Source: United States Navy
The submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) arrived in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia for a regularly scheduled port call, March 25. Darwin is the 17th port call of Emory S. Land’s current deployment, which began May 17, 2024.
Source: United States Department of Justice
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma unsealed a grand jury indictment recently charging an Oklahoma man with violations of the dog fighting prohibitions of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Leshon Eugene Johnson, of Broken Arrow, made his initial appearance in court last week. He is charged with possessing 190 pit bull-type dogs for use in an animal fighting venture and for selling, transporting, and delivering a dog for use in an animal fighting venture. Federal authorities seized the 190 dogs from Johnson in October 2024 as authorized under the Animal Welfare Act. This is believed to be the largest number of dogs ever seized from a single person in a federal dog fighting case.
“Animal abuse is cruel, depraved, and deserves severe punishment,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law and will remain committed to protecting innocent animals from those who would do them harm.”
“The FBI will not tolerate criminals that harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The FBI views animal cruelty investigations as a precursor to larger, organized crime efforts, similar to trafficking and homicides. This is yet another push in the FBI’s crackdown of violent offenders harming our most innocent.”
“Dog fighting is illegal, and courts have upheld its prosecution time and again,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “This strategic prosecution of an alleged repeat offender led to the seizure of 190 dogs destined for a cruel end. It disrupts a major source of dogs used in other dog fighting ventures.”
“Dog fighting is a cruel, blood-thirsty venture, not a legitimate business or sporting activity,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. “I applaud the investigative work of the FBI and the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in detecting and dismantling breeding operations which only serve to propagate this deplorable conduct.”
According to court documents, Johnson ran a dog fighting operation known as “Mal Kant Kennels” in both Broken Arrow and Haskell, Oklahoma. He previously ran “Krazyside Kennels” also out of Oklahoma, which led to his guilty plea on state animal fighting charges in 2004. Johnson selectively bred “champion” and “grand champion” fighting dogs — dogs that have respectively won three or five fights — to produce offspring with fighting traits and abilities desired by him and others for use in dog fights. Johnson marketed and sold stud rights and offspring from winning fighting dogs to other dog fighters looking to incorporate the Mal Kant Kennels “bloodline” into their own dog fighting operations. His trafficking of fighting dogs to other dog fighters across the country contributed to the growth of the dog fighting industry and allowed Johnson to profit financially.
Under federal law, it is illegal to fight dogs in a venture that effects interstate commerce and to possess, train, transport, deliver, sell, purchase, or receive dogs for fighting purposes.
If convicted, Johnson faces a maximum penalty on each count of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI’s Shreveport Resident Agency office is investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Sarah Brown and Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Howanitz for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
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
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari by plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, a case the Justice Department has consistently defended across three presidential administrations.
The case, filed in 2015, sought to have courts force the government to implement more stringent, remedial measures related to climate change. The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon agreed to hear the case. The Justice Department moved to dismiss and sought an interlocutory appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court with instructions to dismiss. The district court accepted an amended complaint, and the circuit court again instructed for the case to be dismissed. The plaintiffs then filed a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court.
“For nearly a decade, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Juliana case have tied up the United States in litigation, persisting even after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice instructed the case to be dismissed because the plaintiffs lack Article III standing,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “The U.S. Supreme Court’s cert denial brings this long saga to a conclusion. Through ENRD’s work, the Justice Department is enforcing our nation’s environmental laws and safeguarding America’s air, water, and natural resources. Cases like Juliana distract from those enforcement efforts.”
Source: United States Department of Justice
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today to transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to sexually abuse the child and to accessing child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, George “Travis” Woodfield, 41, of Macungie, Pennsylvania, drove an eleven-year-old child across state lines for an overnight trip to New York City in November 2018 in order to engage in sexual activity with the child. During the trip, Woodfield sexually abused the child in their hotel room. Further, between September 2015 and July 2024, Woodfield accessed numerous depictions of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including images of prepubescent children being sexually abused.
Woodfield pleaded guilty to one count of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of accessing with intent to view child pornography, including that of a prepubescent minor. The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced by the court on July 1 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of the FBI Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI investigated the case.
Senior Trial Attorney Jennifer Toritto Leonardo and Trial Attorney Jessica L. Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca J. Kulik for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the 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, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Two Florida residents were sentenced today to three years and a year and a day in prison, respectively, for conspiring to defraud the United States by not paying employment taxes to the IRS.
According to court documents and statements made in court, William Skaggs Jr. owned and operated Nastar Roofing, a roofing company that worked throughout the Ft. Myers area. Billie Adkison was the business’ main office administrator, whose duties included managing payroll.
Between 2013 and 2023, Nastar employees — including Skaggs, Adkison, and others acting at their direction — withdrew over $21 million from the company’s bank accounts to pay employees predominantly in cash without withholding Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes from those wages. They did this to escape paying employment taxes they knew were legally required.
At times, Nastar used a payroll provider to issue employees nominal paychecks, but Nastar did not inform the payroll company about the cash wages. As such, when the payroll company filed employment tax returns with the IRS, the forms were false because they did not report the cash wages. Similarly, when Nastar did not use a payroll provider and filed its own employment tax returns, it did not report the substantial cash wages paid to employees. Both Skaggs and Adkison signed some of these tax returns, knowing that they were false.
In total, Skaggs and Adkison caused a tax loss to the IRS of nearly $2.5 million.
In addition to their prison sentences, U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell for the Middle District of Florida ordered Skaggs and Adkison to serve three years of supervised release. The court will determine restitution at a later date.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider of the Tax Division and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leeman and current Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Winter for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.