Source: United States Department of Justice News
SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas joins the rest of the nation in commemorating National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW) April 23-29. NCVRW is an annual week of recognition to honor victims of crime and ensure their rights are upheld.
This year’s theme is “Survivor Voices: Elevate. Engage. Effect Change.” It calls upon communities to amplify the voices of survivors and create environments where survivors have the confidence that they will be heard, believed, and supported.
“Survivors of crime often face physical, emotional and psychological trauma that can have long-lasting effects. They deserve our support, our compassion and our protection,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas. “As U.S. Attorney, I am committed to ensuring that criminals are held accountable for their actions, and that victims are treated with dignity and respect. This week, we stand in solidarity with survivors and remain focused on working toward a society in which all victims are treated with dignity and respect so that they can heal and rebuild their lives.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas has a dedicated team of prosecutors and victim assistance professionals who work together to ensure victims of crime receive the services and support they need.
In 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas obtained a default judgement against Samantha Mueting and her company, iCORE Global. Mueting led a real estate scam, perpetrating a series of frauds upon couple nearing retirement. One of the victim couples lost approximately $600,000 to Mueting and iCORE Global when they sent wire transfers to Mueting’s bank accounts in San Antonio. Immediately after the wire transfers were deposited, Mueting made a large cash withdrawal. Suspecting fraud, bank officials closed the account and issued a check to Mueting who then deposited the funds into another bank account in San Antonio under the name of iCORE Global LLC and ICG Secure Deposit Funds LLC. Working with the United States Secret Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas filed a civil forfeiture case against the funds, which then totaled $482,194.05. The funds were returned to the victims in or about Oct. 2022.
On Aug. 4, 2022, Jose Gomez III was sentenced in Midland to 25 years in prison on hate crime charges for attacking an Asian family he believed was Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Gomez further admitted that he had attempted to kill the family’s six-year-old child. In addition to the prison sentence, Gomez was ordered to pay the victims $16,782.74 in restitution.
On Aug. 24, 2022, two men were sentenced in Waco for robbing five area merchants at gunpoint, causing severe harm to each of their victims through violent crime. Roosevelt Jones IV is now serving a 20 year prison sentence, while co-defendant Christopher Teon Fults is serving 10 years. Combined, Jones and Fults were ordered to pay more than $21,000 in restitution to the victims.
On Jan. 23, 2023, Jaycob Andrew Bustamante was sentenced to 204-months imprisonment, a 30 year term of supervised release, and $13,500 restitution, for cyberstalking, distribution of child sexual abuse material and extortion. Between January 2021 and September 2021, he created multiple social media accounts posing as the victim, through which he posted the sexually explicit images and sent the child pornography to her friends and family. Over the course of Bustamante’s constant harassment, he repeatedly threatened and stalked the victim through social media, placing her and her family in fear of violence, while demanding more sexually explicit images.
On Feb. 8, 2023, Connor Flores Jimenez, of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Reservation near Eagle Pass, was sentenced in Del Rio to 20 years in prison after he severely injured his two-month-old baby and choked his wife unconscious.
On April 4, 2023, Alberto Jimenez Pastrana was sentenced in Pecos to 15 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Pastrana had shot at a vehicle containing his children and their mother, then crashed into it with this own vehicle and drove away, fleeing numerous law enforcement vehicles from various agencies. Pastrana was a convicted felon with four prior felony convictions and received the statutory maximum sentence.
Visit ovc.ojp.gov/ncvrw2023/overview for more information on National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
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