Month: February 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Today, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Logan Square Aluminum Supply Inc., resolving alleged violations of the federal Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting regulations, known as the RRP rule, at renovation projects Logan Square and its contractors performed in Chicago and Chicago suburbs.

Under the court settlement, Logan Square will implement a comprehensive program to ensure that its contractors are certified and trained to use lead-safe work practices to avoid creating lead dust during home renovation activities. Under a parallel administrative settlement agreement, Logan Square will also pay a $400,000 penalty, and perform $2 million of lead-based paint abatement work in lower-income properties located in Chicago and Chicago suburbs in communities with a higher incidence of childhood lead poisoning.

“Companies that renovate homes built before 1978 must ensure that they hire EPA-certified contractors and follow other EPA rules requiring lead safe work practices,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We will take aggressive action against companies that do not take these important steps.”

“Lead exposure from lead-based paint continues to be a hazard for American families living in older homes, and children in those homes are particularly vulnerable,” said Larry Starfield, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This settlement requires Logan Square Aluminum Supply, Inc. to take necessary steps to ensure that it meets appropriate safety requirements in future renovation projects that may disturb lead-based paint.”

Renovation is any activity that disturbs painted surfaces and includes most repair, remodeling, and maintenance activities, such as electrical work, plumbing, carpentry and window replacement. Both Logan Square and its contractors are responsible for compliance with the RRP rule to protect the health and safety of families, especially children under the age of six who are most susceptible to lead hazards. For these projects, Logan Square must contract with only EPA-certified firms and renovators, ensure they maintain certification, use lead-safe work practices, and document their work with checklists during renovations.

Logan Square will add a link on its website to EPA’s content on lead-safe work practices. In addition, Logan Square will take action to respond to situations where a contractor is not operating in compliance with the RRP rule; investigate all reports of potential noncompliance; and ensure that any violations are corrected and reported to EPA.

EPA first discovered the alleged violations through customer complaints about a project performed in Evanston, Illinois. EPA learned that Logan Square frequently subcontracted work to uncertified firms and did not use lead-safe work practices, perform required post-renovation cleaning, provide the EPA-required lead-based paint pamphlets to occupants, or establish records of compliance. Logan Square also conducts business under other names, including Climate Guard Thermal Products Co. and Studio 41.

The consent decree was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Notice of the lodging of the consent decree will appear in the Federal Register allowing for a 30-day public comment period before the consent decree can be entered by the court as final judgment. View the consent decree here. 

Further information is available from the National Lead Information Center (800-424-LEAD) and online at www.epa.gov/lead. Available resources include additional information about the RRP program; information for contractors and property managers about program requirements; and downloadable lead-safety education materials.

To report a possible violation of the RRP Rule requirements, please visit EPA’s website.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Katie R. Crews, 29, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was sentenced to two years of probation, 200 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine for violating an individual’s rights by using excessive force while acting as a police officer for the Louisville Metro Police Department.

In October 2022, Crews admitted during a plea hearing that on or about June 1, 2020, while acting as a police officer with the Louisville Metro Police Department, she shot an individual with a pepperball even though the individual was standing on private property and not posing a threat to the defendant or others. Crews pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count for using unreasonable force. As part of the plea agreement, Crews is no longer an officer with the Louisville Metro Police Department and has forfeited her Kentucky law enforcement certification.

“This former Louisville police officer abused her authority as a law enforcement officer and violated the victim’s civil rights,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentence makes clear that law enforcement officials are not above the law. The Justice Department will continue to prosecute law enforcement officials who violate our federal civil rights laws and defy the public trust by using excessive force.”

“As in this case, our office will work diligently with our federal and local law enforcement partners to ensure the citizens of the Western District are protected from the use of excessive force by officers sworn to protect them,” said U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett for the Western District of Kentucky.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Bennett and Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI and the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit jointly investigated the case through the Louisville Public Corruption Civil Rights Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda E. Gregory for the Western District of Kentucky and Civil Rights Trial Attorney Anita Channapati of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court today entered a consent decree of permanent injunction prohibiting LGM Pharma LLC, a Florida company, from distributing active pharmaceutical ingredients not manufactured, processed, or held in compliance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

According to court filings, LGM Pharma LLC is an importer and distributor of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which the company’s customers use to manufacture and compound finished drug products. In a complaint filed on Jan. 11, the United States alleged that LGM Pharma LLC, its chief executive officer, Prasad Raje, and its senior vice president of quality and regulatory affairs, Shailesh Vengurlekar, introduced into interstate commerce adulterated drugs that were manufactured, processed, packed, or held in conditions that do not comply with current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) as required under the FDCA. The complaint alleged that a 2022 FDA inspection of LGM’s Florida headquarters and a Kentucky facility where the company receives, holds, and distributes API identified significant departures from CGMP that posed a serious and ongoing risk to the public. The complaint further alleged that the problems observed in 2022 were similar to violations previously seen during a 2018 inspection of the Kentucky facility.

The defendants agreed to settle the suit and to be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction. The consent decree, which resolves the case against all defendants, requires, among other things, that the defendants hire a CGMP expert to review and inspect LGM’s methods and controls used to receive, label, hold, and distribute drugs to determine whether the company’s processes and quality controls conform with CGMP. The consent decree also requires ongoing compliance auditing and reporting to FDA.

“Compliance by pharmaceutical importers and distributors with current good manufacturing practices is essential to ensuring the safety of drug products,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department is committed to ensuring that companies importing and distributing drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients comply with federal law.”

“Protecting patients means we must hold all parts of our drug supply chain to the highest standards of quality allowed by law, including importers and distributors of both finished drug products and active pharmaceutical ingredients,” said Acting Director of the Office of Compliance Jill P. Furman, J.D. of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “LGM Pharma LLC’s failures to adhere to CGMP requirements put patients at risk. This consent decree requires the firm to implement and adhere to rigorous quality standards, under close FDA supervision. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure compliance and address violations of federal law to protect the American public and the safety of the drug products they rely on.”

The government was represented by Trial Attorneys Ann Entwistle and Rachael Doud of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Tracey Allen of the FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel. 

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

The claims resolved by the resolution announced today are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

An Afton man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court for filming himself sexually abusing a young child that he had handcuffed and gagged, announced US Attorney Clint Johnson.

Glenn David Nickols, 40, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under 12 years of age in Indian Country and sexual exploitation of a child.

In March of 2021, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) received a CyberTipline report regarding an email account used by Nickols to transmit more than 100 videos and images of child sexual abuse. However, agents noticed that several files were not of previously identified victims of child sexual abuse material. Those images and videos showed multiple instances of a man wearing a hat with the name “Buckster” sexually abusing a child with tape over her mouth and whose arms and legs had been restrained with handcuffs and shackles.

After identifying Nickols and his address, OSBI conducted a search warrant on his home where they seized evidence of the abuse. Agents were also able to identify the young Native American victim and ensure she was safe from any future harm.

Nickols was arrested and interviewed by OSBI agents. During the interview, he identified himself as the adult male seen in the videos, that his nickname was “Buck,” and that he was the owner of the account. He told agents the abuse took place at his home in Afton, within the bounds of the Cherokee Nation. 

The OSBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Coon Rapids man has been charged in a criminal complaint for illegal possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, on December 29, 2022, officers with the Coon Rapids Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Lewis Edward Byrd III, 45. Byrd, a felon with a prior sexual assault conviction, was arrested for violations related to his status as a predatory offender. After the arrest, officers searched Byrd’s vehicle and found a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun in a pillowcase behind the driver’s seat. Further investigation revealed that Byrd purchased the firearm from a private seller earlier in December 2022. Law enforcement contacted the seller who confirmed the sale of the firearm and said that Byrd stated he was not a felon.

Because Byrd has prior felony convictions, including first degree criminal sexual conduct, stalking, and false imprisonment, he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.

The complaint charges Byrd with one count of possession of a firearm as a felon. On January 26, 2023, Magistrate Judge John F. Docherty ordered Byrd to remain in detention pending further court proceedings.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Coon Rapids Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Middlecamp is prosecuting the case.

A complaint is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.