Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement agreement with COBB Tuning Products to resolve claims relating to the manufacture and sale of automotive emission defeat devices in violation of the Clean Air Act. The settlement requires COBB to pay a civil penalty of just over $2.9 million, based on the company’s limited ability to pay, and to stop the manufacture and sale of defeat devices.

COBB is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and retailer based in Austin, Texas, which formerly sold its parts in Plano, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Fountain Valley, California. In the complaint filed with the settlement agreement, COBB is alleged to have manufactured and sold defeat devices prohibited under the Clean Air Act that, when installed, bypass or disable EPA-approved emission controls and harm air quality.

“COBB created software that allowed users to disable emissions controls, increasing pollution and violating the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to enforcing the Clean Air Act, which remains one of our most important tools in helping to secure and maintain a clean environment.”

“Defeat devices significantly increase air pollution from motor vehicles, particularly in communities that already are overburdened by pollution,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Use of illegal defeat devices has gone on for far too long. EPA will use all of its enforcement tools to hold polluters like COBB Tuning accountable until these illegal practices stop.”

COBB manufactured or sold over 90,000 of these aftermarket defeat devices since January 2015. COBB’s actions resulted in substantial excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. Today’s settlement requires the company to stop manufacturing and selling aftermarket defeat devices. COBB may continue to sell tuners and software tunes which the California Air Resources Board determined do not increase emissions above allowable levels. This enforcement action will prevent additional excess emissions that would have resulted from the continued sale of these illegal products.

In addition to requiring COBB to pay a civil penalty of more than $2.9 million, the settlement agreement requires the company to:

• Remove delete features from its software,
• Destroy violative products still in its inventory,
• Cease providing technical support or honoring warranty claims for previously sold violative products,
• Revise its marketing materials,
• Notify the customers that purchased the subject parts that the products at issue violate the Clean Air Act, and
• Conduct compliance training for its employees and contractors.

Defeat devices, which are often sold to enhance engine performance, work by disabling a vehicle’s emission controls, causing air pollution. As a result of enforcement efforts, some of the largest manufacturers of defeat devices have agreed to pay penalties and stop the sale of defeat devices.

More information on this settlement is available on the COBB Tuning Performance Settlement Agreement web page.

The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. Information on submitting comment and access to the settlement agreement is available on the Justice Department’s website: www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

The EPA investigated the case.

Attorneys with the Justice Department’s Environmental Enforcement Section are handling the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

On Friday, Sept. 13, two Puerto Rican men were sentenced for their destruction, removal and fill of protected wetlands in Puerto Rico in violation of the Clean Water Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Gina R. Mendez-Miro for the District of Puerto Rico sentenced Rafael Carballo-Diaz, 51, to 12 months in prison, one year of supervised release and a $4,000 fine. According to court documents, starting in July 2020, Carballo-Diaz destroyed, removed and filled mangrove wetland areas within and around the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) in Las Mareas, Puerto Rico. Despite lacking a permit, he filled the area with quarry material, gated the area, placed at least six mobile housing units on the property and added a pool. He then named the property “Cacique Resort” and rented the units online as short-term vacation properties.

Nathaniel Hernandez-Claudio, property manager at Carballo-Diaz’s Cacique Resort, was sentenced by Judge Mendez-Miro to 12 months of probation for his role in filling the property. Both Carballo-Diaz and Hernandez-Claudio were indicted in December 2023, and pleaded guilty in July.

Mangrove wetlands, such as those destroyed by the defendants, are critical to local infrastructure, economies and ecosystems because they can limit damage from flooding and storms, reduce pollution and provide habitat for numerous marine and endangered species. The JBNERR was designated as a reserve in 1981 to protect the wetlands and study the biological and societal impacts of estuarine habitat, as well as provide recreation and educational opportunities to local communities. The reserve is home to the endangered brown pelican, peregrine falcon, hawksbill turtle and West Indian manatee.

Congress enacted the Clean Water Act in 1972 to protect and maintain the integrity of the waters of the United States. It prohibits the discharge of any pollutant and fill material into waters of the United States except when a permit is obtained from the United States.

This case is part of an ongoing investigation into the destruction of wetlands in Puerto Rico. Previously charged individuals include Luis Enrique Rodriguez-Sanchez, sentenced in June; Awildo Jimenez-Mercado sentenced on Sept. 11; and Pedro Luis Bones-Torres, scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 7.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico made the announcement.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI investigated the case, with support from the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Crimes Task Force.

Senior Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth A. Erbe for the District of Puerto Rico are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Note: View the criminal complaint here. 

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, has been charged by a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with firearms charges related to an incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15.

Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and made his initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. A detention hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 23. The investigation remains ongoing.

According to allegations in the criminal complaint, a Secret Service agent walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line. After the agent fired a service weapon in the direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as Routh fleeing the area of the tree line. Routh was later apprehended by officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The complaint alleges that in the area of the tree line from which Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated.

According to the complaint, Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010.

The FBI is leading the ongoing investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Secret Service are providing assistance.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case. 

A criminal complaint 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 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.

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.