Category: Legal Issues

Source: United States Department of Justice

            WASHINGTON – A Maryland man was sentenced in the District of Columbia today on felony and misdemeanor charges related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach. 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.

            Rodney Kenneth Milstreed, 56, of Finksburg, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg to 60 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

            Milstreed pleaded guilty on April 14, 2023, to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon and receipt and possession of an unregistered firearm, both felonies, and assault by striking, beating, or wounding, a misdemeanor.

            During the sentencing hearing, Chief Judge Boasberg found that Milstreed’s conduct warranted a sentencing enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines provision for felony offenses involving terrorism because his crimes were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of the government by intimidation or coercion and to retaliate against government conduct. As part of his plea agreement, Milstreed agreed that this sentencing enhancement applied and agreed that his conduct was, in fact, calculated to influence government action by intimidation and coercion.

            According to court documents, before the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Milstreed planned to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall rally in Washington, D.C., to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. Court documents say that Milstreed attempted to recruit friends to join him at the rally, procured a wooden club, injected steroids for several weeks, and worked out to get “jacked” ahead of January 6th. Milstreed indicated to others that he was prepared to “crack some skulls” at the Capitol.

            On the morning of January 6, Milstreed took the train from his home in Maryland to Washington, D.C., carrying a wooden pick handle, approximately 4 feet long, with a blue “Trump” flag attached. Shortly before 1:00 p.m., Milstreed made his way to the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol and was behind the initial group of rioters who breached the police line at the Pennsylvania Avenue walkway. He then made his way to the front of the crowd at the West Plaza barricade, where he broke through the police line.

            Shortly after 1:00 p.m., Milstreed and a large group of rioters swarmed the Upper West Plaza and attempted to overcome a group of officers who had formed a police line. Between approximately 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., Milstreed engaged with the crowd in an effort to break through the police barriers and eventually succeeded and made his way to the Upper West Terrace within yards of the entrance to the Capitol. During the fighting, Milstreed grabbed and yanked on a bike rack barrier fence the police were using in an attempt to prevent the mob from advancing further toward the Capitol. Milstreed also located a smoke grenade the police had deployed to disburse the crowd and threw it back into the police line.

            While Milstreed was on the Upper West Plaza, shortly after 1:00 p.m., court documents say that he forcibly assaulted a group of U.S. Capitol Police officers by throwing his wooden pick handle, with the flag still attached, into the line of U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers attempting to prevent the crowd from advancing. The pick handle hit a USCP officer and glanced off the officer’s helmet.

            In addition to the assault on police, Milstreed assaulted an Associated Press journalist on the Upper West Plaza. Here, Milstreed took notice of an individual in the crowd dressed in black, wearing a helmet-style gas mask and a lanyard with Associated Press lettering and carrying at least one large professional camera. This individual, a photographer for the Associated Press, was attacked by rioters in the area. Milstreed was one of the first to assault this individual and, in doing so, committed an act of striking, beating, or wounding the victim.

            Specifically, Milstreed grabbed the photographer’s backpack and yanked him down a set of steps to the Lower West Plaza. After the victim stumbled to the bottom of the stairs, Milstreed shoved him and advanced toward him threateningly. Additional rioters surrounded the victim and continued the assault, dragging him through the crowd, grabbing his media identification lanyard and his face and neck.

            After the riot, Milstreed sent messages to friends celebrating his participation in the riot and his assaults on law enforcement and media members. Around 8:00 p.m. that evening, Milstreed told one individual, “We f— them federal cops up. They all ran when we got physical. LMFAO[.]” He then added, “Time for war.”

            Milstreed was arrested on May 24, 2022.

            This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Maryland and Colorado.

            The case was investigated by the FBI’s Baltimore, Denver, and Washington Field Offices. Milstreed was identified by FBI Baltimore as BOLO (Be on the Lookout) #156 on the FBI’s seeking information photos.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.

            In the 32 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,100 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 396 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigations are ongoing.

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice

            WASHINGTON – A government contractor is charged by criminal complaint, unsealed today, with espionage. Abraham Teklu Lemma, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent living in Silver Spring, Maryland, is charged with gathering or delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government; conspiracy to gather or deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government; and having unauthorized possession of national defense information and willfully retaining it.

            The charges were announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

            Lemma worked as an IT administrator for the Department of State, and as a Management Analyst for the Department of Justice. In those positions, Lemma was granted a TOP SECRET security clearance and granted access to classified systems. 

            According to the criminal complaint, between December 19, 2022, and August 7, 2023, Lemma copied classified information from Intelligence Reports and deleted the classification markings from them. Lemma then removed the information, which was classified as SECRET and TOP SECRET, from secure facilities at the Department of State against protocol. The materials related to a specific country and/or geographic region. Lemma accessed, copied, removed, and retained this information without authorization.

            It is further alleged that Lemma used an encrypted application to transmit classified national defense information to a foreign official associated with the specific country’s intelligence service. In these communications, Lemma expressed an interest and willingness to assist the foreign official in providing information. In one communication, the foreign official stated  stated, “[i]t’s time to continue ur support.”  Lemma responded, “Roger that!” In another chat, the foreign official praised Lemma’s efforts, stating “[a]lways this beautiful country have [sic] some special people who scarify [sic] their life to protect our proud history. You always remembered. It doesn’t matter the results.”

            The two espionage charges carry a potential sentence of death or any term of years up to life, and the retention charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years.  A federal judge will determine any sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

            This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

            It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tejpal Chawla and Alexandra Hughes for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Matthew McKenzie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint 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

            WASHINGTON – Isaac Moye, 46, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today by Judge Anthony Epstein to 35 years in prison and five years of supervised release for the second-degree murder of Unique Harris, a 24-year-old woman who went missing from her home in October 2010 and whose body has never been found. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Moye was convicted at trial on June 23, 2023. According to the evidence presented at trial, on October 9, 2010, Unique Harris hosted a sleepover for her young children and their nine-year-old cousin at her home in Southeast Washington, D.C. At approximately 9:30 p.m. that night, Harris put the children to bed. At 10:39 p.m., Isaac Moye, a man she had known for only two months, arrived at her home, calling her on her cell phone just moments before entering her building. The next morning, the three children awoke to find their mother gone. Her cell phone and keys were also missing. Her purse and all its contents, including her identification and credit cards were left behind. The eyeglasses she never left home without were also there in the home. Her sofa had been mutilated, a hole cut in the fabric, a section of foam removed. There was no blood, no sign of struggle. And she was never seen or heard from again. 

            Over the course of the next few years, Isaac Moye was interviewed multiple times by members of the Metropolitan Police Department. He changed his story between interviews – denying, then admitting, then denying that he and Unique Harris had ever been intimate, denying that he had ever been in her home overnight, and denying that he had seen her the day that she went missing. Eventually, Moye’s semen was identified on the mutilated sofa cushion and his GPS records placed him at the decedent’s home for the entire night. Moye also made statements to another person, who testified that Moye said there was a missing girl, but that police were “never going to find her” because he “did it, but did it the right way.” Ms. Harris was reported missing on Oct. 10, 2010. Moye was arrested and charged with the murder on Dec. 19, 2020. He has been in custody ever since.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Vinét Bryant and Erin DeRiso.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Defendant Admitted Violating “Revolving Door” Prohibitions

            WASHINGTON – Richard Gustave Olson, Jr., 63, of Algodones, New Mexico, a former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan and a former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was sentenced today to 36 months’ probation and a fine of $93,350 for two separate courses of conduct, both of which involved misconduct relating to his public office. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada of the Central District of California, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, and Assistant Director in Charge Donald Alway of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

            Olson pleaded guilty on June 3, 2022, in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, to one count of making a false writing and one count of aiding and advising a foreign government with the intent to influence decisions of United States officers.

            Olson served as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan from October 31, 2012, through November 17, 2015, and as U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from November 17, 2015, through his retirement from government service on November 30, 2016. According to court documents, the defendant intentionally submitted a false ethics form that failed to disclose thousands of dollars of benefits he received from a businessman (“Person 1”) while the defendant was serving in government. When later questioned by the FBI concerning some of these benefits, the defendant falsely claimed that he did not know Person 1 paid for them. After the defendant retired from government service, Person 1 began paying him a consulting fee of $20,000 per month. While receiving these payments, the defendant illegally helped the government of Qatar influence U.S. policymakers in violation of laws meant to prevent recent retirees from leveraging their high-level U.S. government service to further foreign interests.

            Given his high-level position in the U.S. government, the defendant was subject to the “revolving door” prohibitions in 18 U.S.C. § 207(f) for one year after leaving government service. Congress enacted these prohibitions to prevent public officials from unfairly profiting from the contacts, associations, and special knowledge that they gained during their tenure as public servants. The phrase “revolving door” describes the practice of public officials abandoning public service for lobbying positions. Prohibitions on this practice, often referred to as mandatory “cooling-off” or “waiting” periods, forbid individuals from engaging in lobbying activities for a period of time after leaving public service. U.S. law prohibits senior officials—like the defendant—from representing a foreign government before any federal agency or from aiding or advising a foreign entity with the intent to influence the U.S. government for one year after leaving their positions. The defendant knowingly violated these prohibitions by providing aid and advice in furtherance of two Qatari goals: (1) convincing U.S. policymakers to establish U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance facilities at Doha International Airport, and (2) convincing U.S. policymakers to support Qatar, rather than its regional rivals, during the 2017 Gulf Diplomatic Crisis. After learning that the government was investigating his activities on behalf of Qatar, the defendant obstructed the government’s investigation by deleting relevant emails.

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. O’Brien of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart D. Allen of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Deputy Chief Evan N. Turgeon of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Source: United States Department of Justice

            WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves released the following statement on the package of bills and initiatives—known as the “Secure DC Plan”—proposed by D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto.  The plan includes the Addressing Crime through Targeted Interventions and Violence Enforcement (ACTIVE) Amendment Act of 2023.

            “I am glad Councilmember Pinto introduced these bills, and I support her plan to improve public safety in the District. These provisions will better enable our office to prosecute cases that are harming our communities and fill legal gaps that will make our residents safer.”

            U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves provides the following additional statement:

            This legislation includes a number of common-sense fixes, such as making clear that being shot is a severe assault that should be treated as the serious bodily injury that it is, and making clear that whether an armed gunman takes your car from you, or forcefully takes your keys from you to steal your car, it is all carjacking. 

            As the community begins to consider this important package, I have noted that the provisions addressing how we better protect our community from gun offenders and those charged with gun offenses who remain in the community have already garnered much attention.  Before discussing those provisions, I want to explain how our system currently operates. In the District, people charged with illegally possessing a firearm are typically released pending trial—even when they have previously been convicted of a felony.  While there is a presumption in the D.C. Code that these individuals will be detained pending trial due to the inherent dangerousness of firearms offenses, most are released.

            Moreover, a majority of the people convicted of carrying a pistol without a license in the District are sentenced to a period of probation, which is permitted under the D.C. Sentencing Guidelines.  Put simply, the typical result of a prosecution for illegally carrying a firearm is that the person charged will be in the community pending the resolution of his or her case and, if convicted of carrying a pistol without a license, will be sentenced to a period of probation. Our criminal justice system needs to reflect the reality that many individuals found with guns are being released back into our community after having served little to no time in jail. 

            This legislation, if enacted, will be narrowly tailored to work to stop people who are given the opportunity to remain in the community despite having been convicted of gun offenses, or people given the opportunity to be released pending trial—notwithstanding a presumption of pretrial detention—from re-arming themselves while they are under supervision.

            This will allow law enforcement to search a limited category of people for—among other things—guns that they are carrying in public places in violation of their conditions of release. This provision recognizes that swift and certain apprehension is an effective deterrent to criminal activity, and draws from research from the U.S. Sentencing Commission showing that people convicted of gun offenses have higher rates of recidivism.

            We have reviewed similar legislation from California and other states, and the court decisions affirming their constitutionality, including decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court.  Based on judicial precedent, we are confident that the legislation complies with the Fourth Amendment, and if this legislation is enacted, we are prepared to defend the statute’s constitutionality in court.