.

Felix pleaded guilty in June 2022 to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of prepubescent child pornography.  A restitution hearing is scheduled for March.

“Protecting children, who are among the most vulnerable victims in this country, will always be a priority,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas.  “We and our partners are always here to identify these predators, put an end to their harmful behavior, and bring them to justice.”

“Justice has been served.  However, no sentence is lengthy enough to penalize predators for the lifetime of pain and suffering the innocent children whom they’ve victimized will suffer,” said Special Agent in Charge Francisco B. Burrola of the HSI El Paso Division.  “HSI continues to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate, arrest and prosecute child predators in our shared mission to protect children and prosecute perpetrators whose behavior has no place in our society.”

HSI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Valenzuela prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal judge in Amarillo yesterday sentenced Dr. Richard Kazmaier, 55, to six months in prison, three years of post-release supervision, and a $5,000 fine. Kazmaier pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2022, to a Lacey Act felony for importing protected wildlife into the United States without declaring it or obtaining the required permits.

According to court documents, Kazmaier was an associate professor of biology at West Texas A&M University before resigning in October 2022. A federal grand jury issued an indictment in January 2022 charging Kazmaier with smuggling goods into the United States and two violations of the Endangered Species Act. Kazmaier pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging the Lacey Act, the nation’s oldest wildlife trafficking statute. The court dismissed the indictment at the government’s request.

The Lacey Act and federal regulations require importers to declare wildlife to customs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when it enters the country. Between March 2013 and February 2020, Kazmaier admitted he imported wildlife items from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay into Texas without declaring them. Kazmaier admitted he purchased and imported approximately 358 wildlife items with a total market value of $14,423 from eBay and other online sales websites. He did not import any live animals and instead purchased mostly skulls, skeletons, and taxidermy mounts.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates trade in endangered or threatened species through permit requirements. The United States and 183 other countries are signatories to the CITES treaty. Kazmaier acknowledged importing 14 protected species without obtaining permits, including the Eurasian otter, lynx, caracal, vervet monkey, greater naked-tailed armadillo, and king bird-of-paradise.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in Redmond, Washington, conducted the investigation as part of Operation Global Reach. The operation focused on the trafficking of wildlife from Indonesia to the United States.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Marie Bell for the Northern District of Texas and Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PORTLAND, Ore.—Today, federal law enforcement partners from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, FBI Portland Field Office, and Homeland Security Investigations Seattle Field Office join to commemorate National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and reaffirm their commitment to combating all forms of human trafficking.

“Human trafficking devastates families and communities and preys on the most vulnerable members of our society. As a federal prosecutor, I’ve seen the extraordinary suffering survivors have endured and the incredible strength, courage, and resolve they demonstrate as they rebuild their lives. Today is a day we honor these survivors,” said Natalie Wight, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

“Due to the I-5 corridor, human trafficking remains a huge problem throughout the state of Oregon and sadly, our Violent Crime Squad and Child Exploitation Task Force have some of the busiest investigators in the FBI’s Portland office. Traffickers often lure vulnerable victims with promises of a better life and then use violence and manipulation as a means to control,” said, Kieran L. Ramsey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Portland Field Office. “The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, is working every day to protect those victims who are being exploited from further abuse. Help us help them. If you have information about human trafficking or child exploitation, please contact law enforcement immediately.” 

“Our nation is one that places a high value on opportunity, and through our many partnerships we can ensure that those opportunities are not poisoned by criminals who utilize slavery as cruel means to a harmful end,” said Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. “HSI continues to fight human trafficking regardless of the form it takes, and will use our expertise in investigating transnational crime to prevent the exploitation of people through forced labor, domestic servitude, or sex trafficking.”

Human trafficking, sometimes referred to as trafficking in persons or modern slavery, is a serious federal crime involving the exploitation of individuals for labor, services, or commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion. This coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.

Victims of human trafficking can be anyone regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, or citizenship status. Although there is no defining characteristic that all human trafficking victims share, traffickers around the world frequently prey on individuals who are poor, vulnerable, living in unsafe or unstable environments, or are in search of a better life.

In the U.S., trafficking victims can be American or foreign citizens. Some of the most vulnerable populations for trafficking in the U.S. include American Indian and Alaska Native communities, LGBTQ individuals, individuals with disabilities, undocumented migrants, runaway and homeless youth, temporary guest-workers, and low-income individuals.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon is committed to continuing its victim-centered, trauma-informed approach to detecting hidden human trafficking crimes, holding perpetrators accountable, and helping to restore the lives of survivors, while strengthening strategic anti-trafficking partnerships.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 911.

If you believe you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking or may have information about a trafficking situation, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888 or visit https://humantraffickinghotline.org. You can also text the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 233733.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Every year since 2010, the President has dedicated the month to raising awareness about the different forms of human trafficking and educating people about this crime and how to spot it. To learn more, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/12/30/a-proclamation-on-national-human-trafficking-prevention-month-2023/.