WASHINGTON – Matthew Norman Ballek, 31, of Saskatchewan, Canada, was taken into custody today following an indictment charging him with distribution of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
According to the indictment, unsealed today, on January 23, 2024, Ballek distributed three video files depicting adult males engaging in sexually explicit conduct with minors via a social media communication application.
On January 23, 2024, a member of the MPD-FBI Child Exploitation Task Force was monitoring an online application in an undercover capacity. Law enforcement has come to learn that the application is used by some individuals who have a sexual interest in children. The undercover agent encountered Ballek, who sent a message believing he was communicating with a pedophile. Ballek later sent the undercover agent three video files depicting adult males sexually abusing minor children. On February 1, 2024, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Ballek with one count of distribution of child pornography. The case is assigned to the U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton.
Earlier today, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Ballek’s residence in the District of Columbia and took him into custody. Ballek will remain in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Monday, February 12, 2024.
Distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The statutory sentences for federal offenses are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes. Any sentence will be determined by the Court based on the advisory Sentencing Guideline and other statutory factors.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen Shinskie and Paul V. Courtney.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man today admitted his role in an attempted robbery in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where the victim was shot 14 times, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Jonathan Rosales, 23, of New Brunswick, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton federal court to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Dec. 28, 2020, Rosales, along with his accomplices, Saul Peralta and Giovanni Hoyos-Jaimes, attempted to rob the victim in New Brunswick. During the struggle, the victim was shot 14 times causing him to sustain serious injuries. Peralta and Hoyos-Jaimes previously pleaded guilty before Judge Kirsch for their involvement in this incident.
The conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. Each count also carries a fine of up to $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offenses, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for June 10, 2024.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy; members of the New Brunswick Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Vincent Sabo; and members of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the leadership of Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the National Security Unit in Newark.
ALBUQUERQUE – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Gilbert John, Jr. pled guilty in federal court to second degree murder. John, 35, of Brimhall, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.
A federal grand jury indicted John on March 23, 2022, along with a co-defendant. According to publicly available court records, on July 1, 2019, an individual brought a stolen car to John at his apartment in the Sunset Hills complex in Gallup, New Mexico to dispose of and to sell. When John got in the car to test drive it, he heard John Doe from the trunk cry out for help. The individual who brought John the car told John to “get rid of him.” John understood this statement to mean that he should kill John Doe
John and the other individual drove around through the night and into the next evening, smoking methamphetamines, and eventually stopping on the back roads to Bass Lake. John walked away from the car, at which point John Doe opened the trunk from inside and attempted to escape. John slammed the trunk back down on him, sat on the top of the trunk door and asked the other individual for a machete that he had seen inside of the car. The individual gave the machete to John, who opened the trunk and stabbed John Doe repeatedly with the machete. John and the individual then closed the trunk and sat together on top of the trunk. John and the individual remained on the trunk until they stopped hearing movement from inside.
Afterward, John drove the car with John Doe’s body inside of it to a relative’s house in Standing Rock, New Mexico. Before leaving the car there, John attempted to remove a tracking device, but ended up disabling the car instead.
About ten days later, John asked a friend to tow the car to a remote location north of Church Rock, New Mexico. Once the car had been towed to the location, John released the car and let it roll down a hill out of view of the road and borrowed a gas can which he used to pour gasoline onto the car. John lit the car on fire and left it burning with John Doe’s body inside of it. John did not know John Doe prior to killing him.
On July 16, 2019, charred remnants John Doe’s body were found in the trunk of the car by the McKinley County Fire Department. John Doe was identified only because investigators were able to match serial numbers from John Doe’s medical records to metal hip replacement devices found in the burned-out trunk of the car. The hip replacement devices were the only substantial parts of John Doe’s body that remained after the fire.
In his plea agreement, John expressed remorse for killing John Doe and burning his body. He is facing between seventeen-and-a-half years and twenty-one years in prison at sentencing.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark A. Probasco and Alexander F. Flores are prosecuting the case.
Seattle- U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced today that the Western District of Washington collected more than $24 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2023. Of this amount, $12,306,908 was collected in criminal actions and $11,958,411 was collected in civil actions.
Additionally, the Western District of Washington worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $41,493,471 in civil cases pursued jointly by these offices.
“Overall, our collections have increased significantly over prior years and that is a win for taxpayers and crime victims who benefit when we are able to collect restitution and settlement funds,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “Of particular note is the $40 million settlement in a False Claims Act matter involving telecommunications for health care in Alaska.”
In May 2023, the Western District of Washington recovered $40,252,546 as part of the settlement in the GCI communications False Claims Act Case. The Anchorage Alaska based corporation resolved allegations that it knowingly inflated its prices and violated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) competitive bidding regulations in connection with GCI’s participation in the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Western District of Washington working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $4,765,255 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2023. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
TRENTON, N.J. – The co-owner and the administrator of a Union City, New Jersey, pharmacy today admitted their roles in conspiracies to defraud pharmacy benefit managers and health care benefit providers, including Medicare and Medicaid, of more than $65 million and to pay kickbacks and bribes to health care professionals and their staffs in exchange for referrals of prescriptions, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Samuel “Sam” Khaimov, 52, and his wife, Yana Shtindler, 48, both of Glen Head, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court. Khaimov pleaded guilty to two counts of a superseding indictment charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud and conspiring to violate the federal anti-kickback statute. Shtindler pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. Khaimov and Shtindler’s codefendants, Ruben Sevumyants of Marlboro, New Jersey, and Alex Fleyshmakher of Morganville, New Jersey, have already pleaded guilty to counts in the superseding indictment and are awaiting sentencing.
“These defendants admitted taking part in an elaborate and years-long scheme to use their specialty pharmacy to rip off Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. They paid bribes, kickbacks, set up phony jobs in doctors’ offices. They took reimbursements for medications that never dispensed and falsified records, defrauding insurers via pharmacy benefits managers of more than $65 million. Protecting the integrity of our healthcare system at all levels is a top priority for this office. We will continue to work relentlessly with our enforcement partners to ensure those who commit healthcare fraud or undermine the integrity of medical decision-making through bribes and kickbacks face justice, like the defendants in this case.”
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger
“The impacts of health care fraud are far-reaching,” FBI – Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said. “These schemes not only put a tremendous amount of strain on our resources, but also have significant impacts on insurance costs and chip away at the foundation of trust we have in our health care providers. Bottom line, the conspirators in this case put personal greed above quality patient care. While we are happy to see Khaimov, Shtindler and their crew face justice, we will remain at work for the American public and continue seeking out and shutting down these scams.”
“The defendants’ role in the conspiracies to defraud pharmacy benefit managers, health care benefit providers, and taxpayers via Medicare and Medicaid of more than $65 million is deplorable,” Tammy Tomlins, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS – Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, said. “IRS – Criminal Investigation and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who knowingly violate the law and undermine the integrity of our federal healthcare system.”
“The additional pleas in this investigation demonstrate that HHS-OIG will continue to hold accountable individuals who exploit federal health care programs for their own greed,” Naomi Gruchacz, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), said. “Pharmacy employees who submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid and bribe medical providers to induce prescriptions put health care benefits for vulnerable populations at risk.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
The Prime Aid Pharmacies – now closed – operated as “specialty pharmacies” out of locations in Union City and the Bronx, New York. As specialty pharmacies, they processed expensive medications used to treat various conditions, including Hepatitis C, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Khaimov was a co-owner of Prime Aid Union City and the lead pharmacist of Prime Aid Bronx. Shtindler was Prime Aid Union City’s administrator. Sevumyants was Prime Aid Union City’s operations manager. Alex Fleyshmakher worked at Prime Aid Union City and was an on-paper owner of Prime Aid Bronx. His father, Igor Fleyshmakher, a co-owner of Prime Aid Union City, pleaded guilty to separate federal charges.
Initially, the Prime Aid Pharmacies obtained retail network agreements with several pharmacy benefits managers (PBM), which allowed them to receive reimbursement payments for prescription medications, including specialty medications. PBMs acted as intermediaries on behalf of Medicare, Medicaid, and other health benefit providers, so when one of the Prime Aid Pharmacies received a prescription, the pharmacy would typically submit a claim for reimbursement to the PBM that represented the beneficiary’s drug plan.
Starting in 2009, to obtain a higher volume of prescriptions, Khaimov, Sevumyants, Alex Fleyshmakher, and other Prime Aid employees paid bribes to doctors and doctors’ employees to induce the doctors and their staffs to steer prescriptions to the Prime Aid Pharmacies. The bribes included payments by cash, check, and wire transfers, as well as expensive meals and other things of value. Another method of bribery involved paying an employee to work inside a doctor’s office.
Prime Aid Union City – at the direction of Sevumyants, Shtindler, and Khaimov – also engaged in the pervasive and fraudulent practice of billing health benefit providers and PBMs for medications that were never provided to patients. While Prime Aid generally provided medications for initial prescriptions it received, it systematically billed for refills for those same medications without ever dispensing them to patients. According to the superseding indictment, from 2013 through 2017, Prime Aid Union City received at least $65 million in reimbursement payments from Medicare, Medicaid, and private health benefit providers for medications that Prime Aid Union City not only failed to give patients, but that Prime Aid Union City also never even ordered or had in stock at the pharmacy.
Over time, PBMs conducted routine audits of Prime Aid Union City and discovered its practice of billing but not dispensing medications. In response to these audits, Shtindler instructed Prime Aid employees to falsify records submitted to the PMBs. In addition, Sevumyants, with Shtindler’s knowledge and approval, forged shipping records of a private commercial shipping company to make it appear as if medications were shipped to the patients when, in fact, they were not.
The conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud count is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. The conspiracy to pay illegal kickbacks is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. Both counts are also punishable by a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for June 13, 2024.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins in Newark; special agents of the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz; the N.J. Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, Medicaid Fraud Unit, under the direction of Interim Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Al Garcia, and the N.J. Office of the State Comptroller, under the direction of Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martha K. Nye of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton and Jordann R. Conaboy and Aaron L. Webman of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
NASHVILLE – On February 5, 2024, Paul Faye Sr., 55, of Cunningham, Tennessee, was arrested after being charged with the unlawful possession and transfer of an unregistered firearm silencer, announced United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Henry C. Leventis.
The criminal complaint alleges that Faye spoke with an undercover FBI agent for months about a plan to travel to the United States – Mexico border to commit acts of violence against migrants and federal agents. In January 2024, Faye illegally transferred a silencer to an undercover agent with the FBI as they prepared to travel to the border to target migrants entering the United States.
After taking Faye into custody, law enforcement searched his property in Cunningham, Tennessee and recovered numerous firearms, including a short-barreled shotgun and a Springfield XD pistol, another firearm silencer, a militia patch, multiple jars of Tannerite, a brand of explosive targets that can be converted into improvised explosive devices, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Kurtzman is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
BOSTON – A crew member on commercial fishing vessels operating out of New Bedford pleaded guilty today to evading nearly $300,000 in federal income taxes.
Rodolfo Membreno, 49, of Fall River, pleaded guilty to one count of evading and defeating taxes before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns. Judge Stearns scheduled sentencing for May 15, 2024. Membreno was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2023.
From 2013 through 2021, Membreno earned more than $1.3 million working as a commercial fisherman. During the calendar years 2013 through 2019 Membreno failed to file federal income tax returns. He then filed a false tax return for 2020, before again failing to file a return for calendar year 2021. Membreno failed to pay any income taxes on his fishing income and took other measures to prevent the IRS from tracing his income or determining his tax liabilities, including routinely cashing his paychecks and using the cash to fund his personal lifestyle. Membreno’s scheme resulted in tax losses of approximately $293,118 to the IRS, not including penalties and interest.
The charge of tax evasion carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and restitution to the IRS. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and Trial Attorney Ezra Spiro and Acting Chief John Kane of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
NEWARK, N.J. – A Hudson County, New Jersey, man today admitted his role as a member of a drug trafficking organization responsible for the importation and distribution of hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl analogues, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Sean Tighe, 48, of Kearny, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to a second superseding indictment charging him with drug trafficking conspiracy and international promotional money laundering conspiracy.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Tighe admitted that from March 2014 through September 2020, he and others agreed to import and distribute various controlled substances and controlled substance analogues, including fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, synthetic cathinones, also known as “bath salts,” such as ethylone, and ketamine. Members of the conspiracy placed orders with a source in China and agreed to distribute, and did distribute, the controlled substances and analogues in New Jersey. Tighe admitted that other members of the conspiracy provided him with controlled substances and analogues pressed into small pills for distribution.
The defendants allegedly paid for the drugs they imported by sending, or recruiting others to send, international wire payments to the Chinese sources of supply. Tighe admitted to having been responsible for transferring at least $14,000 to China from April 2014 to June 2014.
The count of drug trafficking conspiracy carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The count of international promotional money laundering conspiracy carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 19, 2024.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Alfonso, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked HSI in Philadelphia, the FBI – Newark Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Newark Police Department, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sammi Malek of the Criminal Division in Newark and Trial Attorneys Stephen Sola and Michael Khoo of the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. The case is being prosecuted jointly by the United States Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey and the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the United States Department of Justice.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (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 https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
BILLINGS — A Billings man who admitted to bringing large quantities of methamphetamine from Denver, Colorado, for distribution and trading guns for meth was sentenced today to six years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
The defendant, Paul Andrew Guiot, 45, pleaded guilty in September 2023 to possession with intent to distribute meth.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.
The government alleged in court documents that in the summer of 2021, officers with the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force began investigating Guiot for drug trafficking. Guiot made trips to Denver alone and with his girlfriend, Jaide Alexander, of Billings, to buy drugs. In October 2021, officers served a state search warrant on a trailer where Guiot and Alexander lived. Officers located a small amount of narcotics and several loaded firearms. Guiot admitted to law enforcement that he and Alexander were importing large amounts of meth from Denver. He admitted he regularly traded guns for drugs in Montana and would then take the guns to Colorado to trade for more drugs. Alexander previously was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for her guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute meth.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin M. Rubich prosecuted the case. The Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI investigated the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Paducah, KY – A federal grand jury in Paducah, Kentucky, returned an indictment on January 9, 2024, charging an Almo, Kentucky man with possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, and Sheriff Ryan Norman of the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.
According to the indictment, Robert William Grundy, 52, was charged with possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine on June 14, 2023.
On February 5, 2024, Grundy made an initial court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison. The defendant remains in federal custody pending trial. 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 DEA Paducah Post of Duty Office and the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Hancock, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.