"As we honor American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage month, we work to build on our continued progress strengthening tribal law enforcement," said Deputy Attorney General Cole.
"This morning, we honor an extraordinary group of individuals – the 19,000 courageous soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who – in components and offices all around the world – form the backbone of the Justice Department family," said the Attorney General Holder.
Aaron Ford, 22, aka “.40 Cal.,” pleaded guilty on July 12, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise before Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond.
"The Albert Schweitzer Awards are given in honor of one of the world’s great humanitarians, a man who defined “good” as the preservation and enhancement of life in all its forms. The work that these recipients have done embodies the soul of Schweitzer’s philosophy," said Assistant Attorney General Robinson.
Marion Beverly Metoyer, 57, of Dayton, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in the Southern District of Texas. Metoyer was convicted by a jury on May 26, 2011, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receiving kickbacks.
Chiquita Q. Broadnax, a resident of Montgomery County, Ala., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison by Judge Mark Fuller of the Middle District of Alabama for her involvement in a fraudulent tax return perpetration scheme.
"Many of you here today are indeed being recognized precisely because of your courage in helping to make our communities safer," Assistant Attorney General Breuer said.
“Through this operation we are aggressively targeting those who are selling counterfeit goods for their own personal gain while costing our economy much-needed revenue and jobs,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.
Steven Scott Cantrell, 26, of Crane, Texas, was sentenced today for hate crime charges stemming from a series of racially-motivated arsons in December 2010, including the arson of a historic African-American church as part of an effort to murder a disabled African-American man.
Joaquin Tasis was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for his role in a $9.1 million Detroit-area Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Patrick W. Boyd, 44, of Gainesville, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois.
A former Consolidated Edison of New York (Con Ed) manager was sentenced today to serve 70 months in prison for participating in schemes to accept approximately $807,000 in bribes from two Con Ed industrial pipe supply vendors.
Thomas Aram Manok, 51, of Chantilly, Va., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.
Thomas Iafrate, 70, of Johnston, R.I., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., to 30 months in prison for participating in an extortion and racketeering conspiracy involving “protection” payments from several Rhode Island businesses.
“The dedicated public servants we are recognizing today have each made significant achievements in furthering the mission of the Justice Department,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.
John Mihalczo, 47, of Homosassa, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois.
Charles Joseph Bowie Jr., 45, of Georgetown, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.
The complaint alleges that, between April 2010 and July 2011, property associated with New Deal Shooting Sports was used in connection with, among other things, a conspiracy to make false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms and to illegally export firearms to Mexico, a conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and a conspiracy to facilitate the trafficking of narcotics.
Shaoxiong Zhou, 42, of Shantou, Guangdong, China, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes in the Eastern District of New York. Judge Townes also ordered Zhou to pay $20,000 in restitution.
The Justice Department announced today that the city of Brockton, Mass., promoted U.S. Army Reservist Brian Benvie on Dec. 16, 2011, to the position of lieutenant in the city’s police department.
Janika Fernae Bates, a resident of Millbrook, Ala., was sentenced today in the Middle District of Alabama to 94 months in federal prison for stealing identities of student loan borrowers and providing them to a co-conspirator, who used them to file false tax returns.
Kexue Huang, a Chinese national and a former resident of Carmel, Ind., was sentenced today to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release on charges of economic espionage to benefit components of the Chinese government and theft of trade secrets.
U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro sentenced Jose Lopez-Buelna, aka “Miguel,” 51, to 20 years in prison, and Erik Dushawn Webster, 47, to 25 years in prison.
A former agent for Innospec Inc., a U.S. company, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for his participation in a conspiracy to defraud the United Nations Oil for Food Program (OFFP) and to bribe former Iraqi government officials in connection with the sale of a chemical additive used in the refining of leaded fuel.
A former Major in the U.S. Army National Guard who was deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for receiving bribes from military contractors in exchange for fraudulently verifying the receipt of concrete bunkers and barriers that were never received.
Michael Jacques, 27, was sentenced in Boston by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 166 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.
John R. Brock, 52, of Crofton, Md., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins in the District of Columbia.
Two of her co-defendants were also sentenced to prison today for their roles in the fraud scheme.
A Pakistani citizen was sentenced today in the District of Columbia to 50 months in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Eddie Pressley, 41, a former U.S. Army contracting official, was sentenced in Birmingham, Ala., for his participation in a bribery and money laundering scheme related to bribes paid for contracts awarded in support of the Iraq war.
Hana Amal Beshara, 30, of North Brunswick, N.J., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Wayne A. Mounts, a resident of Mesa, Ariz., was sentenced yesterday to 63 months in prison for his role in conspiracies to commit money laundering and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced the Justice Department and the IRS today. On July 25, 2011, a federal jury in Phoenix convicted Mounts and his co-defendant, Gino Carlucci, of both conspiracies after an eight-day trial.
The pastor of a now defunct Los Angeles church who owned and operated several fraudulent durable medical equipment (DME) supply companies was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for his role in a $14.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.
Carolyn Ann Vasquez, 47, was also ordered to pay $6.2 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall of the Central District of California.
A former research scientist was sentenced late yesterday to 60 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Dow Chemical Company and selling them to companies in the People’s Republic of China, as well as committing perjury.
Matthew David Howard Smith, 24, of Raleigh, N.C., was sentenced today in Alexandria, Va., to 14 months in prison for his role in founding NinjaVideo.net, a website that provided millions of users with the ability to illegally download high-quality copies of copyright-protected movies and television programs.
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, George Will wrote that “One reason law enforcement is such a demanding, and admirable, profession is that it requires the constant exercise of good judgment in the application of general rules to ambiguous situations.”
The Justice Department today announced that it has entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement that will transform the Commonwealth of Virginia’s system for serving people with developmental disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, and will resolve violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Santiago Villa-Restrepo, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow of the Eastern District of Michigan.
Jeffery K. Armstrong, 52, of South Riding, Va., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for obtaining more than $100,000 in salary payments by fraudulently holding concurrent jobs at the United Nations (U.N.) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
A Virginia contractor was sentenced today to serve 37 months in prison for participating in a scheme to steer contracts to him for repair, maintenance and renovation work at healthcare and nursing home facilities owned by Medical Facilities of America Inc.
Natalie Evans, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in the Southern District of Florida.
Attila Nemeth, 26, a Hungarian citizen, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to 30 months in prison for transmitting a malicious code to Marriott International Corporation computers and threatening to reveal confidential information obtained from the company’s computers if Marriott did not offer him a job.
Eduard Aslanyan, 38, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall in the Central District of California.
A former owner of two Illinois-based technology companies was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison for her participation in a conspiracy to defraud the federal E-Rate program.
Joseph Tierney, 24, of Wellesley, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips.
The co-owner of two Los Angeles-area health care companies was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for his conviction stemming from a nine-year scheme to defraud Medicare.
Andrew Isaac Chance of Clinton, Md., was sentenced Wednesday to 65 months in prison for filing false claims for tax refunds and for filing a false retaliatory lien against a federal prosecutor.
Butler Moultrie, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in the Southern District of Florida.