Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Three men were sentenced on federal charges related to domestic violence.

Brian Michael Lewis, age 42, of Levels, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. According to court documents and statements made in court, Hampshire County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a domestic dispute at Lewis’s home. During a search of the home, officers found 8 firearms along with ammunition. Lewis cannot possess guns due to prior drug and larceny charges in Virginia.

Derik Wayne Bowers, age 44, of Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced to 41 months for stalking. According to court documents, Bowers harassed and intimidated his ex-girlfriend in Berkeley County and used social media to attempt to undermine her online business. Despite being subject to a protective order, Bowers placed more than 800 phone calls to her during a 48-hour period and sent nearly 2,000 text messages in six months.

Rodney Allen Mayhew, age 43, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to 24 months for unlawful possession of a firearm. According to court documents and statements made in court, while responding to a domestic violence call, officers recovered two pistols and a rifle in Mayhew’s bedroom. Mayhew is prohibited from possessing guns due to a prior conviction.

The Lewis case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office. The FBI investigated the Bowers case. The Mayhew case was also investigated by the ATF, along with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberley Crockett prosecuted the Bowers case on behalf of the government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Kane prosecuted the Mayhew and Lewis cases.

U.S. District Court Judge Gina M. Groh presided.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

Memphis, TN – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee participated in a United Against Hate outreach event bringing DOJ officials and FBI partners to community members to elevate effective strategies to prevent, report, and respond to hate crimes and incidents.

United Against Hate is a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to inform communities about hate crimes and reporting hate-related incidents. The Department launched the initiative in 2022 with the goal of building trust, opening lines of communication, and strengthening coordination between relevant partners and the community to help combat a growing number of hate and bias-related incidents since 2021.

This recent event took place on January 7 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in partnership with CasaLuz, a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy and resources to Hispanic/Latinx domestic violence victims in the Memphis area. The program featured U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Smith, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Cornejo, and FBI Special Agent Jeremy Baker.

Below are photos from the event along with a video of U.S. Attorney Ritz’s opening remarks.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to host presentations throughout the Western District of Tennessee to help communities understand what hate crimes are, how federal agencies respond to hate crimes, and what people can do to help victims. Community organizations or leaders that wish to partner with the United States Attorney’s office to explore holding such an event in their community should contact the District at 901-544-4231.

Anyone who feels they have been the victim of a hate crime or may have witnessed a hate crime should immediately report the crime to state or local police by dialing 9-1-1, then quickly report the incident to the FBI at tips.FBI.gov or by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Next, please report the incident to the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division at civilrights.justice.gov or by contacting the Civil Rights Coordinator in the Civil Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 901-544-4231.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

Defendant Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Over $40,000 From Oklahoma Veterans

OKLAHOMA CITY – Yesterday, MICHAEL BRUCE COLLEY, 65, of Marlow, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

On September 19, 2023, Colley was charged by Information with wire fraud. According to the Information, Colley worked as commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1192 in Duncan, Oklahoma. The VFW is a nonprofit, dedicated to veterans’ service and military and community service programs. The Information alleges Colley controlled the finances for the post, and made over 30 unauthorized withdrawals from VFW accounts, which he used to pay his own personal expenses. The withdrawals totaled more than $40,000 and many of these fraudulent withdrawals occurred at Oklahoma casinos.

Yesterday, Colley pleaded guilty to wire fraud. As part of his plea, Colley admitted that between January of 2019 and June of 2021, he defrauded the VFW Post 1192 of over $40,000. At sentencing, Colley faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case is the result of an investigation by the FBI Oklahoma City field office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bow Bottomly is prosecuting the case.

Reference is made to public filings for additional information.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

DAYTON, Ohio – A Vandalia man was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 156 months in prison and eight years of supervised release for possessing with the intent to distribute drugs within 1,000 feet of a local elementary school.

The United States argued at sentencing that Jason Glanton, 34, possessed enough fentanyl to kill hundreds of thousands of full-grown adults in close proximity to kids in kindergarten through third grade at Helke Elementary School on Randler Avenue in Vandalia.

Glanton’s narcotics included fentanyl, fentanyl analogue, and a xylazine mixture known by the street names “tranq dope” and “zombie dope.” Xylazine is particularly dangerous because it has no known antidote, meaning Narcan/naloxone is less effective at reversing overdoses.

According to court documents, in the fall of 2022, the FBI and Dayton Police Department began investigating Glanton for fentanyl trafficking. Law enforcement observed Glanton sell fentanyl on at least three occasions in January and February 2023.

While executing a search warrant in February 2023, agents discovered more than 136 grams of fentanyl, $9,000 in cash, five semiautomatic handguns and more than 300 rounds of ammunition in a basement office at Glanton’s home on Pool Avenue. Investigators also discovered three loaded handguns in the primary bedroom.

In Glanton’s Chevrolet Silverado, officials discovered $10,000 in cash in the trunk and a loaded handgun in a hidden compartment inside the vehicle.

When Glanton was arrested in March 2023, he had more than $1,700 in cash on him and nearly 75 grams of fentanyl in his Chrysler 300.

Glanton pleaded guilty in September 2023.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and gangs that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Orville O. Greene, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal announced the sentence imposed today by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose. Assistant United States Attorney Kelly K. Rossi is representing the United States in this case.

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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

WILMINGTON, Del. – David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that a Nigerian national was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for conspiring to launder money derived from internet fraud schemes.  Lawal’s sentence included an order that he pay $1,460,875 in restitution to victims of the fraud schemes.  U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika pronounced the sentence. 

Olugbenga Lawal, 33, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to commit money laundering on August 10, 2023. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Lawal worked directly with the Nigeria-based leader of an international criminal organization that defrauded individuals and businesses across the United States out of millions of dollars through sophisticated internet-based fraud schemes, including romance fraud and business email compromise schemes, and laundered the proceeds of those fraud schemes.  The criminal organization frequently targeted elderly victims who believed they had fallen in love with people they had met on the internet.

Between January 2019 and June 2020, bank accounts used by Lawal and his co-conspirators to launder money on behalf of the criminal organization received millions of dollars traced directly to individuals and businesses defrauded over the internet by members of the criminal organization. 

Lawal played a vital role in laundering money for the criminal organization by working to convert the fraud dollars entering his accounts into Nigerian currency accessible in Nigeria.  He engaged in sophisticated import/export transactions involving the shipment of cars to Nigeria and currency exchange business transactions to facilitate the repatriation of the organization’s fraud proceeds back to Nigeria.

Three co-conspirators, Michael Hermann, Rita Assane, and Dwight Baines previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and have yet to be sentenced.

U.S. Attorney Weiss commented, “Criminal organizations around the world continue to use the internet to defraud hardworking American citizens and businesses out of millions of dollars.  Too often, those victims are elderly individuals who unknowingly give up their life savings to a fraudster.  My office and our law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and prosecuting the criminal actors who perpetrate those frauds and individuals, like Mr. Lawal, who launder their money.”

“Lawal went to great lengths to further this sophisticated scheme to defraud vulnerable Americans and legitimate businesses,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the FBI’S Baltimore Field Office. “This sentence is more than just, given the unscrupulous tactics used. This case demonstrates the FBI’s resolve to hold fraudsters accountable.”

This case was investigated by FBI Baltimore Field Office’s Wilmington Resident Agency. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jesse S. Wenger and Meredith C. Ruggles of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware and Trial Attorneys Mary K. Daly and Michael Grady of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), with assistance from MLARS Trial Attorneys Madeleine Case and Jasmin Salehi Fashami.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the District of Delaware or on PACER by searching for Case No. 22-cr-11.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

Jackson, MS – A Neshoba County man pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a minor on the Choctaw Indian Reservation.

According to court documents, in September of 2017, Scottie Amos, 26, committed a sexual act on a minor who was between the ages of 12 and 16 in the Tucker Community of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.  Amos was indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2022.

Amos is scheduled to be sentenced on April 11, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Amos has previously pleaded guilty to burglary and awaits sentencing in that case as well.

U.S. Attorney Todd Gee and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jessica Orench of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.

The Choctaw Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigations all investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. Payne and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian K. Burns prosecuted the case.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A November 2023 indictment, returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Roanoke, Virginia charging nine people with healthcare fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, has been unsealed following the arrest and initial court appearances of all nine defendants. 

According to court documents, Carolyn Bryant-Taylor, 59, of Clinton, Maryland; Kafomdi “Josephine” Okocha, 48, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Samuel Okocha, 50, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Shekita Gore, a.k.a. Shekita Steele, 38, of Clinton, Maryland; Berthe Feuzeu, a.k.a. Berthe Djuni, 48, of Manassas Park, Virginia; Anthony Kanu, 57, of Bladensburg, Maryland; Elizabeth Ilome, 41, of Stafford, Virginia; Eno Utuk, 47, of Stafford, Virginia; and Rhabiatu Kamara, 45, of Fort Washington, Maryland, are all charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Bryant-Taylor, Josephine Okocha, Samuel Okocha, and Gore also are charged with one count of health care fraud. Additionally, Bryant-Taylor is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of money laundering. Josephine Okocha is charged with three counts of money laundering.

According to the indictment, Bryant-Taylor, Josephine Okocha, Samuel Okocha, and Gore are owners and operators of 1st Adult N Pediatric Healthcare Service, a Medicaid-enrolled home health agency providing private duty nursing, personal care, and respite care services throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, including in the Western District of Virginia. Feuzeu, Kanu, Utuk and Kamara were employed by 1^st Adult as nurses and Ilome as a medication technician. The defendants are alleged to have conspired to submit false claims to Medicaid for services that were not provided to patients, including falsifying records and documentation in support of the fraudulent claims submitted for reimbursement.

First Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, and Special Agent in Charge Stanley M. Meador of the FBI’s Richmond Division made the announcement today following the indictment’s unsealing.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are investigating the case, with assistance from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin B. Johnson and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Terry, a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, are prosecuting the case.

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

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

            WASHINGTON – Michael Humphrey, 41, a registered sex offender from Southeast Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to uploading to the internet graphic videos of himself sexually abusing a five-year-old girl.

            The plea agreement was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Humphrey pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 15 years of imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and supervised release of at least five years. Humphrey previously was convicted on a charge relating to the sexual abuse of a child. On March 10, 2020, he was convicted of third-degree sex offense in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Maryland. Since May 2022, Humphrey has been registered as a sex offender in the District of Columbia as required by law. 

            According to the government’s evidence, in July 2023, Google LLC reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that two Google accounts, later identified as Humphrey’s, had uploaded material depicting child sexual abuse to Google servers. NCMEC turned that information over to the investigators from the FBI Washington Field Office and the MPD.

            Investigators obtained a warrant authorizing the search of Humphrey’s Google accounts and discovered three videos that show Humphrey sexually abusing a five-year-old girl in Washington, D.C. during June 2023.

            Humphrey was arrested on August 11, 2023, and has been held since. After he was taken into custody, investigators obtained Humphrey’s electronic devices and discovered thousands of images and hundreds of videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents, detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rachel Forman and Amy Larson, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

ST. PAUL, Minn. – An inmate has pleaded guilty to conspiring with a corrections officer to distribute methamphetamine inside the Stillwater prison, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. 

According to court documents, Axel Rene Kramer, 36, an inmate who is currently serving a 288-month sentence for second degree murder, conspired with Faith Rose Gratz, 26, a former Minnesota Correctional Facility (MCF)-Stillwater corrections officer, to distribute methamphetamine within MCF – Stillwater, Minnesota’s largest high security prison facility. As part of the conspiracy, Kramer obtained wholesale quantities of prepackaged methamphetamine from sources of supply outside the prison. After Kramer and another co-conspirator inmate worked with the drug suppliers to arrange meet up times and locations, Gratz would pick up the drug packages. Gratz used her position as a prison guard to smuggle the drugs into the secure facility and then provide the drugs to Kramer while she was on duty guarding him. Gratz did this on approximately six different occasions. Gratz also smuggled into the prison multiple cell phones that she provided to Kramer. Kramer used the cell phones to communicate with people inside and outside the prison and to facilitate his drug distribution network from within the prison.

According to court documents, Kramer and Gratz exchanged hundreds of text messages with each other. The messages included communications about the drug distribution conspiracy as well as discussions about their romantic relationship. Gratz also warned Kramer about upcoming searches of inmates’ cells.

Kramer pleaded guilty on January 5, 2024, in U.S. District Court before Judge Eric C. Tostrud to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later time.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Bayport Police Department, and the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Jacobs and Matthew D. Evans are prosecuting the case.