Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON — A Tennessee man has been arrested on felony charges, including assaulting a law enforcement officer, for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His 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.

            Devin McNulty, 27, of Loudon, Tennessee, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and an act of physical violence in a Capitol Building or on Capitol Grounds. He was arrested on June 13, 2023.

            According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, McNulty was first seen among the crowd located on the west front of the Capitol building. From there, McNulty scaled the retaining wall to reach the upper west terrace of the U.S. Capitol. In surveillance footage, McNulty can be seen walking from the west side of the U.S. Capitol to the north side at 2:52 p.m. McNulty then followed the terrace around to the north door of U.S. Capitol, where a large group of rioters gathered and attempted to breach into the building.

            When McNulty approached the north door, he appeared to be affected by a chemical irritant, causing him to turn back to the crowd. As he did so, McNulty raised and pumped his fist into the air. Later, video footage shows an alarm coming from the Capitol building as well as loud music in the crowd. Eventually, some law enforcement officers moved between the rioters and the north door. One officer told the rioters, “Get back, everyone get back.” When the crowd demands that the officer let them into the Capitol building, the same officer responds, “I can’t do that.” McNulty is visible to the right of the officer.

            Later, additional law enforcement officers arrived to clear the terrace of the rioters. As that happened, McNulty stood in front of the line of officers and violently pushed against one officer’s riot shield multiple times over the course of several seconds. The officer, a member of the Prince George’s County Police Department, was interviewed about the incident after January 6. The officer claimed to distinctly remember the interaction with McNulty as aggressive and persistent. The officer explained that McNulty tried to gain control of their shields and that the officers had to exert increasingly more effort to counter McNulty’s force.

            This case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

            This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Knoxville and Washington Field Offices, which identified McNulty as #485 on its seeking information photos. Valuable assistance was provided by the United States Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In the 29 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 nearly 350 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.

A complaint or indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Heather. I want to extend my appreciation to you, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Black Public Defender Association and Alaina Bloodworth and April Frazier Camara for your hospitality and leadership.

It really is an honor to be here. I am excited to celebrate the public defenders, mitigation specialists, executives, administrators and other professionals in this room, who have dedicated their careers to affirming the dignity and humanity of the people they represent.

This Monday, our nation will collectively commemorate and celebrate Juneteenth.  This holiday, which recognizes the end of enslavement for Black Americans, also marks the beginning of a long and continuing struggle for equality, equity and justice.  

We cannot celebrate Juneteenth without acknowledging the continued and pervasive injustices that continue to impact Black communities in this country. From Jim Crow, to disenfranchisement, to redlining, to disparate health outcomes, to mass incarceration – Black Americans, among other people of color, have shouldered a disproportionate burden of inequity.

And public defenders, and the professionals who support them, bravely remain at the front lines in this contemporary struggle for equality and civil rights.  Those here in this room advance the movement forward each day, with commitment and vigor, and usually without accolades or awards.

The reason I chose to join the legal profession was because I wanted to join this very fight. From the first day I set foot in a jail lockup in college, to the first day I entered misdemeanor arraignment court as a public defender, what continued to drive me forward every day was seeing mostly, some days only, communities of color, and specifically Black fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters cycling through the justice system.

You never had to cite statistics or numbers to me.

You didn’t need to tell me that Black Americans make up 38% of America’s incarcerated population despite representing only twelve percent of the population.

You didn’t need to tell me that Black litigants receive, on average, 4% higher court fines and lower rates of charge reductions in civil-infraction proceedings.

And you didn’t need to tell me that according to some studies, Black people receive sentences that are almost 10% longer than those of comparable white people arrested for the same crimes.

I saw it in the faces of my clients.

I know that many in this room have had this same experience and endured the unique toll of both belonging to and serving communities disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system. How do we endure that contrast, that racial trauma and move forward in our work for social and racial justice?  

We must first recognize that Black defenders occupy a unique position in the movement for transformational and systemic change.

Second, we must rely on community, collaboration and strong collective organizations like BPDA for training, mentorship, and most critically – refuge. 

And third, we simply must fund public defense.

As we evaluate where we are, 60 years after Gideon, I am inspired by how public defenders have answered the call, responding directly to the needs of their communities. You’ve expanded your services beyond traditional criminal representation, adapted, and leveraged innovative client-centered programs to serve your communities.  You’ve done this despite incredible challenges and with limited resources.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.”

Indeed, this is why your fight matters.  Your perspectives, strategies, and expertise are critical not only within the confines of the criminal legal system, but within the broader struggle for equality, equity and justice.

So as I conclude, I charge you all as I charge myself, to continue to be bold and stand firm in an unapologetic demand for systemic change and equity.  Because if we abandon hope — for fear, exhaustion or apathy — the truest ideal of equal justice won’t ever be within reach.

Thank you for your service, and Happy Juneteenth.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland following the Supreme Court’s decision in Haaland v. Brackeen:

“The Justice Department is committed to honoring Tribal sovereignty and protecting Indian children and families. For nearly 45 years, the Indian Child Welfare Act has helped protect Tribal children from being unnecessarily separated from their parents, extended family, and Tribal communities. 

I am pleased that today’s Supreme Court decision in Haaland v. Brackeen rejected this challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Justice Department vigorously defended the statute before the Supreme Court and will continue to support the Indian Child Welfare Act and do everything in our power to protect Tribal communities and affirm Tribal sovereignty.”

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Bulgarian national was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to traffic images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of young children.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Plamen Georgiev Velinov, 49, of Sofia, helped manage and administer the Newstar Enterprise, an internet-based business that profited from the sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of “child modeling,” through a collection of websites called the Newstar Websites. Beginning in around 2006 and continuing until 2019, Velinov assisted the enterprise by selecting children to be featured on the Newstar Websites, editing images and videos on those websites, communicating with customers, setting prices for videos, activating new websites, and creating advertising banners. While chatting with a co-conspirator, Velinov described one child as “nuclear sexy.” Financial records show that U.S.-based co-conspirators transferred more than $400,000 to Velinov’s Bulgarian bank account in connection with the conspiracy. 

The Newstar Enterprise, which was founded around 2005, built and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To generate content for the Newstar Websites, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited, and recruited males and females under the age of 18, many of whom were prepubescent, to use as “child models” for the Newstar Websites. The Newstar Enterprise used the child victims to produce more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos – including images and videos depicting children as young as six years old in sexual and provocative poses and wearing revealing underwear, clothing  and costumes – that were distributed and sold through the Newstar Websites. Many of the child victims were recruited from Ukraine, Moldova, and other nations in Eastern Europe and were particularly vulnerable due to their age and socio-economic status.

Images were freely available to the public to preview on the Newstar Websites, but Newstar offered a paid subscription for greater access and more content. Newstar subscribers and customers  were from more than 100 different countries. The sale of Newstar content generated more than $9.4 million during the conspiracy. To process, receive, and distribute this money, Newstar Enterprise leaders fraudulently opened merchant and bank accounts in the United States and laundered proceeds using a bogus jewelry company. 

To date, seven members of the Newstar Enterprise have been charged in connection with the Newstar Websites. The chart below shows the status of each case:

Name	Charge(s)	Status
Tatiana Power	Conspiracy to commit money laundering	Pleaded guilty; sentenced to 12.5 years in prison
Kenneth Power	Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography	Defendant deceased; case dismissed
Pavel Rohel	Conspiracy to produce child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography	Charges pending
Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah	Conspiracy to commit money laundering	Pleaded guilty; sentenced to five years and three months in prison
Anthony Lee Kendall	Conspiracy to commit money laundering; promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering	Defendant deceased; case dismissed
Mary Lou Bjorkman	Conspiracy to commit money laundering	Pleaded guilty; sentenced to 1.5 years in prison

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge John Condon of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa Field Office made the announcement.

The HSI Tampa Field Office and the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) investigated the cases, with substantial assistance provided by the HSI Fort Lauderdale Field Office and HSI Attaché offices in Athens, Greece, the Hague, and Vienna, Austria, as well as by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Sofia, Bulgaria. This investigation also benefited from substantial assistance and cooperation from foreign law enforcement, including from the Republic of Bulgaria, Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office; the National Investigative Service of Bulgaria; the Dutch National Police, International Legal Assistance Center, North Holland Unit; and the Regional Police Directorate for Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. 

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs assisted with securing foreign evidence and with Velinov’s extradition. The Justice Department’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) provided capacity building assistance and mentoring.

Trial Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds of CEOS and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karyna Valdes for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the cases. 

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, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Delmar Whitley, also known as Damar Whitley, 46, of Washington, D.C., is charged by indictment, filed today, with assault with intent to kill while armed and other charges stemming from the Aug. 31, 2022, shooting of one 17-year old, and the threat to shoot another 17-year old. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Interim Chief Ashan M. Benedict, of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Whitley was indicted by a Superior Court grand jury and charged with assault with intent to kill while armed with a firearm committed against a minor; aggravated assault while armed with a firearm committed against a minor; and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon committed against a minor. Whitley also was indicted on charges of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence or dangerous offense, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition.

            Whitley is to be arraigned on June 23, 2023, at a hearing before the Honorable Marisa Demeo.  He faces a maximum of 45 years in prison if convicted of the lead charge, and an additional 15 years if convicted of the assault on the second teenager.

            According to the government’s evidence, on Aug. 31, 2022, at about 9:27 a.m., Whitley returned home to the apartment building where he resided in the 4700 block of Alabama Avenue SE.  As he passed through the common area of the building, Whitley exchanged words with the first victim, a 17-year-old who was visiting the building before he and his classmates were to go to school.  According to the evidence, after that exchange, Whitley briefly went inside his apartment before coming back with a firearm and shooting the teenager in the face, and then chasing him outside and shooting him again in the back. Whitley is also accused of pointing the firearm at another teen who was also trying to get away.

            Following the assaults, Whitley fled the scene. Whitley was arrested on Sept. 22, 2022, and has remained in custody since his arrest.

            In announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney Graves and Interim Chief Benedict commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department.  They acknowledged the efforts of those who are working on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Christina Bloodworth and Paralegal Specialist Antoinette Sakamsa.  Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Prins and Michael Roberts, who are investigating and prosecuting the case.

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.