Category: Office of United States Attorneys

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

            WASHINGTON – Gianni Saunders, 21, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty today of the May 24, 2023, armed carjacking of a handyman as the victim exited his car in the 2800 block of Denver Street SE, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith.  

            Following a week-long trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the jury found Saunders guilty of armed carjacking, armed robbery, and two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. The Honorable Errol Arthur scheduled sentencing for April 10, 2024.  At sentencing, Saunders faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 1:24 pm on May 24, 2023, the victim pulled up to the 2800 block of Denver Street SE to make repairs inside a residential building. Saunders, armed with a handgun with an extended magazine, demanded the victim’s car keys.  Saunders then drove off in the victim’s black Honda Civic. Police apprehended Saunders two days later when Forest Heights, Maryland, police officers attempted a traffic stop of the stolen car. Saunders led police on a high-speed chase before causing a multi-car crash. Police pulled Saunders from the driver’s seat after the crash and recovered a handgun with an extended magazine from the car, along with the victim’s identification documents. The police investigation uncovered surveillance video that showed Saunders parking the stolen car at his residence hours after the carjacking; Saunders’ appearance and clothing were consistent with the victim’s description of the carjacker. The government also introduced DNA evidence, which linked Saunders to the handgun.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. Invaluable assistance was provided by the Forest Heights Police Department from the inception of the case through trial. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Gimenez and Iris McCranie of the Major Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

 

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Jackson, Miss. – A McComb man pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to court documents, on April 1, 2021, Norkeithus Malik Reed, 24, was found in possession of a firearm when Brookhaven Police officers responded to a complaint at an area restaurant where Reed was causing a disturbance.  Reed was previously convicted in state court of drug-related felony charges and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Reed will be sentenced on April 30, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Allen is prosecuting the case.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

ALBUQUERQUE – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Jason T. Stevens, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations – El Paso, announced that David Pasillas Martinez appeared in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with being an alien in possession of a firearm. Pasillas Martinez, 52, of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, will remain in custody pending trial, which has not yet been scheduled.

According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 7, 2024, while conducting surveillance at the Las Cruces Gun Show in Las Cruces, agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) observed a vehicle with Chihuahua, Mexico license plates which was registered to Pasillas Martinez. Agents observed Pasillas Martinez leave the gun show and place a firearm in the rear passenger side door of his vehicle before he drove away. Agents followed Pasillas Martinez from Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas. A short time later, a New Mexico State Police trooper executed a traffic stop on Pasillas Martinez for impeding traffic in a safety corridor. After the stop, HSI agents conducted an investigation of Pasillas Martinez, who agreed to speak to agents.

Pasillas Martinez told agents that he was a Mexican national and had travelled to Las Cruces to attend the gun show and purchase a firearm because he knows vendors there will not ask for identification when selling a firearm. Pasillas Martinez stated that he purchased three or four rifles and a pistol to take to Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico for sport shooting and planned to register the firearms in Mexico. Pasillas Martinez identified himself as a Municipal Police Officer in Juarez and stated that he knew it was illegal to purchase firearms in the U.S. and export them to Mexico.

A criminal complaint is only an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted on the current charges, Pasillas Martinez faces up to 15 years in prison.

Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Saltman is prosecuting the case.

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Source: Office of United States Attorneys

A Texas man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.

According to court documents, in 2021 and 2022, Gregory Massey, 30, and his girlfriend and co-defendant, Patricia Hart, forced two adult victims to engage in commercial sex in different locations. Massey and Hart advertised the victims for commercial sex on websites, kept the money the victims made from commercial sex transactions, required the victims to meet a minimum dollar threshold from commercial sex every day, and restricted the victims’ access to food. Massey also tracked the geolocation data on the victims’ phones so that they could not leave and used violence to accomplish the scheme.

Massey is scheduled to be sentenced on May 21. If the court accepts the plea, the government and Massey will agree to a sentence of 22 years and six months in prison, followed by eight years of supervised release. He will also agree to pay $128,800 in restitution to the victims. As a result of his plea, Massey must also participate in the sex offender registration and notification program. 

Hart also pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana made the announcement.

Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Louisiana State Police investigated the case. 

Trial Attorney Melissa E. Bücher of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria M. Carboni for the Eastern District of Louisiana are prosecuting the case.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

ST. LOUIS – A registered sex offender caught by St. Louis police with a gun during a domestic dispute was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White Tuesday to 10 years in prison. 

Mario Long, 53, was arrested at a home in the 4600 block of Louisiana Avenue on Aug. 6, 2020 by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers. Long’s then-girlfriend had locked him out of the house during a dispute. He then shattered the glass on the home’s front door, assaulted his girlfriend, got a gun from a bedroom and pointed it his girlfriend and her daughter, according to evidence and testimony at Long’s trial in August. A jury found Long guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Long is a convicted felon and is barred from possessing a gun. His prior convictions include unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, assault, child molestation, statutory rape and statutory sodomy.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Catherine Hoag and John Ware prosecuted the case.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Tacoma – A 42-year-old New Port Ritchey, Florida, man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to production of child pornography and interstate travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Samuel Aaron Leonard was arrested July 2, 2020, in Vancouver, Washington, just outside the home of the 14‑year-old girl he had spent months enticing online for sexual abuse. Leonard communicated with the girl on a number of social media platforms and represented to the girl that he was 20 years old. Leonard is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on April 15, 2024.

According to records filed in the case, Leonard contacted the girl via a social media platform around April 1, 2020. Over the next few months, Leonard communicated with the girl on various social media sites and sent her a cell phone so that they could communicate by text and telephone. Unbeknownst to the girl, Leonard had installed tracking and surveillance software in the phone so that he could monitor her location and read her texts and emails. Leonard turned the conversations with the girl to a sexual nature and convinced her to send various sexually explicit photos.

The girl’s guardians became aware of the communication and contacted police in late June 2020. Law enforcement immediately seized both phones that the teen had been using to communicate and had an undercover officer take over the communication. Analyzing the communications and the cell phone information, the investigation revealed that Leonard had traveled from Florida to the Vancouver area via bus and was within a short bike ride of the girl’s home. When the officer, posing as the girl, revealed that the girl’s guardian had taken the phone Leonard had sent to her, Leonard said he would get her a new one. Police surveilled Leonard as he took a newly purchased phone, hid it in a package, and tossed the package over the fence to the girl’s backyard. Leonard was arrested shortly afterwards.

A search of Leonard’s hotel room revealed that he had a number of items used to restrain someone, such as ten sets of flex cuffs and two sets of metal handcuffs, as well as duct tape and electrical tape. He also had various sex toys and lubricants. In the plea agreement Leonard admits that in 2018 he traveled to Oklahoma to sexually assault a 16-year-old. Leonard’s phone contained videos of that sexual assault.

Production of child pornography is punishable by a mandatory minimum 15 years in prison and up to 30 years in prison. Interstate travel to engage in sex acts with a minor is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, both prosecutors and defense will recommend a prison term of 20 years. Prosecutors will argue for a lifetime term of supervised release to follow prison. Judge Settle is not bound by the recommendations and can impose any sentence allowed by law.  Leonard will be required to register as a sex offender.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Vancouver Police Department, and Kalama Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristine Foerster and Sean Waite with assistance from the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

TRENTON, N.J. – A Brooklyn man was sentenced today to 121 months in prison for conspiring with others in a week-long strongarm extortion scheme in 2019, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.

Francis A. Garzon, 35, of Brooklyn, New York, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion and one count of attempt to commit Hobbs Act extortion. U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi sentenced Garzon today in Trenton federal court. Garzon’s codefendant, Endrit Kllogjeri, was found guilty following a jury trial in June 2023 and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 21, 2024.     

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From Dec. 1, 2019 through Dec. 9, 2019, Garzon and Kllogjeri conspired and attempted to extort a resident of Monmouth County, New Jersey, and the resident’s son, who resided in Brooklyn, New York. The victim was allegedly threatened with physical harm if the victim did not recover a bag containing property allegedly valued at $100,000 from the victim’s son. Garzon and Kllogjeri further demanded an additional payment of $100,000 as “interest” for the son’s possession of the bag. Garzon admitted that he brandished a revolver at the victim in an effort to intimidate the victim. Over the ensuing week, Garzon and Kllogjeri communicated regularly with the victim’s telephone, continuing to threaten the victim and the victim’s family. Garzon and Kllogjeri were arrested together in a vehicle on Dec. 9, 2019 in Brooklyn. Moments before the arrest, Garzon had attempted to send the victim a text message confirming the victim’s plan to pay the demand.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Quraishi sentenced Garzon to three years of supervised release following Garzon’s release from prison. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Marlboro Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief Peter Pezzullo; and the New York City Police Department for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric A. Boden, Attorney-in-Charge of the Trenton Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian D. Brater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

BOSTON – A Lynnfield man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for fraudulently obtaining multiple Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act loans, including funds from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled for his boxing gym.

Daniel Olivar, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement. Olivar was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $50,844. In August 2023, Olivar pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud. 

Olivar was the owner of Sonny’s Boxing and Fitness, Inc., a boxing club and fitness center in in Middleton. Since at least 2019, Olivar engaged in a scheme to defraud and obtain CARES Act business loans, by filing false and fraudulent applications with the United States Small Business administration (SBA). This included an Economic Injury Disaster Loan  from the SBA and a PPP loan. In addition, Olivar filed a claim for unemployment benefits with the State of Massachusetts, falsely claiming that he was laid off from Gold’s Gym. As a result, from January 2020 until at least May 2021, Olivar received unemployment benefits. 

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Jackson, Miss. – A Fayette woman pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining possession of a controlled substance.

According to court documents and facts admitted in open court, Rosie Marie George, 57, used her position as a pharmacy technician at a pharmacy in Jefferson County, Mississippi to fraudulently acquire large numbers of prescription hydrocodone pills from the pharmacy’s inventory. 

George will be sentenced on April 30, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee and Acting Special Agent in Charge Steve Hofer of the Drug Enforcement Administration made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the DEA as well as the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles W. Kirkham is prosecuting the case.

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

            WASHINGTON — A New Jersey man has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges related to his conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 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.

          Lee A. Giobbie, 40, of Eastampton, New Jersey, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. In addition to the felonies, Giobbie is charged with several misdemeanor offenses, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

          Giobbie was arrested today in New Jersey and will make his initial appearance in the District of New Jersey.

          According to court documents, Giobbie was identified on open-source video as present among other rioters near a line of bike rack barricades established on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Giobbie wore a black leather jacket, a green-knitted Eagles stocking cap, blue jeans, white and gray sneakers, black gloves, a black backpack, and carried a white and red bullhorn.

          Court documents say that Giobbie can be heard in an open-source video repeatedly shouting, “Move the gates!” before the bike rack barricades in this area were breached. Giobbie is then captured in video footage walking toward other rioters while they were violently pushing against the bike rack barricades and the police. He repeatedly stated, “We’re going in,” and “The gates have been breached.”

          After other rioters had pushed past police, Giobbie moved a barricade and entered the portion of the Capitol grounds that were cordoned off and restricted from public access. He then walked by police in riot gear and was one of the first rioters to the Central steps of the Capitol building as police fell back and formed a new defensive line. Giobbie then turned, faced the crowd, shouted “Stop the steal” through a bullhorn, and led chants of “USA” on the Central steps. He then faced police on the steps and shouted, “Push, push, push, push,” while standing one row back from other rioters who were pushing against the police line. Additionally, Giobbie can be seen in an open-source video pushing against other rioters who were, in turn, pushing against the police line. He then rushed by the police line toward the Rotunda Doors after the police line broke and a huge mass of rioters rushed up the Central steps.

          Near the Rotunda Doors, Giobbie shouted into the bullhorn, “We need something to break the door down!” During a confrontation with police outside the doors, a United States Capitol Police officer is seen grabbing Giobbie’s left arm. Giobbie then pushed the officer’s arm away and used his left forearm to push against the officer’s riot shield.

          Police repeatedly attempted to clear the rioters from the Rotunda Doors. In spite of that, Giobbie was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol via the Rotunda Doors within minutes after other rioters first breached it, aggressively pushing his way through the doors as police were actively trying to defend it. 

          Once inside the Capitol, Giobbie made his way to the Rotunda, the Small Senate Rotunda, and was briefly detained by a police officer in a hallway. He then walked to the northwest side of the building and exited through the Senate Wing Door, leading out to the Northwest Courtyard.

This case is being 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 Office for the District of New Jersey.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Newark and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 36 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,265 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

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

A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.