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

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

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man pleaded guilty yesterday to charges stemming from two separate indictments – one charging fraud and the other charging bribery.

According to court documents, Javor McCoy, 42, while trying to avoid a civil court appearance in Dallas, transmitted a criminal summons to an employee with the Dallas County Court showing he had to appear in court for a Western District of Texas federal indictment.  The summons contained a false and fraudulent electronic signature of a United States magistrate judge and was altered to display a fictious appearance date for McCoy.

McCoy was previously charged on another case involving bribery of a public official.  McCoy owned Ready 2 Go Transport Central LLC (R2G Central), a purported Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, providing transportation for veterans, including ambulance and wheelchair transportation. 

His co-defendant on the bribery case, Glenn Dartone Johnson, 49, of San Antonio, was the contracting officer with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA).  McCoy paid Johnson approximately $100,000 for information regarding the VA bid process and for Johnson’s assistance in influencing the VA bid process to help R2G Central win competitive bids from the VA.

McCoy pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with identification documents or authentication features and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official. A sentencing date has not been set.  McCoy faces a maximum prison term of 15 years on the fraud count and a maximum prison term of five years on the bribery charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Johnson pleaded guilty on December 20, 2023, to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.  Johnson is set for sentencing on March 14, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas and Acting Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson for the FBI San Antonio Division made the announcement.

The FBI and VA-OIG are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Chung and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Porier are prosecuting the case.

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

Acting United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that on January 23, 2024, an operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Nebraska State Patrol led to the arrest of 19 people and the unsealing of at least nine indictments. Those arrested and a summary of their charges and the penalties include the following.

An indictment was unsealed charging Alejandro Ruiz (age 41), of California, Guadalupe Ramirez (38) of North Platte, Roberto Duran (33) of Brule, Michael Shawn Harrell (47) of Ogallala, Eduardo Gomez (33) of North Platte and Carl McKinney (37) from Kentucky, with conspiracy to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine between January of 2021, and January of 2022. A conviction on that charge carries a possible penalty of not less than 10 years to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million; and a term of supervised release not less than five years. Ramirez, Gomez, and Harrell also face charges of possessing a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  If convicted, they each face a term of imprisonment of five years to life, consecutive to the drug charge; a $250,000 fine and up to 5 years of supervised release.  Harrell was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. A conviction of that charge carries a penalty of not more than 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.

An indictment was unsealed charging Jamie Hopkins (37), Michael Stroble (30); Joey Romero (36), and Luke Schwartz (30) all of North Platte, with conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual) and distribution of meth between July 2022 through February of 2023. The penalties are not less than 10 years to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million; and a term of supervised release not less than five years.

An indictment was unsealed charging Jessica Binegar (37) of North Platte, John Hernandez (35) of Lincoln and Brad Leeper (46) of North Platte with distribution of 5 grams or more of meth (actual) between March and June of 2022.  Leeper was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.  The possible penalties for distribution are not less than five years, nor more than 40 years in prison; a fine of up to $5 million; and a term of supervised release following the prison term of not less than four years.

Wesley Kraft (36) of Lincoln, was charged with distribution of five grams or more of meth (actual) during April of 2023 and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Timothy Huisman (39) of North Platte, was charged with distribution of five grams or more of meth (actual) in February of 2023.

Shane Ross (46) of Ogallala, was charged with distribution of five grams or more of meth (actual) in July of 2022.

Richard Torres (44) of Brule, was charged with conspiracy and distribution of more than five grams of meth (actual) between December 2021 and August of 2022.

Timothy Maisner (62) of North Platte, with possession with intent to distribute of 50 grams of more of methamphetamine (actual) and distribution of methamphetamine during January and July of 2023. 

Eddie Houpt (59) of North Platte, was charged with distribution of five grams or more of meth (actual) in June of 2022.

To report tips on drug trafficking, please contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 402-492-8688 or the Nebraska Crime Stoppers tipline at 1-800-422-1494.

These cases were investigated by the CODE Task Force which is made up of law enforcement agencies throughout a 22-county area in west-central/southwest Nebraska and includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nebraska State Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, North Platte Police Department, Lexington Police Department, and Army National Guard Counter Drug Unit.  The investigation and arrests were also assisted by the U.S. Postal Service, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Ogallala Police Department, La Vista Police Department, the Tri-Cities Drug Enforcement Team (TRIDENT) Task Force, the Western Intelligence Narcotics Group (WING) Task Force, the Capitol Region Safe Streets Task Force (CRSSTF), the Lincoln/Lancaster County Metro Fugitive Task Force, the Lincoln and Keith County Attorney’s Offices, and Nebraska District 11 Probation Office.  

This effort 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.

An indictment is merely an allegation. 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

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 Myles Delando Luciano was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Luciano, 27, of Las Cruces, pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by threats or violence on May 1, 2023.

In his plea agreement, Luciano admitted that on July 27, 2022, he and Joshua Lopez wrongfully obtained property from Lowe’s Home Improvement by taking the property without paying for it using the threat of force, violence, and fear. Luciano admitted that the items of property they stole had moved in interstate commerce and that, as a result, interstate commerce was further delayed, obstructed, and impacted by our actions because the store was forced to expend time and resources for law enforcement to investigate the robbery.

Upon his release from prison, Luciano will be subject to 3 years of supervised release.

Joshua Lopez, 26, of Las Cruces, pleaded guilty to three counts of interference with commerce by threats or violence on Aug. 8, 2023. Lopez remains in custody pending sentencing, which is currently not scheduled.

The Las Cruces Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Las cruces Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Y. Armijo and Ry Ellison are prosecuting the case.

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

ST. LOUIS –A man who possessed and shared child pornography and then fled from St. Louis while on house arrest was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years and eight months in prison. 

U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday also ordered Daniel Bert, 38, to be placed on supervised release for life after he gets out of prison.

Bert, of St. Louis, Missouri, possessed child sexual abuse material on multiple electronic devices, including laptops, phones and hard drives. After receiving two tips about Bert, the FBI discovered he was discussing his sexual interest in young children on Kik Messenger. An undercover FBI special agent began communicating with Bert on another app, Wickr. Bert sent a picture of his genitals to the agent, told the agent that he had a hard drive full of child pornography and asked the agent to join him in an online video chat during which Bert played videos containing child pornography. 

After his indictment, Bert removed his GPS monitoring device while on house arrest and fled St. Louis. He was arrested in Florida on May 11.

Bert pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of transportation of child pornography.

The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.