Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Florida woman pleaded guilty today to filing false tax returns with the IRS to fraudulently obtain tax refunds. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, between 2018 and 2020, surgical technologist Yolanda Dewar, of Sunrise, created a trust and sought fraudulent refunds from the IRS. Dewar filed four false tax returns on behalf of the trust she created to seek nearly $2 million in tax refunds. Dewar continued filing such returns even after the IRS notified her that her claims were frivolous and had no basis in law. In total, the IRS issued nearly $500,000 to the trust in response to Dewar’s false claims. According to the indictment, Dewar allegedly used a portion of those tax refunds to purchase a car for a family member, get plastic surgery and renovate her home.

Dewar is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 24. She faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison, a period of supervised 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 U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Melissa S. Siskind and Kavitha Bondada of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An Ohio man pleaded guilty today to not paying more than $750,000 in employment taxes and not filing employment tax returns. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2014 through 2020, Eric Moesle, of Pickerington, served as the office manager for Elemental Dental in Pataskala, Ohio. At Elemental Dental, Moesle was responsible for payroll, bookkeeping and tax return preparation. 

During that period, at Moesle’s direction and with his full knowledge, Elemental Dental was withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from its employees’ wages, which were reflected on paystubs and Forms W-2 issued to employees. However, from 2014 through 2020, Elemental Dental did not pay over those taxes to the IRS nor did it file employment tax returns. During the same period, the business also failed to pay over the employer’s share of those taxes. When interviewed by IRS representatives in 2022, Moesle falsely claimed that he did not know that the employment taxes had not been paid and that Elemental Dental’s employment tax returns and Forms W-2 had not been filed, and falsely stated that any such failures or omissions were unintentional. 

In all, Moesle’s criminal conduct caused a tax loss to the IRS of $760,255.

The plea was offered today to U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King for the Southern District of Ohio. Once accepted by a U.S. district court judge, a sentencing date will be set. Moesle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a period of supervised release 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 U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. 

Trial Attorneys Hayter Whitman and Jeffrey McLellan of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A former executive of a steel distributor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with competitors to fix prices for sales of reinforcing bar, or rebar.

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in San Juan, Juan Carlos Aponte Tolentino (Aponte), of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was Interim President of a steel distributor in Puerto Rico. The company was one of the leading wholesale distributors of rebar in Puerto Rico. Rebar is commonly required for residential and commercial construction projects on the island, and nearly all rebar distributed in Puerto Rico is imported from other countries or the continental U.S. Collectively, Aponte’s company and two other competitors controlled approximately 70% of the wholesale rebar market in the Commonwealth.

Between 2015 and 2022, including the period of reconstruction following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, Aponte conspired with competing companies and individuals to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices for steel products, including rebar, which were distributed to hardware stores, building contractors and other businesses and individuals in Puerto Rico, resulting in substantial profits to the conspirators.

Among other communications, Aponte and his competitors exchanged WhatsApp chat messages in which they agreed on specific rebar prices, including price increases. For example, in December 2020 an executive at a competing company sent Aponte a chat message with the price of Turkish rebar, and Aponte responded, “The position is the following: Platform $33.95, 10 bundles $34.50, Fewer than 10 bundles: $34.95” before asking, “The question is are we on the same page?” The competing executive responded, “Yes, that is what I am doing.”

In the plea agreement filed today, Aponte admitted that more than $100 million in sales by his company were affected by the conspiracy.

“In pleading guilty, this defendant admitted to fixing prices — for nearly a decade — on rebar, an essential part of the supply chain for the reconstruction of Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricanes,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Manish Kumar of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “This guilty plea demonstrates the Antitrust Division’s continued commitment to holding accountable individuals who collude to raise construction prices and harm consumers and businesses in Puerto Rico. We and our law enforcement partners will continue to prosecute the people responsible for this type of anticompetitive criminal conduct.”

“We are satisfied with the outcome in this case as it sends a clear message that price-fixing and taking advantage of communities in crisis will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzalez of the FBI San Juan Field Office. “In the FBI, we remain committed to disrupting this illegal practice and bringing justice for all those affected by such unethical practices.”

Violating the Sherman Act, which is a federal criminal antitrust statute, is a felony. The maximum penalty for individuals convicted of violating the Sherman Act is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The maximum penalty for corporations is a $100 million criminal fine. The fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

The court set Aponte’s sentencing hearing for Nov. 8. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal Section investigated the case, with the assistance of the FBI San Juan Field Office.

Trial Attorneys April Ayers-Perez, Alison Friberg and Taylor Bernhardt of the Washington Criminal Section, and Senior Litigation Counsel John Davis of the Antitrust Division’s Litigation Program, are prosecuting the case.

Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A former detention officer with the Fulton County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for intentionally depriving a detained woman of her civil rights by using unreasonable force.

Monique Clark, 32, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, pleaded guilty last March to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. According to court documents, Clark strangled a handcuffed arrestee into unconsciousness while processing her for intake at the Fulton County North Annex Jail. As part of his plea, Clark admitted that he knew the woman posed no threat to officers and knew that Sheriff’s Office policy prohibited placing detainees in chokeholds or neck restraints except in life-or-death situations.

“This defendant’s violent assault on a handcuffed arrestee rendered her unconscious and is simply inexcusable,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “As we have seen too many times, chokeholds and neck restraints can prove deadly. Using high-level force against a person in custody who poses no threat is plainly illegal, but using such a dangerous technique gratuitously is especially disturbing. The Justice Department is committed to holding law enforcement officers accountable for use of excessive force and to protecting the rights of people in custody.”

“Instead of carrying out his mission to ensure the safety and security of detainees in his custody at the Fulton County Jail, Clark abandoned his oath of office when he used excessive force to strangle a pre-trial detainee without cause,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Law enforcement officers who violate their professional duties are not above the law. It is now Clark who will serve time in prison as a result of his reprehensible conduct.”

“Mr. Clark took a sworn oath as a detention officer to uphold the rights of others,” said Executive Assistant Director Michael A. Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. “He violated that oath when he abused and strangled a female inmate. Today’s sentencing is a reminder that the FBI will relentlessly work to hold accountable anyone who takes an oath to protect others.”

The FBI Atlanta Field Office and Fulton County Sheriff’s Office’s Office of Professional Standards investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret Hobson for the Northern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Alec Ward of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Northridge Construction Corporation was sentenced today in federal court for violating a worker safety standard, which caused the death of one of its employees, and for making two false statements obstructing a federal agency’s subsequent investigation.

U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrack for the Eastern District of New York sentenced Northridge to pay a fine of $100,000 and serve a five-year term of probation, which will require, among other conditions, increased safety training for Northridge employees. The company pleaded guilty in January.

According to court records, in December 2018, during the construction of a shed on Northridge’s property in East Patchogue, New York, one of its employees fell from an improperly secured roof and died. Among other worker safety standards, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require always maintaining the stability of a metal structure during construction. An investigation revealed that Northridge failed to adhere to the structural stability standard, and that Northridge employees made false statements to obstruct the ensuing federal inquiry into the death. Northridge supervisor Richard Zagger pleaded guilty in July to related charges and is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 16.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) made the announcement.

The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.

Senior Trial Attorneys Daniel Dooher and Richard J. Powers and Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case.