Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama, returned an indictment today charging a Shelby County chiropractor with tax evasion, filing false tax returns and obstructing the IRS.

According to the indictment, Gary Forrest Edwards, of Shelby County, was a chiropractor and owned Hoover Health & Wellness Center. In 2015, Edwards allegedly agreed to file missing income tax returns for 2009 through 2013 with the IRS. The indictment further alleges that Edwards — despite filing the returns as agreed and accurately reporting millions of dollars in income — did not pay any of the $2.4 million in taxes he reported he owed.

When the IRS began trying to collect the unpaid taxes in 2015, and continuing until 2023, Edwards allegedly tried to impede the IRS’ collection efforts by transferring assets to his wife, submitting false information to the IRS about his assets, filing false tax returns and making false statements to IRS investigators. He also allegedly filed documents with a local court falsely claiming that Notices of Federal Tax Lien filed against him by the IRS him had been terminated.

If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the tax evasion charge and three years in prison for the obstruction charge and each charge of filing a false tax return. 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 Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Isaiah Boyd of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Canter for the Northern District of Alabama are prosecuting the case.

An indictment 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 Kansas man pleaded guilty today to two counts of interference with federally-protected activities, two counts of interstate threats and one count of interference with housing.

Austin Schoemann, 30, of Wichita, admitted during his plea hearing that, on July 27, 2022, he brandished a firearm and used racial slurs in order to threaten two Black juveniles while they were entering a QuikTrip gasoline station, and that he also used his firearm to threaten a Black adult who intervened to support the juveniles.

“This defendant committed serious hate crimes when he used guns and death threats to terrorize two Black children and an adult who came to their aid,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The defendant’s hate-fueled crime spree continued when he made threats to a white woman and her family that he would shoot and kill any Black person visiting her home. Racially-motivated threats and violence, in any form, are unacceptable in our society. The Justice Department is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws to protect crime victims targeted because of race.”

“Racially based violence and threats of violence should never be tolerated. This reprehensible behavior is illegal and subject to federal criminal prosecution,” said U.S. Attorney Kate E. Brubacher for the District of Kansas. “The Justice Department will defend civil rights and prosecute anyone who harasses and threatens people based on their race.”

“There is no place for race-based violence in the state of Kansas,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus of the FBI Kansas City Field Office. “Every individual is entitled to the fundamental right to live their lives without fear and intimidation based solely on their race. Today’s plea underscores the FBI’s commitment to investigating and preventing racially motivated crimes. These crimes have a wide-ranging impact and the FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, have no tolerance for these types of threats.”

Schoemann also acknowledged that, beginning in January 2022 and continuing through August 2022, he interfered with the federally protected housing rights of a white woman by making threats to hurt or kill any Black people who visited her home. Schoemann further admitted that he sent videos and messages to the woman’s family members and others in which he repeatedly threatened to shoot and kill Black people. 

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Schoemann faces a penalty of 63 to 84 months in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Kansas City Field Office and Wichita Police investigated the case. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith for the District of Kansas and Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A Maryland man was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison for coercion and enticement of a minor.

According to court documents, beginning as early as 2011, Paul Francis Blaisse, 65, of Walkersville, engaged in live video chats on the internet with minor children who were engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Blaisse sent nearly 100,000 messages to hundreds of individuals on video chat sites who offered access to minor children via webcam. During these chats, Blaisse discussed his sexual interest in children and distributed child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The Frederick County, Maryland, Sheriff’s Office identified Blaisse after receiving a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual using an IP address associated with Blaisse’s residence uploaded CSAM to a video chat account.

In October 2018, Blaisse used Skype, an online video chat application, to entice a minor child in the Philippines to engage in sexually explicit conduct. Blaisse used screen recording software to create CSAM. Records of Blaisse’s Skype activity show that he communicated with an adult in the Philippines who arranged for the minor child to participate in a video chat with Blaisse. FBI agents interviewed the minor child, who stated that the person paid them to do a sexually explicit show on Skype for a “foreigner.” In addition to these chats, Blaisse’s electronic devices contained hundreds of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including prepubescent minors.

Blaisse was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to pay over $83,000 in restitution to his victims. After his release from prison, Blaisse will be required to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland; State’s Attorney J. Charles Smith III of Frederick County; and Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the FBI Baltimore Field Office made the announcement.

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, and Justice Department’s High Technology Investigative Unit investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Eduardo Palomo of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Aubin for the District of Maryland, and Chief Counsel Joyce King of the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.

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 Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 Criminal Division

Over the past several years, the Justice Department has focused on breaking apart every link in the global fentanyl supply chain – from China to Mexico to the United States.

Since the beginning of 2021, the Justice Department has:

• Extradited over 50 cartel members from Mexico to the United States; and
• Charged a dozen Chinese chemical companies and two dozen of their executives for shipping fentanyl precursor chemicals into Mexico and the United States.

This effort has been spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States’ lead counter-narcotic law enforcement agency.

In 2024 alone, the DEA has:

• Seized over 30 million fentanyl pills and over 4,100 pounds of fentanyl powder, which represents over 208 million deadly doses; and
• Arrested over 2,100 individuals for fentanyl related charges working with its law enforcement partners.

As Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has said, “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.” 

Arresting and prosecuting cartel leaders, members, and their associates:

• In April 2023, the Justice Department announced charges against several leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, a transnational drug trafficking organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico, and its facilitators across the globe. 
• In October 2023, the Justice Department announced the extradition of Ovidio Guzman Lopez, son of Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo, from Mexico to the United States.
• In April 2024, the Justice Department charged 41 individuals in a 50-count indictment alleging cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and meth trafficking and related crimes, all operating under the control of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (the Jalisco Cartel or CJNG).
• In May 2024, the Justice Department announced the extradition of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as El Nini, who the Department alleges was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins.
• In May 2024, the Justice Department announced the extradition of Francisco Pulido after he allegedly supplied the Jalisco Cartel with precursor chemicals used to manufacture controlled substances.
• In July 2024, the Attorney General announced the arrests of alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo) and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another son of El Chapo. Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks. El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States.
• In the course of the investigation into the Chapitos network, the FBI and the DEA have arrested several high-profile targets, and the DEA has conducted operations in 10 countries and seized staggering amounts of illicit materials, including over 2.5 million fentanyl-laced pills, 105 kilograms of fentanyl powder, and 37 kilograms of fentanyl precursor chemicals, amounting to 22,747,441 potentially lethal doses.

Disrupting the chemical precursor supply chain:

• The Justice Department, DEA, and FBI have and will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute every link in the fentanyl supply chain, including the chemical companies and executives in the People’s Republic of China supplying the ingredients used to make this deadly drug.
• On Oct. 3, 2023, the Justice Department announced the unsealing of eight indictments charging China-based companies and their employees with crimes relating to fentanyl and methamphetamine production, distribution of synthetic opioids, and sales resulting from precursor chemicals. 
• In February 2024, the Department obtained a nearly 19-year sentence of a defendant responsible for importing tons of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into Mexico as part of the Jalisco Cartel’s fentanyl trafficking operations.
• In May 2024, the Department extradited another of CJNG’s alleged key chemical suppliers.
• In June 2024, the Justice Department announced a 10-count superseding indictment following a multi-year investigation, named “Operation Fortune Runner,” charging associates of the Sinaloa Cartel with conspiring with money laundering groups linked to Chinese underground banking to launder drug trafficking proceeds. Following the Department’s announcement, China and Mexico took law enforcement actions to arrest fugitives named in the indictment who fled the United States after they were initially charged last year.

Additional actions to counter fentanyl’s fatal impact:

• Over the past year, the Justice Department has convicted dozens of defendants of distributing fentanyl that resulted in the death of the victim, leading courts to impose lengthy terms of incarceration on these drug dealers, including:
• DEA started Operation OD Justice to devote resources to fatal poisoning investigations and provide training to federal, state, and local partners. DEA created Fentanyl Overdose Response Teams in 22 offices across the United States; the teams provide investigative support to fatal poisoning investigations. Every DEA division also has an Overdose Response Coordinator for DEA’s federal, state, and local partners. Since 2023, DEA has worked over 350 poisoning investigations with partners.
• DEA has launched the “One Pill Can Kill” enforcement effort and public awareness campaign. DEA and law enforcement partners have seized millions of fake illicit fentanyl-laced prescription pills and hundreds of pounds of illicit fentanyl powder — millions of potentially lethal doses. In 2024, DEA expanded the One Pill Can Kill public awareness campaign to include a partnership with the NFL Alumni Health Association and launching the One Pill Can Kill Game Over esports tournament.

Targeting criminal enterprises on the Darknet:

• The Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team is a Justice Department initiative led by the FBI with a mission to target and disrupt criminal enterprises utilizing the Darknet or online platforms to facilitate drug trafficking, specifically opioids. JCODE led Operation SpecTor, a coordinated international law enforcement effort that resulted in 288 arrests and the seizure of 117 firearms, 850 kilograms of drugs, and $53.4 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
• JCODE’s successes include the arrest of an individual operating under the name “Redlightlabs,” who sold approximately 3,800 drug transactions between May-Nov 2022, totaling over 123,000 potentially lethal fentanyl pills, approximately 20 pounds of methamphetamine, and other illicit narcotics. After the FBI arrested the subject, a review of buyer data identified 15 drug overdose victims who purchased fentanyl-laced pills from “Redlightlabs.”

Building partnerships to combat transnational organized crime:

• The DEA is combating the availability of illegal pill presses by working with online retailers to educate them about the sale of pill presses and components used in the production of deadly fake pills. In February 2024, DEA issued a letter to e-commerce companies regarding their responsibility as regulated entities to comply with the recordkeeping, identification, and reporting requirements of the Controlled Substances Act as it relates to the distribution, importation, and exportation of pill press equipment.
• The FBI has dedicated additional resources to combat transnational organized crime on the front lines throughout Mexico and South and Central America, where the threat is emanating. Assistant Legal Attaches work with international partners to further investigations with U.S interests. The FBI also expands its presence in Mexico through Border Liaison Officers, a dedicated team of agents positioned in FBI Offices along the southwest border with unique authority to routinely work matters of U.S interests in Mexico. The FBI also works with nearly 3,000 task force officers across almost 300 task forces engaged in combating gangs and criminal enterprises that drive the fentanyl crisis.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) continues to work to choke off cartels’ access to weapons through Operation Southbound, the Department’s signature initiative to disrupt the trafficking of firearms from the United States to Mexico.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Jordan Guy MacDonald Goudreau, 48, of Melbourne, Florida, and Yacsy Alexandra Alvarez, 43, of Tampa, Florida, were arrested yesterday pursuant to a now-unsealed indictment charging them with conspiracy to violate export laws, smuggling goods from the United States, violating the Arms Export Control Act, and violating the Export Control Reform Act. The indictment also charges Goudreau with violating the National Firearms Act and unlawful possession of machineguns.

According to court documents, beginning in November 2019, Goudreau, Alvarez and others conspired to export AR-type firearms, night vision devices, laser sights and other equipment from the United States to Colombia, without obtaining the required export licenses. These unlicensed exports were undertaken to carry out activities in Venezuela. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Goudreau, Alvarez and their co-conspirators procured firearms and military-related equipment through Goudreau’s Melbourne-based company, Silvercorp, and exported those items to Colombia, where some of the items were seized by the Colombia National Police. The indictment further alleges that Goudreau unlawfully possessed machineguns and unregistered silencers.

If convicted, Goudreau and Alvarez face the following maximum penalties: five years in prison for conspiracy, 10 years in prison for smuggling, 20 years in prison for violations of export control laws, and 10 years in prison for each violation of the National Firearms Act and unlawful possession of a machinegun. The indictment also notifies Goudreau and Alvarez that the United States intends to forfeit firearms and other military equipment, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offense.

The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Risha Asokan and Daniel J. Marcet for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Menno Goedman and Emma Ellenrieder of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.