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Colorado Recidivist Sex Offender Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Crimes Against Children

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Colorado man was sentenced yesterday to 35 years in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release for his distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and involvement with a dark-web website dedicated to CSAM.

According to court documents, while still on parole for a 2013 Colorado conviction for sexual exploitation of a child, registered sex offender Christopher Carl Meier, 41, of Denver, became a member of a dark-web website dedicated to CSAM depicting boys and the discussion of the sexual abuse of minor boys. On July 9, Meier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute CSAM and five counts of distribution of CSAM. Meier was a member of the website for more than 18 months and made more than 600 posts on the website. On this website, Meier advertised and distributed images and videos depicting minor boys engaged in sexual conduct. He made statements on the website admitting that he produced this material by tricking the boys into thinking that they were interacting online with a girl their own age and enticing them to disrobe and engage in sex acts on webcam. The FBI is aware of at least 65 victims of Meier’s conduct.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch for the District of Colorado; Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Special Agent in Charge Mark D. Michalek of the FBI Denver Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Child Exploitation Operational Unit and Denver Field Office investigated the case.

Acting Deputy Chief Kyle Reynolds of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alecia L. Riewerts for the District of Colorado prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. 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.

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Justice Department Finds Conditions at Fulton County Jail in Georgia Violate the Constitution and Federal Law

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of confinement at the Fulton County Jail (the Jail) in Georgia violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The department’s report details its findings from a comprehensive investigation of the Jail, funded and operated by Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation included the Main Jail in Atlanta and three annex facilities: the Marietta Annex in Atlanta, the North Annex in Alpharetta, and the South Annex in Union City. The Jail currently houses around 2,000 people and in recent years has surpassed 3,000 people.

“Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death was symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions in the Fulton County Jail,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department’s report concluded that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office allowed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Jail.  As a result, people incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail suffered harms from pest infestation and malnourishment and were put at substantial risk of serious harm from violence by other incarcerated people — including homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse. The unconstitutional and unlawful conditions at the Fulton County Jail have persisted for far too long, and we are committed to working with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sherrif’s office to remedy them.”

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent, and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility. It’s not just adults but also children who are subjected to conditions and treatment that violate the constitution and defy federal law. Many people held in jails in our country have not been convicted — they are awaiting hearings, trial dates or are serving short sentences for misdemeanors. At the end of the day, people do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door. Jails and prisons across the country must protect people from the kind of gross violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have uncovered here. We hope our findings report sounds an alarm that will prompt Fulton County officials to work with the Justice Department to implement the reforms necessary to ensure constitutional conditions going forward.”

“In Fulton County, people in custody awaiting formal charges or trials frequently must protect themselves from brutal physical attacks, endure frequent excessive force, manage their wellbeing with inadequate food and unsanitary living conditions, and hope they can find access to a strained medical and mental health care program. This is unacceptable,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Our Constitution requires humane conditions while incarcerated that, at a minimum, ensure people in custody are safe. The findings regarding the Fulton County Jail reveal grave and diffuse failures to safeguard the men and women housed in its facilities, including a disturbing frequency of deaths among incarcerated people. We expect Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to share our sense of urgency about the seriousness of the violations described in this report and to work cooperatively with our office and the Justice Department to remedy these systemic deficiencies in the Jail.”

Following an extensive investigation, the department concludes that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office routinely violate the rights of people incarcerated at the Jail. Specifically, the department found that the Jail:

  • Fails to protect people from the substantial risk of serious harm from violence by other incarcerated people, including homicides, stabbings, and sexual abuse.
  • Houses incarcerated people in unconstitutional living conditions that are unsanitary and dangerous.
  • Fails to provide adequate medical and mental health services to incarcerated people.
  • Uses solitary confinement in discriminatory and unconstitutional ways that exposes incarcerated people, including 17-year-old children and those with mental health disabilities, to substantial harm.
  • Fails to provide special education services to 17-year-old boys and girls who are entitled to those services while they are incarcerated at the Jail.

The unlawful and dangerous practices identified in the report are long-standing and have contributed to multiple deaths and other serious harm. From 2022 to the present, six incarcerated people have died in violence at the Jail. In 2023, there were more than 300 stabbings in the Jail which involved uncontrolled contraband and makeshift weapons. There have been four deaths from suicide in the past four years, including as recently as April.

The Justice Department conducted its investigation of the Fulton County Jail under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. § 12601, which prohibits law enforcement officers from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. These statutes authorize the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The department provided Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office with written notice of the supporting facts for its conclusions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the alleged violations. The County will work with the Justice Department toward a cooperative resolution.

The findings announced today are the result of the Justice Department’s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia investigated the case.

The Civil Rights Division continues to prioritize unconstitutional conditions and violations of federal law in correctional and juvenile justice facilities. It opened new investigations into prisons and jails in Tennessee, California, South Carolina, and juvenile justice facilities across Kentucky. The division also issued findings in its investigations of Mississippi prisons, Texas juvenile justice system’s facilities, and the Georgia Department of Corrections. The division is also litigating the constitutionality of conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men.

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations to the section by completing the complaint form available at civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the department’s investigation of the Fulton County Jail, please call 1-888-473-4092 or email the department at FultonCountyJail@usdoj.gov.

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Brazilian Resident Pleads Guilty for Role in Fraudulent Tax Refund Scheme

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A South Carolina man currently residing in Brazil pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court in San Francisco to conspiracy to submit a false claim.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Robert Xan Paul, 45, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, conspired with others to defraud the United States by preparing and submitting to the IRS a fraudulent income tax return that claimed a nearly $600,000 refund, which the IRS paid. Paul was a client of O.I.D. Process, a business owned by his co-conspirators that helped others prepare and file individual federal income tax returns that claimed fictitious Original Issue Discount interest income and federal tax withholdings, resulting in fraudulent claims for tax refunds.

To support his refund claim, Paul created fraudulent IRS forms from financial institutions where he had accounts. Those forms falsely indicated that the financial institutions had withheld federal income tax on his behalf.

In total, Paul caused a tax loss to the IRS of $595,110.

Paul pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims. He is set to be sentenced on Jan. 21, 2025. Paul faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He also faces a period of supervised of release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins for the Northern District of California made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney J. Parker Gochenour of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Pitman for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case.

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Defense News: U.S. Marines Bring New Capabilities to International Naval Exercise

Source: United States Navy

The Marines, from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (8th ESB EOD) and Headquarters and Service Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (H&S Battalion, 2nd MLG), introduced a range of techniques to counter weapons of mass destruction, including Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) identification and handling, mechanical and thermal breaching and sensitive site exploitation.

8th ESB EOD and 2nd MLG Marines also worked alongside U.S. Coast Guard members to conduct Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) training with Allies and partner nations during the 10-day exercise.

“Each one of these skill sets is critical to the overall operations of visit, board, search and seizure conducted by the United States Coast Guard,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nick Confortini, officer in charge of the Marine Corps detachment for Phoenix Express. “These trainings are an important aspect of overall maritime security operations. The information sharing we have done over these last 10 days have not only improved our cooperation with our allies and partners but enhanced our joint capabilities.”

CBRN training ensures that the U.S. and its partners and allies have the capability and capacity to respond to CBRN incidents and quickly restore normal operations if such an incident occurs. 

U.S. Marines demonstrated thermal and mechanical breaching techniques designed to penetrate concrete, metal and shipboard hatches during visit, board, search, and seizure operations, and shared tactics for sensitive site exploitation used to collect evidence aboard a target vessel.

Phoenix Express provides North African, European, and U.S. maritime forces the opportunity to work together, share information, and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures to promote maritime safety and security in the Mediterranean Sea. Phoenix Express deters sea-based illicit activity and protects NATO’s and Europe’s southern flank against malign activity.

Participating nations in Phoenix Express included Algeria, Belgium, Georgia, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Türkiye, Senegal, and the United States.

Phoenix Express is one of three regional maritime exercises led by U.S. Naval Forces Africa and executed by Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet, as part of a comprehensive strategy to provide collaborative opportunities to African forces and international partners to address maritime security concerns.

Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners to advance U.S. national interests, security and stability in Europe and Africa.

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Defense News: Three NUWC Division Newport engineering agents perform first modernizations to submarine in Australia

Source: United States Navy

Members of the Handling Systems Engineering Branch in the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, the agents participated the first three-week Submarine Tendered Maintenance Period (STMP) at HMAS Stirling in Perth, Australia, marking a significant step in the Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) trilateral partnership.

STMPs are similar to planned maintenance periods that are typically conducted in U.S. submarine ports. They usually last up to three weeks and don’t require the submarine to be dry-docked.

When factoring in the historical aspect, Braman — a 14-year employee at Division Newport with plenty of temporary duty travel under his belt — said his most recent work trip tops the list.

“I think it’s pretty cool that we did the first modernizations performed in Australia on a submarine,” Braman said. “To do a modernization on a submarine is nothing. Everyone does it. But we’re the first ones doing a modernization in Perth, and no one can take that away from us.”

The ISEAs worked alongside submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) personnel, as well as their Royal Australian Navy (RAN) counterparts to conduct repairs and modernizations to the ship’s thinline towed array handling system aboard the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii (SSN 776).

This maintenance period aided the execution of Pillar 1 of the AUKUS partnership, which is to deliver a sovereign, conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia by the early 2030s.

“This is the first time since World War II that the U.S. has conducted submarine maintenance in Australian waters, and certainly the first instance in history of a joint American-Australian team performing maintenance on a nuclear-powered attack submarine,” Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, U.S. Navy AUKUS Integration and Acquisition program manager, said in early September after the STMP was complete. “The importance of this event cannot be overstated. These last few weeks provided essential maintenance and stewardship experience for our Australian partners in advance of establishing a sovereign SSN force in Australia.”

STMPs are a significant step toward achieving the AUKUS Pillar 1 objective.

“The main thing is that we integrated with a foreign military and trained them on how to do maintenance, repair, troubleshooting and modernization on our system,” Savitzky said. “They’re going to be receiving these submarines at some point, and they’re in the process of building up their infrastructure and capability. As Department of Defense civilians supporting the U.S. Navy, we were at the beginning of that process of integrating with a foreign military.”

George, Braman and Savitzky embarked on the 48-hour trip to Australia from Rhode Island on Aug. 19. Like any other in-service engineering trip, they had to learn the lay of the land and found the RAN sailors to be helpful and eager to learn.

“They certainly had a great thirst for knowledge, and they picked up everything pretty quickly,” said George, who has been with Division Newport for 22 years. “They were very willing to help, whether that was trying to track down shipping pieces or equipment. They were on the ball for everything.”

Savitzky, a certified second-class Navy diver, worked with RAN and U.S. Navy divers and Sailors serving on the tender on mechanical and electromechanical equipment in the submarine’s ballast tanks, which is only accessible by diving when the submarine is pierside. Above the water, George and Braman communicated with Savitzky to help execute the modernization, repair plan and inspection list.

“We operate as a team and it’s really a team process,” Savitzky said. “It’s not just the diver in the water doing all of the work. I’m constantly communicating with them topside, bouncing stuff off them. It works best when you have someone experienced topside, and someone experienced in the water.”

Nick Savage, head of the Handling Systems Engineering Branch, said George, Braman and Savitzky work together often and are among the best in the business at what they do.

“They have a really high standard for each other, and that makes them a really high-performing team,” Savage said. “There hasn’t been a situation where they haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong. When other entities can’t figure something out, they’ll call us. Our role is the last line of defense to get something solved. It really requires a high-performing team, and that’s what we have here.”

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher’s Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport.