Category: Office of United States Attorneys

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Louisville, KY – A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an indictment on January 8, 2025, charging two local men with trafficking in firearms, distribution of methamphetamine, and illegal possession of firearms.   

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Cincinnati Field Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Sukhjit Bains, 51, was charged with two counts of trafficking in firearms, two counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and one count of illegal possession of a machine gun, specifically, a 3D printed Glock type machinegun conversion device.  A Glock Switch device allows a semi-automatic handgun to function as an automatic and is defined as a machine gun under federal law.  All charges occurred on November 20th and December 12th of 2024. Bains was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

On November 28, 2018, in the United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky, Bains was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

On March 28, 2017, in in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Bains was convicted of wanton endangerment in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance in the first degree-methamphetamine.

Jonathan Ernspiker, 42, was charged with trafficking in firearms, distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. All charges occurred on November 20, 2024. Ernspiker was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

On May 26, 2017, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance in the first degree methamphetamine.

On November 4, 2013, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of fleeing or evading police in the first degree, and manufacturing methamphetamine in the first degree.

On May 3, 2013, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree greater than two grams of methamphetamine.

On October 1, 2008, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of criminal mischief in the first degree.

On January 10th Ernspiker and on January 13th Baines made an initial made initial court appearances before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.   The Court ordered the Ernspiker detained pending trial. Baines has a detention hearing scheduled for tomorrow, January 16th.  If convicted, Bains faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, Ernspiker faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is being investigated by the ATF, LMPD, DEA, and IRS-CI.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua R. Porter is prosecuting this case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This case was prosecuted under the new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Congress enacted and the President signed in June 2022. The Act is the first federal statute specifically designed to target the unlawful trafficking and straw-purchasing of firearms.

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

###

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Louisville, KY – A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an indictment on January 8, 2025, charging two local men with trafficking in firearms, distribution of methamphetamine, and illegal possession of firearms.   

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Cincinnati Field Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Sukhjit Bains, 51, was charged with two counts of trafficking in firearms, two counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and one count of illegal possession of a machine gun, specifically, a 3D printed Glock type machinegun conversion device.  A Glock Switch device allows a semi-automatic handgun to function as an automatic and is defined as a machine gun under federal law.  All charges occurred on November 20th and December 12th of 2024. Bains was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

On November 28, 2018, in the United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky, Bains was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

On March 28, 2017, in in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Bains was convicted of wanton endangerment in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance in the first degree-methamphetamine.

Jonathan Ernspiker, 42, was charged with trafficking in firearms, distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. All charges occurred on November 20, 2024. Ernspiker was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

On May 26, 2017, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance in the first degree methamphetamine.

On November 4, 2013, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of fleeing or evading police in the first degree, and manufacturing methamphetamine in the first degree.

On May 3, 2013, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree greater than two grams of methamphetamine.

On October 1, 2008, in Bullitt County Circuit Court, Ernspiker was convicted of criminal mischief in the first degree.

On January 10th Ernspiker and on January 13th Baines made an initial made initial court appearances before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.   The Court ordered the Ernspiker detained pending trial. Baines has a detention hearing scheduled for tomorrow, January 16th.  If convicted, Bains faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, Ernspiker faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is being investigated by the ATF, LMPD, DEA, and IRS-CI.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua R. Porter is prosecuting this case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This case was prosecuted under the new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Congress enacted and the President signed in June 2022. The Act is the first federal statute specifically designed to target the unlawful trafficking and straw-purchasing of firearms.

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

###

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Investigation resulted in what is believed to be one of the largest single-location seizures of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Massachusetts and the region

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Investigation resulted in what is believed to be one of the largest single-location seizures of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Massachusetts and the region

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

GREAT FALLS — A federal judge today sentenced a Browning man to 13 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for sexually abusing a child on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and for sending sexually explicit photographs of himself to minors, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Treston Lane Kickingwoman, 29, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of abusive sexual contact and two counts of transfer of obscene material to a minor.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that in 2022, the victim, Jane Doe 1, disclosed to law enforcement that when she was about six years old, in 2014 or 2015, Kickingwoman sexually abused her one time. While staying at a house in Browning, Kickingwoman laid down on the bed by her and sexually abused her. Kickingwoman stopped when another person started moving in the room.

Nearly a decade later, in March 2024, an FBI online covert employee with a fictitious persona as a juvenile began communicating on Facebook with Kickingwoman. Kickingwoman sent the persona explicit pictures and videos of his genitalia and solicited sexually explicit pictures from her. During a search of Kickingwoman’s Facebook account, law enforcement discovered that Kickingwoman had sent pictures of his nude genitalia to dozens of separate Facebook accounts. Investigators identified two Facebook accounts for juvenile girls, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3, who were living on the Blackfeet Reservation. Law enforcement interviewed both girls, who confirmed that they had messaged with Kickingwoman on Facebook Messenger in the summer of 2023, when they were 12 years old and that they told him they were 13. Kickingwoman sent both girls pictures of his nude genitalia and solicited sexually explicit pictures from them. Jane Doe 2 provided the requested photographs to Kickingwoman through his Facebook account.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI conducted the investigation.

XXX

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

GREAT FALLS — A federal judge today sentenced a Browning man to 13 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for sexually abusing a child on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and for sending sexually explicit photographs of himself to minors, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Treston Lane Kickingwoman, 29, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of abusive sexual contact and two counts of transfer of obscene material to a minor.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that in 2022, the victim, Jane Doe 1, disclosed to law enforcement that when she was about six years old, in 2014 or 2015, Kickingwoman sexually abused her one time. While staying at a house in Browning, Kickingwoman laid down on the bed by her and sexually abused her. Kickingwoman stopped when another person started moving in the room.

Nearly a decade later, in March 2024, an FBI online covert employee with a fictitious persona as a juvenile began communicating on Facebook with Kickingwoman. Kickingwoman sent the persona explicit pictures and videos of his genitalia and solicited sexually explicit pictures from her. During a search of Kickingwoman’s Facebook account, law enforcement discovered that Kickingwoman had sent pictures of his nude genitalia to dozens of separate Facebook accounts. Investigators identified two Facebook accounts for juvenile girls, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3, who were living on the Blackfeet Reservation. Law enforcement interviewed both girls, who confirmed that they had messaged with Kickingwoman on Facebook Messenger in the summer of 2023, when they were 12 years old and that they told him they were 13. Kickingwoman sent both girls pictures of his nude genitalia and solicited sexually explicit pictures from them. Jane Doe 2 provided the requested photographs to Kickingwoman through his Facebook account.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI conducted the investigation.

XXX

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

TYLER, Texas – A former Texas hospital chief executive officer has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.

Jeffrey Paul Madison, 49, of Burnet, Texas; Susan L. Hertzberg, 66, of New York, New York; Matthew John Theiler, 58, of Pinehurst, North Carolina; David Weldon Kraus, 66, of Maryville, Tennessee; and Thomas Gray Hardaway, 52, of San Antonio, Texas, were found guilty by a jury on November 30, 2023, following a seven-week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.

Madison was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison by Judge Kernodle on January 15, 2025.  Madison also agreed to pay $5,343,630 to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act involving illegal payments to physicians for laboratory referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

On November 20, 2024, Theiler was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $75,000 fine.  On December 5, 2024, Kraus was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. 

On January 12, 2022, Hertzberg, Theiler, Kraus, Hardaway, and Madison, as well as Jeffrey Paul Parnell, 56, of Tyler; Laura Spain Howard, 50, of Lucas; Todd Dean Cook, 59, Ocala, Florida; William Todd Hickman, 61, of Anna; Christopher Roland Gonzales, 48, of Fairview; Ruben Daniel Marioni, 40, of Spring; Jordan Joseph Perkins, 40, of Conroe; Elizabeth Ruth Seymour, 42, of Corinth; Linh Ba Nguyen, 60, of Dallas; Thuy Ngoc Nguyen, 56, of Dallas; Joseph Gil Bolin, of Dallas; Heriberto Salinas, 64, of Dallas; and Hong Davis, 57, of Copper Canyon, were indicted for conspiring to commit illegal remunerations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs.  The defendants were charged for their roles in a conspiracy through which physicians were incentivized to make referrals to rural hospitals and an affiliated lab in exchange for kickbacks which were disguised as investment returns; and in which marketers were incentivized to arrange for or recommend the ordering of services from rural hospitals and an affiliated lab.

Two rural Texas hospitals, Little River Healthcare (LRH) based in Rockdale, and Stamford Memorial Hospital based in Stamford, partnered with Boston Heart Diagnostics (BHD), a clinical laboratory based in Framingham, Massachusetts, that specialized in advanced cardiovascular lipid testing.  For a fee, BHD processed the blood tests while the hospitals billed the tests to insurers as hospital outpatient services, with the hospitals charging insurers a much higher rate than BHD could receive as a clinical laboratory.  The hospitals utilized a network of marketers who in turn operated management services organizations (MSOs) that offered investment opportunities to physicians throughout the State of Texas.  In reality, the MSOs were simply a means to facilitate payments to physicians in return for the physicians’ laboratory referrals.  Pursuant to the kickback scheme, the hospitals paid a portion of their laboratory revenues to marketers, who in turn kicked back a portion of those funds to the referring physicians who ordered BHD tests from the hospitals or from BHD directly.  BHD executives and sales force personnel leveraged the MSO kickbacks to gain and increase referrals and, in turn, to increase their revenues, bonuses, and commissions.

Parnell, Howard, Cook, Hickman, Gonzales, Marioni, Perkins, Seymour, Thuy Nguyen, Salinas, and Davis pleaded guilty prior to trial.

In January 2022, Robert O’Neal, 66, of Beaumont, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit illegal remunerations, in violation of Anti-Kickback Statute, and to conspiracy to commit money laundering.  His role in the kickback conspiracy was to arrange for physician referrals and recommend the ordering of services to the rural hospitals and BHD.  O’Neal also had kickback proceeds laundered on his behalf and, at various times, obtained proceeds from the kickback conspiracy.

In July 2023, Peter J. Bennett, of Houston, was convicted of money laundering conspiracy, money transmitting conspiracy, and perjury.  According to information presented in court, Bennett created sham trusts and shell corporations through which he laundered at least $2,724,080.41 in healthcare kickback proceeds.  Bennett used his law firm’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA), operating account, and a personal bank account to launder and transmit the kickback proceeds.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remunerations in exchange for the referral of or arranging for or recommending the ordering of items or services payable under federal health care programs.  Under federal statutes, violations of the Anti-Kickback statute are punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Defense – Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Commerce – Export Enforcement.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrian Garcia, Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld, Lucas Machicek, and Robert Austin Wells.

###

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

TYLER, Texas – A former Texas hospital chief executive officer has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.

Jeffrey Paul Madison, 49, of Burnet, Texas; Susan L. Hertzberg, 66, of New York, New York; Matthew John Theiler, 58, of Pinehurst, North Carolina; David Weldon Kraus, 66, of Maryville, Tennessee; and Thomas Gray Hardaway, 52, of San Antonio, Texas, were found guilty by a jury on November 30, 2023, following a seven-week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.

Madison was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison by Judge Kernodle on January 15, 2025.  Madison also agreed to pay $5,343,630 to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act involving illegal payments to physicians for laboratory referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

On November 20, 2024, Theiler was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $75,000 fine.  On December 5, 2024, Kraus was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. 

On January 12, 2022, Hertzberg, Theiler, Kraus, Hardaway, and Madison, as well as Jeffrey Paul Parnell, 56, of Tyler; Laura Spain Howard, 50, of Lucas; Todd Dean Cook, 59, Ocala, Florida; William Todd Hickman, 61, of Anna; Christopher Roland Gonzales, 48, of Fairview; Ruben Daniel Marioni, 40, of Spring; Jordan Joseph Perkins, 40, of Conroe; Elizabeth Ruth Seymour, 42, of Corinth; Linh Ba Nguyen, 60, of Dallas; Thuy Ngoc Nguyen, 56, of Dallas; Joseph Gil Bolin, of Dallas; Heriberto Salinas, 64, of Dallas; and Hong Davis, 57, of Copper Canyon, were indicted for conspiring to commit illegal remunerations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs.  The defendants were charged for their roles in a conspiracy through which physicians were incentivized to make referrals to rural hospitals and an affiliated lab in exchange for kickbacks which were disguised as investment returns; and in which marketers were incentivized to arrange for or recommend the ordering of services from rural hospitals and an affiliated lab.

Two rural Texas hospitals, Little River Healthcare (LRH) based in Rockdale, and Stamford Memorial Hospital based in Stamford, partnered with Boston Heart Diagnostics (BHD), a clinical laboratory based in Framingham, Massachusetts, that specialized in advanced cardiovascular lipid testing.  For a fee, BHD processed the blood tests while the hospitals billed the tests to insurers as hospital outpatient services, with the hospitals charging insurers a much higher rate than BHD could receive as a clinical laboratory.  The hospitals utilized a network of marketers who in turn operated management services organizations (MSOs) that offered investment opportunities to physicians throughout the State of Texas.  In reality, the MSOs were simply a means to facilitate payments to physicians in return for the physicians’ laboratory referrals.  Pursuant to the kickback scheme, the hospitals paid a portion of their laboratory revenues to marketers, who in turn kicked back a portion of those funds to the referring physicians who ordered BHD tests from the hospitals or from BHD directly.  BHD executives and sales force personnel leveraged the MSO kickbacks to gain and increase referrals and, in turn, to increase their revenues, bonuses, and commissions.

Parnell, Howard, Cook, Hickman, Gonzales, Marioni, Perkins, Seymour, Thuy Nguyen, Salinas, and Davis pleaded guilty prior to trial.

In January 2022, Robert O’Neal, 66, of Beaumont, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit illegal remunerations, in violation of Anti-Kickback Statute, and to conspiracy to commit money laundering.  His role in the kickback conspiracy was to arrange for physician referrals and recommend the ordering of services to the rural hospitals and BHD.  O’Neal also had kickback proceeds laundered on his behalf and, at various times, obtained proceeds from the kickback conspiracy.

In July 2023, Peter J. Bennett, of Houston, was convicted of money laundering conspiracy, money transmitting conspiracy, and perjury.  According to information presented in court, Bennett created sham trusts and shell corporations through which he laundered at least $2,724,080.41 in healthcare kickback proceeds.  Bennett used his law firm’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA), operating account, and a personal bank account to launder and transmit the kickback proceeds.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remunerations in exchange for the referral of or arranging for or recommending the ordering of items or services payable under federal health care programs.  Under federal statutes, violations of the Anti-Kickback statute are punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Defense – Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Commerce – Export Enforcement.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrian Garcia, Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld, Lucas Machicek, and Robert Austin Wells.

###

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

            WASHINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges against two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers for their role in a September 1, 2024, fatal shooting of Justin Robinson, 25.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the MPD’s Internal Affair’s Division conducted a comprehensive review of the incident. This included a review of physical evidence, surveillance video footage, body-worn camera footage, audio and visual recordings from nearby video cameras, witness accounts, autopsy records, and MPD reports.

            On September 1, 2024, at about 5:20 a.m., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers received a radio run for a vehicle that had crashed into the side of the McDonald’s located at 2529 Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast D.C. MPD Officers and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Service (DCFEMS) members responded to the scene and observed an unresponsive individual, later identified as Justin Robinson, sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Mr. Robinson had been sitting inside his car in the drive-thru of the McDonald’s, unresponsive, for around an hour before it moved forward and crashed into the building. When the MPD Officers arrived, they observed a firearm in plain view in Mr. Robinson’s lap.

            As the officers were devising a plan to remove the firearm from the vehicle, Mr. Robinson woke up, prompting multiple officers to scream at Mr. Robinson to put his hands up and not to touch the gun. As an MPD officer reached into the car and attempted to retrieve the gun from Mr. Robinson’s lap, a struggle ensued, during which Mr. Robinson refused to relinquish control of his own gun and grabbed the firearm of that MPD Officer. MPD officers instructed Mr. Robinson to take his hand off the gun. After this warning, as Mr. Robinson continued to struggle, two MPD officers discharged a total of 11 rounds from their service pistols at Mr. Robinson, striking him.

            After Mr. Robinson was struck by the MPD Officers’ discharged rounds, the officers safely removed Mr. Robinson’s firearm, removed Mr. Robinson from the vehicle, and immediately began resuscitation efforts. Although DCFEMS took over the life-saving efforts, Mr. Robinson was pronounced dead on the scene. 

            After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the MPD Officers were criminally liable for Mr. Robinson’s death.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are investigated fully and completely. MPD’s Internal Affairs Division investigates all police-involved fatalities in the District of Columbia.

##

 

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

            WASHINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges against two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers for their role in a September 1, 2024, fatal shooting of Justin Robinson, 25.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the MPD’s Internal Affair’s Division conducted a comprehensive review of the incident. This included a review of physical evidence, surveillance video footage, body-worn camera footage, audio and visual recordings from nearby video cameras, witness accounts, autopsy records, and MPD reports.

            On September 1, 2024, at about 5:20 a.m., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers received a radio run for a vehicle that had crashed into the side of the McDonald’s located at 2529 Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast D.C. MPD Officers and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Service (DCFEMS) members responded to the scene and observed an unresponsive individual, later identified as Justin Robinson, sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Mr. Robinson had been sitting inside his car in the drive-thru of the McDonald’s, unresponsive, for around an hour before it moved forward and crashed into the building. When the MPD Officers arrived, they observed a firearm in plain view in Mr. Robinson’s lap.

            As the officers were devising a plan to remove the firearm from the vehicle, Mr. Robinson woke up, prompting multiple officers to scream at Mr. Robinson to put his hands up and not to touch the gun. As an MPD officer reached into the car and attempted to retrieve the gun from Mr. Robinson’s lap, a struggle ensued, during which Mr. Robinson refused to relinquish control of his own gun and grabbed the firearm of that MPD Officer. MPD officers instructed Mr. Robinson to take his hand off the gun. After this warning, as Mr. Robinson continued to struggle, two MPD officers discharged a total of 11 rounds from their service pistols at Mr. Robinson, striking him.

            After Mr. Robinson was struck by the MPD Officers’ discharged rounds, the officers safely removed Mr. Robinson’s firearm, removed Mr. Robinson from the vehicle, and immediately began resuscitation efforts. Although DCFEMS took over the life-saving efforts, Mr. Robinson was pronounced dead on the scene. 

            After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the MPD Officers were criminally liable for Mr. Robinson’s death.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are investigated fully and completely. MPD’s Internal Affairs Division investigates all police-involved fatalities in the District of Columbia.

##