Month: May 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – The former Executive Director and the Director of Operations and Finance, of the now-defunct non-profit organization DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (“DC Trust”), were sentenced today for a felony charge relating to their personal use of the non-profit’s funds, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas, District of Columbia’s Office of the Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, and Special Agent in Charge Terry Harris, of the US Department of Education Office of Inspector General for the Eastern Region.

            Edward Davies, 52, of Owings Mills, Maryland, was sentenced to 60 days in prison, followed by three years of supervised release; Earl Hamilton, 53, of Riviera Beach, Florida, was sentenced to 30 days in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Both defendants pleaded guilty, on November 30, 2022, to a charge of credit card fraud for using the non-profit’s monies, intended for youth scholarship programs, for personal expenses. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered Davies to pay $111,332.46 in restitution and ordered Hamilton to pay $44,049.79 in restitution.

            According to court documents, Davies, the former executive director, and Hamilton, the former director of operations and finance, used DC Trust credit cards and a check card to make hundreds of personal purchases for expenses such as: meals, automobile repairs, exercise equipment, and personal travel for themselves, their family members, and their friends. In total, Davies stole at least $111,000 and Hamilton stole at least $44,000.

            The DC Trust was a non-profit organization, created in 1999, to serve as an intermediary to connect philanthropists, government leaders, youth advocates, and representatives from the business community in order to support programs to benefit the children of the District of Columbia.  The organization was dissolved in late 2016, reportedly to cover debts from exorbitant spending on and by staff, including the misuse of organization credit cards. The trust’s funding came from the U.S. Department of Education and consisted of federal grant funding under the U.S. Department of Education Opportunity Scholarship Program (“OSP”), which was designed to provide low-income parents, residing in Washington, D.C., with expanded options for the education of their children. 

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves, Inspector General Lucas, Special Agent in Charge Jacobs, and Special Agent in Charge Harris, commended the work of those who investigated the case from the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General.  They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Rakoczy and Diane Lucas have been litigating the case, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Amanda Rohde and Lisa Abbe.          

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Three people – two from North Carolina and one from New York – were sentenced today on felony charges for their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            Dale Jeremiah Shalvey, 38, of Conover, North Carolina, was sentenced to 41 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and a fine/restitution for $2,000, for assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers and obstruction of an official proceeding. His wife, Tara Aileen Stottlemyer, 37, also of North Carolina, and Katharine Hallock Morrison, 38, of Dansville, New York, were each sentenced to eight months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and a fine/restitution of $2,000 for obstruction of an official proceeding. The three defendants pleaded guilty on October 3, 2022, in the District of Columbia.

            According to court documents, the three defendants traveled together on Jan. 6, 2021, and illegally entered the Capitol grounds. At approximately 2:09 p.m., Shalvey walked to a bike rack on the West Front of the Capitol, which was to act as a barricade, and assaulted law enforcement officers by throwing an object that hit an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department. 

            At approximately 2:20 p.m., Shalvey, Stottlemyer, and Morrison entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing door and then moved to various areas within the building, including the Crypt, the House’s Suite, the Rotunda, and the Senate Chamber. Inside the Senate Chamber, Shalvey and Morrison looked through Senators’ desks, while all three defendants took pictures of documents that were in and on those desks. Shalvey also took a letter written by Senator Mitt Romney to Vice President Michael Pence from a Senator’s desk and destroyed it after leaving the Capitol. They exited the building at approximately 3:05 p.m.

            Shalvey was arrested on March 9, 2021, in Washington, D.C.  Stottlemyer was arrested on Sept. 14, 2021, in Conover, North Carolina. Morrison was arrested on Feb. 10, 2022, in Dansville, New York.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division prosecuted the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of New York, Western District of North Carolina, and Western District of Pennsylvania.

            The case was investigated by the FBI’s Buffalo, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In the 28 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing. 

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court today enjoined an Irvington, Alabama, company and several of its operators from distributing adulterated seafood products in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

In a civil complaint for permanent injunction filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama on April 25, the United States alleged that Irvington Seafood, Inc., and its owner, Kevin S. Sakprasit, and company officers Helene Nou and Kammie C. Richardson, violated the FDCA by distributing adulterated ready-to-eat crabmeat products. According to the complaint, the defendants process the products at their Alabama facility and then sell and distribute them to businesses and consumers throughout the country. 

The complaint alleges that between 2006 and 2022, multiple Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections of the defendants’ facility revealed that the defendants prepared, packaged, and held crabmeat products under insanitary conditions and failed to comply with required current good manufacturing practices and seafood hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) regulations. According to the complaint, during inspections of the defendants’ facility FDA inspectors found, among other things: the presence of maggots, flies, and roaches; the presence of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes on food contact and non-food contact surfaces of equipment; and that employees were failing to properly wash their hands and aprons. Food contaminated with L. mono can cause serious illness and even death in vulnerable groups, such as newborns and people with impaired immune systems. The complaint alleges that the defendants failed to take necessary corrective actions after repeated FDA warnings.

“Food manufacturers and distributors must operate in strict compliance with the law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department is committed to working hand in hand with the FDA to help ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply.”

The defendants agreed to settle the suit and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction. The order entered by the federal court permanently enjoins the defendants from violating the FDCA and requires that they destroy all raw ingredients and food products currently in their possession. Before processing or distributing any food in the future, the defendants must notify the FDA in advance, comply with specific remedial measures set forth in the injunction, and permit the FDA to inspect their facilities and procedures.

Senior Trial Attorney Arturo DeCastro of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch is handling the case with the assistance of Associate Chief Counsel Kyrsten L. Melander of the FDA’s Office of the General 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 only allegations.  There has been no determination of liability.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Melchiades Amin, 45, of Glenn Dale, Maryland, was sentenced today, May 11, 2023, to serve 36 months of incarceration, suspended, and five years of probation.  Additionally, the Honorable Andrea Hertzfeld ordered Amin to pay $178,150.24 in restitution to the D.C. Medicaid program.  The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.

            Amin was indicted on October 26, 2022, and he was arrested on November 2, 2022.  On March 10, 2023, Amin pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to one count of First-Degree Felony Fraud and two counts of First-Degree Felony theft.

            According to the government’s evidence, between May 2018 and on or about October 2021, Amin was employed by two District Mental Health Rehabilitation Service (MHRS) providers as a community support worker (CSW).  MHRS provides for diagnostic and assessment services, counseling, medication, intensive day treatment, and crisis or emergency services.  A CSW provides community support services by helping consumers learn and improve basic life skills, such as medication management, increasing social skills, and learning how to use public transportation to travel when necessary.

            While employed by the two District MHRS providers, Amin engaged in a scheme to defraud the District’s Medicaid program. Employment records and records maintained by the District of Columbia’s Department of Behavioral Health show that Amin billed for overlapping encounter visits with MHRS patients, submitted patient notes indicating community support services had been provided in person while he was traveling out of state, submitted encounter notes for community support services while a patient was admitted in a hospital, and submitted encounter notes indicating community support services were provided at consumers’ homes while Amin may not have been at those physical locations. Through these schemes, Amin caused the D.C. Medicaid program to pay over $178,000 for CSW services that were not provided, of which he personally received more than $54,000.

            This prosecution is indicative of the continued collaboration between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the D.C. Office of the Inspector General to investigate and prosecute cases of this kind.  The government urges the public to provide tips and assistance to stop health care fraud.  If you have information about individuals committing health care fraud, please call the D.C. Office of the Inspector General at (800) 724-TIPS [(800) 274-8477].

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Inspector General Lucas commended the work of those who investigated and prosecuted the case from the Major Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).  They commended the work of Special Assistant United States Attorney Emmanuela Charles, on detail from the Office of the Inspector General, who prosecuted the case, and also acknowledged the efforts of the OIG MFCU of those who investigated the case, including Auditor Pednika White, Special Agent Eduardo Torre, and Supervisory Investigator Robert Bornstein.

Source: United States Department of Justice 2

A federal court today enjoined an Irvington, Alabama, company and several of its operators from distributing adulterated seafood products in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

In a civil complaint for permanent injunction filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama on April 25, the United States alleged that Irvington Seafood, Inc., and its owner, Kevin S. Sakprasit, and company officers Helene Nou and Kammie C. Richardson, violated the FDCA by distributing adulterated ready-to-eat crabmeat products. According to the complaint, the defendants process the products at their Alabama facility and then sell and distribute them to businesses and consumers throughout the country. 

The complaint alleges that between 2006 and 2022, multiple Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections of the defendants’ facility revealed that the defendants prepared, packaged, and held crabmeat products under insanitary conditions and failed to comply with required current good manufacturing practices and seafood hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) regulations. According to the complaint, during inspections of the defendants’ facility FDA inspectors found, among other things: the presence of maggots, flies, and roaches; the presence of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes on food contact and non-food contact surfaces of equipment; and that employees were failing to properly wash their hands and aprons. Food contaminated with L. mono can cause serious illness and even death in vulnerable groups, such as newborns and people with impaired immune systems. The complaint alleges that the defendants failed to take necessary corrective actions after repeated FDA warnings.

“Food manufacturers and distributors must operate in strict compliance with the law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department is committed to working hand in hand with the FDA to help ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply.”

The defendants agreed to settle the suit and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction. The order entered by the federal court permanently enjoins the defendants from violating the FDCA and requires that they destroy all raw ingredients and food products currently in their possession. Before processing or distributing any food in the future, the defendants must notify the FDA in advance, comply with specific remedial measures set forth in the injunction, and permit the FDA to inspect their facilities and procedures.

Senior Trial Attorney Arturo DeCastro of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch is handling the case with the assistance of Associate Chief Counsel Kyrsten L. Melander of the FDA’s Office of the General 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 only allegations.  There has been no determination of liability.