Category: MIL-OSI

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Defense News: Navy Medicine inspires future medical professionals during first visit to Navajo Technical University

Source: United States Navy

The Navy Medicine-led visit enabled University of New Mexico (UNM) alums Capt. Shauna O’Sullivan and Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, assigned to the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), along with Navy Talent and Acquisition Group (NTAG) Phoenix, to engage with administrators, faculty, students, and veterans at NTU as part of a community outreach initiative. O’Sullivan graduated from UNM in 1998 and was the recipient of a Naval Health Professions Scholarship and attended medical school at Kansas City University. McNulty was a graduate of UNM’s Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program 2003. Both went on to have distinguished careers in the Navy.

“It was the U.S. Navy’s first visit to the campus, and we received a warm reception,” explained O’Sullivan, a rheumatologist and Navy Medical Corps career planner at BUMED. “The faculty and students were polite and receptive to conversations about the opportunities available in the Navy. Several parents were visiting with their children and were open to discussions about the Navy’s offerings.”

NTU is the first university established on the Navajo Nation and encompasses five campus locations across land in New Mexico, Arizonia, and Utah. NTU honors Diné culture and languages, while educating for the future, and is one of the premier institutions of higher education in the nation, providing a unique balance between science and technology and culture and tradition.

“The opportunity to speak to the faculty and students at Navajo Technical University about the amazing opportunities to be of service and save lives in Navy Medicine was extraordinary,” observed Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, director of public affairs and outreach and a special assistant to the Navy Surgeon General and chief, BUMED. “These students have so much potential, and the United States Navy has so much to offer them.”  

The team also had the opportunity to meet Chef Robert Witte, a Navy veteran and the director of the NTU Culinary Arts Program. Over the course of 25 years of service to the university, he’s grown the program from three students to more than 150 per cohort. 

“Without a doubt, the Navy is the best thing I’ve ever done,” expressed Witte as he discussed his six-years of service as a culinary specialist in the Navy and post-Navy career.  

While at the university, O’Sullivan and McNulty were asked by Hoskie Kee, commander of Baca/Prewitt Chapter Veterans Organization and Eastern Agency, to say a few words at a special event honoring Navajo Nation veterans, where 31 organizations from across New Mexico provided information and resources to veterans in attendance. 

“I was humbled and honored to be invited to speak to the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration Eastern Agency Stand Down, hosted by NTU,” said McNulty. “The Navajo Nation’s Code Talkers helped America win during WWII; they’ve not forgotten their service, nor have I. The Navajo Veterans represent what’s best in America – the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the greater good.” 

The team also had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Delores Becenti, NTU’s director of enrollment, and one of the most tenured professors in the university, where she spoke of her passion for Navajo Nation and expanding opportunities for collaboration. 

“NTU is an ideal place for the Navy to cultivate relationships,” concluded O’Sullivan. “The campus has a real sense of community and military tradition. My visit and experience in Navajo Nation was an amazing finale to Albuquerque Navy Week.”

Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public a firsthand look at why the Navy matters to cities like Albuquerque.

Navy Medicine – represented by more than 44,000 highly-trained military and civilian health care professionals – provides enduring expeditionary medical support to the warfighter on, below, and above the sea, and ashore.

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Defense News: Navy Commissions USS New Jersey (SSN 796)

Source: United States Navy

The ceremony culminated a years-long process for commissioning the New Jersey, the third U.S. Navy ship named after the state of New Jersey, the most recent being the decorated battleship BB-62 which saw action during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

New Jersey’s commanding officer Cmdr. Steve Halle called the event “a truly historic moment” during his speech, praising all the distinguished guests, shipbuilders, and supporting organizations before addressing his crew.
 
“To the crew, the plank owners, this ceremony… is about you” Halle emphasized. “You operate the most complex platform on the planet and you continuously strive for excellence. I’m amazed and humbled at what we have accomplished” he continued.

“Our superior professionalism is enhanced by our crew integration and our diversity,” Halle said of his crew being the first fully integrated fast-attack submarine. “We have exceeded expectations at every turn and overcome every obstacle set before us.”

Halle also spoke to the people of New Jersey stating “I know that the legacy we have inherited from the state of New Jersey and BB-62 will carry forward in our pursuit of greatness.”

“Today, we commissioned our ship, and she is the fastest, most advanced, fully integrated fast-attack to date,” Halle said in closing.

Susan DiMarco, New Jersey’s sponsor and wife of former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, gave the crew the traditional order to “man our ship and bring her to life,” after which New Jersey’s sailors responded “aye aye ma’am” before ceremonially running aboard the submarine.  

Other speakers at the commissioning ceremony included New Jersey Governor Philip Murphy, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Ms. Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, and Mr. Larry Runkle, vice president of General Dynamics Electric Boat. Adm. William Houston, director of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion program, served as the senior Naval officer and Submarine Force commander Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher as the presiding officer. Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Hutchison, the ship’s executive officer, served as master of ceremonies.  

The submarine is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam and is able to dive to depths greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots. New Jersey has a crew of nearly 135 Navy personnel.

Fast-attack submarines are multi-mission platforms enabling five of the six Navy maritime strategy core capabilities – sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security, and deterrence. They are designed to excel in anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular warfare, and mine warfare. Fast-attack submarines project power ashore with special operations forces and Tomahawk cruise missiles in the prevention or preparation of regional crises.

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Dominican National Pleads Guilty for Role in Human Smuggling Venture that Resulted in 11 Deaths

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Dominican national pleaded guilty today to his role in a human smuggling venture that resulted in the deaths of multiple migrants.

Fermín Montilla, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of bringing aliens to the United States at a place other than a designated port of entry resulting in death.

According to court documents, Montilla was involved in a maritime human smuggling venture that attempted to bring migrants illegally to the United States. On or about the evening of May 12, 2022, Montilla knowingly brought 48 persons to the United States unlawfully. Montilla’s actions caused the deaths of 11 of those people.

The defendant is expected to be sentenced later this year and faces a statutory 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.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico; and Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Juan made the announcement.

HSI San Juan investigated this case, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau.

Trial Attorney Angela Buckner of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and U.S. Coast Guard Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Helena Daniel for the District of Puerto Rico are prosecuting the case.

The investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources. ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

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Defense News: Navy Awards T-AO Block Buy Contract

Source: United States Navy

By using the block buy approach the Navy expects savings of $491 million as compared to the total anticipated costs of carrying out the program through annual contracts.

This T-AO block buy delivers on the Department of Navy’s commitment to get more players on the field while growing near-term capability and capacity,” said Nickolas H. Guertin, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A). “This multi-billion dollar award reflects innovation to build and sustain our maritime dominance and allows for critical investment and sustainment of our shipbuilding industrial base.

This award includes a Shipbuilding Capability Preservation Agreement with NASSCO that broadens and strengthens the shipbuilding industrial base by providing an incentive for a shipbuilder to obtain new private sector work, thereby reducing the Navy’s cost of doing business.  This strengthening of the industrial base is aligned with the Secretary of the Navy’s Maritime Statecraft initiative.

“This block buy contract will provide capability for our fleet while providing cost savings to the Navy and stability for the shipbuilding industrial base,” said John Lighthammer, program manager, Auxiliary and Special Mission Shipbuilding Program Office, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. “The partnership between the Navy and NASSCO is important and we rely on the shipbuilding workforce at NASSCO and their many vendors and suppliers to construct and deliver these ships.”

T-AO Fleet Replenishment Oilers operate as the primary fuel pipeline from resupply ports to station ships, providing replenishment of bulk petroleum product, dry stores/packaged cargo, fleet freight, mail and personnel to combatants and support forces underway.

PEO Ships, one of the Department of Defense’s largest acquisition organizations, is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships and craft, auxiliary ships, special mission ships, sealift ships and support ships.

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Twelve Defendants Sentenced for Violent Home Invasion Robberies to Steal Cryptocurrency

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Florida man was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a scheme involving a series of home invasion robberies targeting cryptocurrency. Between Sept. 5 and Sept. 12, a total of 12 men have been sentenced for their role in the scheme.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the trial, Remy Ra St Felix, 25, of West Palm Beach, and his co-conspirators stole over $3.5 million from victims through SIM swapping and violent home invasions in which they held victims at gunpoint, assaulted them, and bound them with plastic cable ties. St Felix was convicted on June 25 by a federal jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, after a six-day trial. In addition to his sentence of incarceration, St Felix was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $524,153.39 in restitution.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, beginning in late 2020, St Felix’s co-conspirator, Jarod Gabriel Seemungal, 23, of West Palm Beach, and foreign co-conspirators stole cryptocurrency from victims’ accounts at exchanges. They obtained access to the accounts by gaining control of the victims’ phone numbers through SIM swapping. In 2022, Seemungal and his co-conspirators devised the home invasion scheme and recruited St Felix and others to assist with the invasions. St Felix later became the leader of the home invasion crew. In September 2022, St Felix and members of the crew committed violent home invasions in Delray Beach and Homestead, Florida. In Delray Beach, the victims were held at gunpoint in their home. In Homestead, a man and his family were held at gunpoint in their home, and then the man was abducted, held hostage, and beaten, before the man was found by law enforcement 120 miles from his home.

Later in 2022, St Felix and his crew targeted a Little Elm, Texas, man and made several trips to attempt the robbery. In December 2022, Seemungal and a Houston-based crew comprised of Deangelo Lee Contreras, 21, Tristian Rene Gamez, 21, Victor Gonzalez, 27, Jesus Salazar, 24, Cristian Valdez, 21, and Jesus Gerardo Valdez, Jr., 27, all of Houston, Texas, committed the home invasion. The Little Elm man and members of his family were held at gunpoint and restrained in their home for over three hours, during which time members of the crew tortured the man and his mother. The perpetrators stole approximately $150,000.00 in cash, two Rolex watches, and a valuable necklace and pendant.

In April 2023, St Felix and Elmer Ruben Castro, 23, of West Palm Beach, invaded the home of a wife and a husband in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to the invasion, St Felix’s co-conspirators obtained unauthorized access to the couple’s email account and conducted multiple days of surveillance on their home. During the invasion, the men violently assaulted the couple, threatened them with guns, and restrained them with plastic cable ties. They forced the man to provide access to his computer and cryptocurrency exchange account. Seemungal then remotely accessed the computer and stole over $150,000.00 worth of cryptocurrency. Conspirators laundered the funds through anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies, as well as “instant exchanges” and decentralized finance platforms that did not conduct know-your-customer checks.

In July 2023, St Felix traveled from Florida to Long Island, New York, to commit a home invasion of a family of five. Before St Felix could do so, however, he was arrested. At the time of his arrest, St Felix was in possession of two firearms and plastic cable ties.

Throughout the conspiracy, the conspirators communicated via an encrypted messaging application to plan their crimes. They identified targets and discussed how to gain entry to homes, the tools required to carry out the crimes, the technical aspects of cryptocurrency, and the patterns of life of their targets. They also circulated pictures of their targets and their targets’ homes. In addition to the home invasions described above, conspirators used the encrypted messaging application to plan additional home invasion robberies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Orlando, Florida; and Georgia. Seemungal and the foreign co-conspirators financed the purchase of rental cars, hotel rooms, and firearms by co-conspirators Haisel Daily, 22, of West Palm Beach, and Ruben Matias Nicolopulos Silva, 22, of Lake Worth, Florida, to use during the robberies.

Seemungal was also sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4,038,479.39 in restitution. Seemungal pleaded guilty on December 19, 2023, for his role in the scheme to steal cryptocurrency by hacking victims’ cryptocurrency accounts as well as the home invasion and robbery scheme.

On Feb. 6, Castro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1.

On May 29 and 30, nine of St Felix’s and Seemungal’s co-conspirators pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and were sentenced as follows:

  • Jose Alfredo Avila, 27, of West Palm Beach, was sentenced on Sept. 11, to 20 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $365,100.00 in restitution.
  • Contreras was sentenced on Sept. 5, to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution.
  • Daily was sentenced on Sept. 5, to 25 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $524,153.39 in restitution.
  • Gonzalez was sentenced on Sept. 6, to 12 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution.
  • Nathan Noel Quintana, 24, of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, was sentenced on Sept. 6, to 16 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $365,100.00 in restitution.
  • Silva was sentenced on Sept. 5, to 12 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $524,153.39 in restitution.
  • Cristian Valdez was sentenced on Sept. 6, to 12 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution.
  • Jesus Valdez was sentenced on Sept. 6, to 12 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution.
  • Jesus Manuel Santiago, III, 23, of West Palm Beach, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1.

Also, on May 29 and 30, Salazar and Gamez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce through robbery. Salazar was sentenced on Sept. 5, to five years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution. Gamez was sentenced on Sept. 11, to eight years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,800.00 in restitution.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina; and Special Agent in Charge Robert M. DeWitt of the FBI Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Charlotte Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance from the Durham Police Department and the FBI New York, Miami, Houston, Mobile, and Newark Field Offices.

The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) is partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina in prosecuting the case. CCIPS/NCET Trial Attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Iverson for the Middle District of North Carolina and CCIPS Trial Attorney Brian Mund are prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of Florida, Southern District of Texas, and Eastern District of Texas provided valuable assistance.

NCET was established to combat the growing illicit use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Within CCIPS, NCET conducts and supports investigations into individuals and entities that enable the use of digital assets to commit and facilitate a variety of crimes, with a particular focus on virtual currency exchanges, obfuscation services, and infrastructure providers. NCET also sets strategic priorities regarding digital asset technologies, identifies areas for increased investigative and prosecutorial focus, and leads the department’s efforts to collaborate with domestic and foreign government agencies as well as the private sector to aggressively investigate and prosecute crimes involving cryptocurrency and digital assets.