Month: February 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Massachusetts man who engaged in a series of online communications, often of a sexual nature, with someone whom he believed to be a 12-year-old girl, and then traveled to Rhode Island with the intent of having sex with the girl and sexual contact with her younger sister, has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Cody J. Hansen, 38, of Orange, MA., previously admitted to a federal judge in Providence that he posted an online classified advertisement seeking to connect with “someone that likes to play when the girl is passed out.” In May 2018, he engaged in a series of online communications with a person who responded to his posting; Hansen believed that this person to be the caretaker of 12 and 8-year-old girls living in Rhode Island. The caretaker provided Hansen with an email address he could use to contact the 12-year-old girl. In actuality, Hansen was communicating with an undercover Rhode Island State Police detective assigned to the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

On May 22, 2018, Hansen drove to Rhode Island and met with the person he believed to be the young girl’s caretaker. In a conversation with the undercover officer, Hansen confirmed that he knew the ages of the girls that he came to meet and to have sex with. He was immediately arrested by members of the ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.

Hansen pleaded guilty on December 15, 2021, to attempted enticement of a minor, attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., to 120 months in federal prison to be followed by twenty years of federal supervised release.

This Project Safe Childhood case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dulce Donovan.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

CAMDEN, N.J. – A doctor who owns a medical clinic in Newark today admitted defrauding New Jersey state and local health benefits programs and other insurers by submitting fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.

Saurabh Patel, 51, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud. Saurabh Patel was previously charged by indictment with conspiring in the health care fraud scheme with a family member, Kaival Patel, 52, of West New York, New Jersey. Kaival Patel was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, substantive counts of money laundering, and making false statements to federal agents. The charges against Kaival Patel are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. He is scheduled to proceed to trial later this year.

According to court documents and statements made in Court:

Compounded medications are specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient. Although compounded drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they are properly prescribed when a physician determines that an FDA-approved medication does not meet the health needs of a particular patient, such as if a patient is allergic to a dye or other ingredient.

Patel is a medical doctor who owns and operates a clinic in Newark. Despite having no background in pharmaceuticals or medicine, Kaival Patel and his wife created and operated a company called ABC Healthy Living LLC (ABC) to market medical products and services, including compound prescription medications. A pharmaceutical sales representative, Paul Camarda, also created a company and worked with Kaival Patel to promote compound medications. Camarda pleaded guilty before Judge Kugler in Camden federal court on July 6, 2021, to health care conspiracy and conspiring to commit money laundering and obstruct justice.  He awaits sentencing.

The conspirators learned that certain state and local government employees had insurance that would reimburse up to thousands of dollars for a one-month supply of certain compound medications. Kaival Patel and Camarda approached Saurabh Patel and convinced him to authorize prescriptions for the compound medications for which they received commissions, regardless of whether or not those prescriptions were medically necessary. The conspirators steered individuals who were paid to receive the compound medications to Saurabh Patel’s medical practice for the purpose of receiving his authorization on the fraudulent prescriptions.  This enabled Saurabh Patel to receive insurance payments for those patient visits and procedures.  In addition to the people steered to Saurabh Patel’s medical practice as part of the scheme, Kaival Patel also instructed Saurabh Patel on which insurance companies covered the compound medications and requested that he prescribe those medications to existing patients of his practice with those insurance plans in order to further benefit Kaival Patel and his wife.

Saurabh Patel faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencing is scheduled for June 27, 2023. 

Attorney for the United States Khanna credited agents of the IRS Office of Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins in Newark; FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Christina O. Hud, Senior Trial Counsel in the Health Care Fraud Unit; R. David Walk Jr., Chief of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of the Criminal Division in Camden.

The charges and allegations against Kaival Patel are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel: 

Mary E. Toscano Esq. and Joseph B. Shumofsky Esq., Newark

Source: United States Department of Justice News

PROVIDENCE – A third member of an Atlanta-based conspiracy that bilked unsuspecting seniors in Rhode Island and several other states out of more than $3.2 million was convicted today in federal court in Rhode Island after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Sadae Mills, 28, of Houston, TX, admitted to a federal judge that for approximately three months, beginning in April 2018, she agreed to receive payments that she knew had been fraudulently obtained from women through internet and app-based romance scams.  Mills would take these payments, mostly in the form of money orders, cash, or wire transfers, deposit the ill-gotten funds into her bank account, and would then withdraw or transfer the proceeds, as directed by a co-conspirator.  In doing so, Mills acted with the intent to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the funds.

Mills admitted that from approximately April 25, 2018, through June 7, 2018, she received a total of $34,710 in fraud proceeds and deposited them into her bank account. Mills also admitted that she spent some of the funds; transferred some of the proceeds to other banks, as directed by co-conspirator Dominique Golden, 31, of Houston, TX; and withdrew some of the funds in cash, which she then provided to Golden.

Golden, convicted on September 1, 2022, after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, was sentenced on January 25, 2023, to 78 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of federal supervised release, and to pay restitution in the amount of $1,263,822.54, romance scam proceeds she admitted to collecting and banking.

Co-conspirator Breauna Williams, 29, of Jacksonville, NC, is awaiting sentencing, having pleaded guilty on January 17, 2023, to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Williams is scheduled to be sentenced on April 18, 2023.

Co-conspirators Wisdom Oghenekaro Onyobeno, 42, of Atlanta, GA. and Syretta Scherer, 41, of Atlanta, GA, are awaiting trial in U.S. District Court in Providence. The trial is scheduled to be begin on May 1, 2023. Onyobeno has been in custody since his arrest on November 19, 2019.

Mills is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23, 2023. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Denise M. Barton and John P. McAdams.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in Atlanta.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On Friday, February 10, 2023, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested an Arecibo man for violation to Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252 (a)(2), which criminalizes the attempted receipt of any visual depiction that involves a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and Title 18, United States Code, Section 1470, which criminalizes the transfer of obscene material to a minor. The arrest follows an investigation by HSI, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Department of Education and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.

According to the indictment, on or about May 17, 2020, Jonathan Ortiz-Medina, 36, did knowingly transfer obscene matter to an individual who had not attained the age of sixteen and attempted to receive from a female minor via messaging services images depicting the minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

“As a teacher, the defendant held a position of trust in our society – which he betrayed when he committed the alleged illegal conduct,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.  “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and prosecute persons who exploit minors for sexual purposes and use technology to further victimize these children.”

“Individuals in positions of trust need to understand that there is no place in our society to abuse that trust and taint the position of our teachers. Our schools have no place for predators, our children need to feel safe at school,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos. “To those contemplating abusing positions of public trust, we will continue working with our local and federal partners and using all resources available and robust investigative authorities to identify you, arrest you and prosecute you.”

“The Department of Education will not tolerate any criminal act that affects our school community where an atmosphere of harmony and learning must prevail. We invite any student or employee to report suspicious activity to the social-emotional team, teachers, and security officers in each of our schools,” said Eliezer Ramos Parés, Puerto Rico Department of Education Secretary. “We will continue to collaborate with law enforcement agencies in all investigations, specifically those who threaten our students’ safety.”

On Friday, Ortiz-Medina had his initial hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcos López. The defendant was transferred to the Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention Center to await further judicial proceedings.

If convicted, Ortiz-Medina faces a statutory minimum sentence of five years up to 20 years of imprisonment followed by a term of supervise release of 5 years up to life for the attempted receipt of child pornography; and up to 10 years imprisonment followed by a term of supervised release of three years for the transfer of obscene material to a minor. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenifer Y. Hernández-Vega, Chief of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting the case.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a vital U.S. asset in combatting transnational crime and threats. One of HSI’s top priorities is to protect the public from crimes of victimization, and HSI’s child exploitation investigations program is a central component of this mission. HSI is recognized as a global leader in this investigative discipline.  HSI utilizes its vast authorities, international footprint and strong interagency and public-private partnerships to identify and rescue child victims, identify and apprehend offenders, prevent transnational child sexual abuse and help make the internet a safer place for children.

For more information about HSI’s efforts to protect children from online sexual abuse, visit https://www.ice.gov/topics/iGuardians.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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