Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Bay Area Defendants Indicted In Alleged Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal grand jury indicted three Bay Area men for their respective roles in an alleged conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge John J. Martin, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  One defendant also is charged in the indictment with possessing with the intent to distribute cocaine.  All three defendants have been arrested and are in custody. Complaints were also filed against each of these defendants in connection with these charges.

According to the indictment, between December 8, 2016, and January 30, 2018, Sergio Steven Vasquez-Gonzalez (a/k/a Checo, a/k/a Checks a/k/a Number One), 26, of Bay Point, California; Arturo Vazquez, 33, of Stockton, California; and Sergio Rubalcaba, 23, of Bay Point, California, conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine in the Northern District of California and elsewhere.  In addition, the indictment alleges that on May 16, 2017, Vasquez-Gonzalez distributed 50 grams or more of pure methamphetamine, and on January 29, 2018, possessed with the intent to distribute 500 or more grams or more of cocaine.  In addition, A. Vazquez is alleged to have distributed 50 grams of methamphetamine on November 29, 2017, and Rubalcaba is alleged to have possessed with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of the drug on January 30, 2018.  

According to the complaint filed against him, Vasquez-Gonzalez was arrested on January 29, 2018, when a traffic stop of the vehicle he was driving resulted in the seizure of a kilogram of cocaine.  According to the complaint filed against him, Rubalcaba was arrested the following day when law enforcement searched his vehicle and seized a kilogram of methamphetamine, ten pounds of marijuana, and two ounces of black tar heroin.  A. Vazquez was arrested in Stockton pursuant to a federal complaint alleging that he distributed methamphetamine on November 29, 2017.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The charges carry the maximum statutory sentences indicated in the chart below:

Charge	Defendants Charged	Maximum Statutory Sentence
Count One: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 846)	All Three Defendants	Life in prison
Count Two: Distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1))	Sergio Steven Vasquez-Gonzalez	Life in prison
Count Three: Possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing cocaine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1))	Sergio Steven Vasquez-Gonzalez	40 years in prison
Count Four: Distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1))	Arturo Vazquez	40 years in prison
Count Five: Possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1))	Sergio Rubalcaba	Life in prison

In addition, any defendant convicted of the conspiracy charge will face a mandatory 10-year term of imprisonment. The remaining counts carry the following mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment: Count Two–10 years; Count Three–5 years; Count Four–5 years; Count Five–10 years.  Any sentences following the defendants’ convictions would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.  

Vasquez-Gonzalez and Rubalcaba appeared on the indictment this morning before the Honorable Kandis A. Westmore, U.S. District Magistrate Judge.  Vazquez was previously arraigned in Stockton, California, and is being transported to the Northern District of California.  All of the defendants remain in federal custody.  The parties are scheduled to appear before the District Court on March 9, 2018.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Dawson and Nikhil Bhagat are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Patricia Mahoney and Rawaty Yim.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by HSI, the DEA, and the FBI.  The investigation was conducted and funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency task force that coordinates long-term narcotics trafficking investigations.
 

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Windsor Man Charged With Theft Of Government Property And Aggravated Identity Theft In Connection With VA Grant Fraud

OAKLAND – William Michael Andrews made an initial appearance in federal court this morning after a federal grand jury indicted him with theft of government property and aggravated identity theft, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge James Wahleithner. 

According to the indictment, Andrews, 50, of Windsor, California, is alleged to have used his position as a case-worker at an East Bay non-profit agency to acquire the personal information of homeless veterans to pay his personal expenses.  The indictment alleges Andrews used the veterans’ personal information, including their social security numbers, to illegally direct VA grant money to his landlord to pay his own rent, rather than its intended purpose of paying for short-term rental apartments for homeless veterans.   In total, Andrews allegedly stole more than $26,000 in VA grant funds.  Andrews was charged in the indictment with one count of theft of government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A.

Andrews was arrested in San Francisco and made his initial appearance this morning in federal court before Kandis A. Westmore, U.S. Magistrate Judge, in Oakland.  Andrews was released on an unsecured $50,000 bond.  Andrews’ next scheduled appearance is at 10:30 AM on March 14, 2018, for an appearance before the Honorable James Donato, U.S. District Judge.     

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of ten years in prison, plus a fine and restitution for the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641.  In addition, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison to be served consecutive to any other prison term imposed as well as a maximum $250,000 if convicted of the 18 U.S.C. § 1028A violation.  However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.  

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Weingarten is prosecuting the case.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the VA Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigations Division.
 

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Federal Jury Convicts San Francisco Man Of Credit Card Fraud And Identity Theft

SAN FRANCISCO – Marcus Dieter Felder was convicted of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin, and Secret Service Special Agent in Charge David Murray. The guilty verdict was returned late yesterday following a six-day jury trial before the Honorable Maxine M. Chesney, U.S. District Judge

The jury found that Felder, 51, of San Francisco, had engaged in numerous instances of credit card fraud in San Francisco; Hawaii; Placer County, Calif.; and elsewhere in April 2013, June 2014, and October 2014.  With respect to the aggravated identity charge, the jury found that Felder had illegally used personal information associated with another individual who shared his first and last names during and relation to the credit card fraud that he had committed in June 2014.  

Evidence at trial showed that Felder used Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards issued to other persons to engage in transactions at high-end or boutique hotels, including the Four Seasons Resort in Maui and several venues in San Francisco including the Fairmont Hotel, the Hotel Nikko, the Hilton Union Square, the Grand Hyatt, and the Hotel Metropolis.  The evidence at trial also showed that, among other transactions, the defendant used credit cards issued to other persons to pay for first-class air travel from San Francisco to Maui on United Airlines and to rent an exotic car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.  Felder was arrested on October 30, 2014, at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Placer County for presenting a counterfeit credit card.  He was handed over to federal authorities shortly thereafter.

A federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment on September 19, 2017, charging Felder with one count of fraudulent use of unauthorized access devices, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2); two counts of effecting transactions with access devices issued to other persons, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(5); and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). 

Felder is currently on release on a bond. 

Felder’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 30, 2018, before Judge Chesney in San Francisco.  The maximum statutory penalty for the count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2) is 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate.  The maximum statutory penalty for each of the two counts in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(5) is 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 plus restitution, if appropriate.  The statutory penalty for the count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) is a mandatory two-year consecutive term of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 plus restitution, if appropriate.  However, any sentence will be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine M. Lloyd-Lovett and Kyle F. Waldinger are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lilian ArauzHaase and Jeremy Acala.  The prosecution is the result of a five-year investigation by HSI and the United States Secret Service.
 

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Two Northern California Women Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Fraudulently Obtain Tax Refunds

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Denna Chambers, aka Denna Rice, 35, of Fairfield, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States, United States Attorney McGregor Scott announced. Co-defendant, Starsheka Mixon, 34, of Pinole, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge on February 8, 2018. 

“The harm caused by these defendants goes beyond simply cheating the government,” said Michael T. Batdorf, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Stealing identities and filing false tax returns is a serious crime that has a devastating impact on the victims whose identities they stole to perpetrate this crime. CI will continue to investigate these crimes and hold those responsible fully accountable.”

According to court documents, between approximately January 2011 and June 2013, Chambers and Mixon conspired together and with others to fraudulently obtain tax refunds by filing false tax returns in the names of other people with the Internal Revenue Service. The tax returns included false statements about the taxpayers’ income, dependents, and occupations in order to obtain refunds and tax credits to which the taxpayers were not entitled, including the Earned Income Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit. Some of the fraudulent tax returns used the name and personal information of individuals without their knowledge or consent. The fraudulently obtained refunds were typically placed on prepaid debit cards controlled by Chambers, Mixon, or their associates. In their respective plea agreements, Chambers and Mixon both admitted that in all, approximately 174 false federal income tax returns were filed seeking over $880,000 in tax refunds, of which approximately $477,348 were paid out by the IRS.

This case was the product of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Shelley D. Weger is prosecuting the case.

Chambers and Mixon are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. on May 24, 2018. Both Chambers and Mixon face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, restitution, and a fine of $250,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The continued effort by the IRS to combat identity theft and refund fraud has led to steep declines in tax-related identity theft.  The IRS, state tax agencies, and the tax industry have started their third filing season working as the Security Summit, a private-public sector partnership formed in 2015 to combat identity theft. Summit partners have put in place multiple behind-the-scenes safeguards that are helping protect the nation’s taxpayers.  Because the IRS and Summit partners have stepped up efforts to stop suspected fraudulent returns from entering tax processing systems, there continues to be a substantial decline in the number of taxpayers reporting that they are victims of identity theft.  In 2017, the IRS received 242,000 reports from taxpayers compared to 401,000 in 2016 and 677,000 victim reports in 2015. Overall, the number of identity theft victims has fallen nearly 65 percent between 2015 and 2017.

These efforts go hand-in-hand with the work done by IRS Criminal Investigation, where special agents continue working to bring identity thieves to justice across the nation.

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Bronx Men Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Explosives Charges

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and James P. O’Neill, Police Commissioner of the City of New York, (“NYPD”), announced that CHRISTIAN TORO and TYLER TORO have been charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with their stockpiling of explosive materials and manufacture of destructive devices at their residence in the Bronx.  Both defendants were presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman in Manhattan federal court this afternoon and detained. 

As alleged in the Complaint[1]:

On or about December 4, 2017, a bomb threat was called into a high school in Harlem, New York (the “School”).  Shortly after a student was arrested in connection with that incident, CHRISTIAN TORO, who was a teacher at the School, resigned.  After CHRISTIAN TORO’s resignation, TYLER TORO returned to the School a laptop computer (the “Laptop”) that the School had provided to CHRISTIAN TORO for use in connection with his employment.  A School employee found, on the Laptop, a copy of a book that provides instructions for, among other things, manufacturing explosive devices.

Law enforcement agents subsequently interviewed multiple students at the School, who indicated that at least two students at the School had visited CHRISTIAN TORO’s residence (the “Residence”), where CHRISTIAN TORO would pay them approximately $50 per hour to break apart fireworks and store the powder that came out of the fireworks in containers.

On February 15, 2018, law enforcement agents conducted a search of the Residence pursuant to a judicially authorized search warrant.  In a bedroom identified as shared by CHRISTIAN TORO and TYLER TORO, law enforcement agents recovered, among other items, (i) approximately 20 pounds of iron oxide; (ii) approximately five pounds of aluminum powder; (iii) a substance appearing to be thermite, mixed from iron oxide and aluminum powder; (iv) approximately five pounds of potassium nitrate; (v) a glass jar containing explosive powder; and (vi) a cardboard box containing firecrackers.  In addition, law enforcement agents found a handwritten diary labeled with TYLER TORO’s name, which stated, among other things, “WE ARE TWIN TOROS STRIKE US NOW, WE WILL RETURN WITH NANO THERMITE” and “I AM HERE 100%, LIVING, BUYING WEAPONS.  WHATEVER WE NEED.”  Law enforcement agents also recovered a backpack, identified as belonging to CHRISTIAN TORO, containing an index card with handwriting reading “UNDER THE FULL MOON THE SMALL ONES WILL KNOW TERROR.”

*                *                *

CHRISTIAN TORO, 27, of the Bronx, New York, is charged in the Complaint with one count of unlawfully manufacturing a destructive device, in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5822, 5861(f), and 5871 and 18 U.S.C. § 2, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of distribution of explosive materials to a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 842(d)(1), which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.  TYLER TORO, also 27 and of the Bronx, New York, is charged with one count of unlawfully manufacturing a destructive device, in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5822, 5861(f), and 5871 and 18 U.S.C. § 2, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.  The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists principally of agents of the FBI and detectives of the NYPD.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Hanft is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Stockton Man Pleads Guilty To Sex Trafficking Of A Child

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Ricky Lee Richardson, Jr., 41, of Stockton, pleaded guilty today to sex trafficking of a child, United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. 

According to court documents, in November 2011, Richardson recruited a minor victim to engage in prostitution. Between December 2011 and March 2012, Richardson caused the then 16-year-old victim to engage in prostitution in Stockton and elsewhere in Northern California. Richardson arranged for photos to be taken of the victim and he posted prostitution advertisements on the internet that contained nude photos of the victim. Richardson drove the victim to motels and gave her false identification cards that she used to rent rooms for the prostitution activity. Richardson took the money that the victim obtained from that activity.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Stockton Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian A. Fogerty and Jill M. Thomas are prosecuting the case.

Richardson has been in custody since his arrest in April 2016.

Richardson is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Troy L. Nunley on May 17, 2018. Richardson faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet safety education.