Former Woonsocket, R.I., Police Officer John H. Douglas pleaded guilty today in federal court in Providence, R.I., to a federal criminal civil rights charge for assaulting a juvenile who was in his custody.

A federal grand jury in Mobile, Ala., has returned a three-count indictment charging Thomas Hayward Lewis, 24, of Mobile, with violating and conspiring to violate the civil rights of congregants of the Congregation Tree of Life Messianic Synagogue in Mobile, as well as possession of an unregistered firearm.

The indictment, unsealed today in Hammond, Ind., charges six alleged members of the gang known as Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation for their alleged roles in a racketeering conspiracy in Hammond, Ind., and elsewhere.

A federal jury in Orlando, Fla., found former Bureau of Prisons corrections officer Michael Kennedy guilty late yesterday on felony federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of an inmate in March 2005.

The Justice Department today announced a court-approved consent decree which resolves a lawsuit against the state of New York and its public university systems for their failure to provide voter registration services at offices serving students with disabilities at each public university and college campus in New York State. 

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a consent decree with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that, if approved by the U.S. District Court, will resolve the department’s complaint filed in May 2009, alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. 

The United States has entered into a comprehensive agreement with the State of New York and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) that resolves previous findings of unconstitutional conditions at four juvenile justice facilities.

A federal grand jury has charged Vernon Wilson, former Chief Deputy of the Washington County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, in a six-count indictment stemming from four separate incidents in which Wilson allegedly assaulted inmates or caused the assault of inmates in the Washington County Jail in the summer and fall of 2005.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Mark John Walker, 51, of Eugene, Ore., in an eight-count indictment stemming from multiple incidents in which Walker allegedly sexually abused female offenders who were under his direct supervision as a probation officer, and then obstructed a later investigation to cover up his misconduct.

A federal district judge in Chicago has permanently barred Natalie Bradford, individually, and operating as K & N Tax Pros Inc., and Kristine Burkland-Valdez, individually, and operating as K & N Tax Pros Inc. and Tax Pros Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others.

Morgan Hanks, 25, of Newport News, was arrested on charges contained in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on July 13, 2010, and unsealed today in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Leon Pullen pleaded guilty to civil rights violations stemming from several incidents where he sexually assaulted and stole money from women.

Donald Hertz pleaded guilty today in federal court in Spokane to one count of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and one count of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.

Former Choctaw County, Okla., deputy sheriff Ben Westley Milner was sentenced today in Muskogee, Okla., to serve 18 months in prison and two years supervised release for violating the civil rights of three men by assaulting them without legal justification.

A federal grand jury in Shreveport, La., returned an indictment yesterday charging Joshua James Moro, 23; Jeremy Matthew Moro, 33; and Sonya Marie Hart, 31, with offenses related to a cross-burning in Athens, La., in October 2008, near the home of an interracial couple.

Swiss-based freight forwarder Panalpina Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $375,000 to settle allegations that the company paid kickbacks to employees of Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR).

A federal grand jury in St. Paul, Minn., returned an indictment today charging Minneapolis Police Officer Jason Andersen, 33, with a felony civil rights crime for assaulting a juvenile during an arrest.

A federal grand jury in Phoenix, Ariz., returned a three-count indictment today charging former Navajo Police Officer Christine Thinn and former Navajo Police Sergeant Phillip Bedonie Jr. with federal crimes in connection with the beating of Newton Charlie in January 2009.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Natchez, Miss., Police Department Officers Elvis Prater, 35, and Dewayne Johnson, 32, with civil rights offenses and other offenses related to the beating of two men in custody, the theft of an arrestee’s credit and debit cards, and the officers’ false statements to federal investigators.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., grand jury returned an indictment today against two former executives of Asiana Airlines, Inc. for participating in a conspiracy to fix economy class airfares paid by passengers for travel from the United States to the Republic of Korea.

John McQueen, 33, a former sergeant and supervisor at the Lexington-Fayette County, Ky., Detention Center (FCDC), and Clarence McCoy, 31, a former corporal at FCDC, were sentenced today in federal court in Lexington, Ky., for their roles in the systematic abuse of detainees at FCDC, the Justice Department announced

The Justice Department announced today a settlement with Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to protect the rights of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican voters under Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act.

Harold Hutcheson, a former captain at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NCC), in Tiptonville, Tenn., and Joshua Ryan Jones and Roger Forrester, former officers at NCC, were sentenced today in federal court in Jackson, Tenn., for violating the civil rights of an inmate and then lying about it during the state and federal investigations.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Wisconsin officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Alaska officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election. The agreement was necessary to ensure Alaska’s compliance with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act)

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached agreements with Colorado, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010 federal general election.

'RLUIPA was a response by bipartisan members of Congress to what they saw as a threat to one of our most fundamental freedoms," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

The Justice Department announced that it reached agreements this week with the city of Kings Mountain, N.C., and the city of Sandy Springs, Ga., in the form of consent decrees filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Former Memphis Police Officer sentenced to 18 months in prison, two years supervised release and a $4,000 fine.

Six international freight forwarders have agreed to plead guilty and to pay criminal fines totaling $50.27 million for their roles in several conspiracies to fix a variety of fees and charges in connection with the provision of freight forwarding services for international air cargo shipments.

The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against Guam and its election officials seeking emergency relief to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

Eighty-nine law enforcement officers and 44 others in Puerto Rico have been charged in 26 indictments unsealed today and returned by a grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the month of September 2010.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging former Fresno, Calif., Police Department (FPD) Officers Christopher Coleman, 42; Paul Van Dalen, 44; and Sean Plymale, 41; and current FPD Sergeant Michael Manfredi, 50, with civil rights and obstruction of justice offenses related to the assault of a man in their custody in October 2005.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Nevada officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

The Justice Department today announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of New York seeking relief to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election and future federal elections.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with New Mexico officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

The Justice Department today announced that it has awarded $720,321 in grants to 13 organizations throughout the country to conduct public education programs for workers and employers about federal protections against immigration-related job discrimination.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached agreements with New York, Kansas and Mississippi officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

Vincent Johnson of Brick, N.J., who went by the internet pseudonym “Devilfish,” pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton, N.J., to multiple charges related to a series of threatening communications he sent to employees of five civil rights organizations that work to improve opportunities for, and challenge discrimination against, Latinos in the United States.

A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., today returned an indictment charging Hickman County, Tenn., Deputy Sheriff Kenneth H. Smith with federal civil rights violations, as well as charges of lying to federal investigators.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Illinois officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election. 

An additional alleged member of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation (Latin Kings) has been indicted for his alleged role in a racketeering conspiracy in Hammond, Ind., and elsewhere.

In anticipation of the upcoming election, the department today provided information about its efforts, through the Civil Rights and Criminal Divisions, to ensure that all qualified voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots and have their votes counted, without incidence of discrimination, intimidation or fraud.

“It has been this administration’s commitment to ensure law enforcement has the resources necessary to combat violence against women and bring offenders to justice,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

Oddie Tribble, a former police officer with the Kershaw County, S.C., Sherriff’s Office, was charged today with violating the civil rights of an arrestee on Aug. 5, 2010.

A global freight forwarding company, as well as five oil and gas service companies and subsidiaries, have all agreed to resolve investigations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.

Daniel Lee Jones, a Portland, Ore., white supremacist, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and three years supervised release for threatening the president of the Lima, Ohio, chapter of the NAACP by mailing him a noose. Jones entered a guilty plea on May 17, 2010, to using the U.S. Postal Service to send a threatening communication.

Richard Chu, a former "VIP host" at Pure Nightclub located in Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of filing a false federal income tax return for the 2006 tax year.

The Justice Department today announced that it has filed a lawsuit alleging that Titan Laboratories Inc., and its owner Harvey Berger willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by discriminating against and failing to reemploy U.S. Army reservist Miguel Orozco Garduño.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia and resident of Corvallis, Ore., has been arrested on charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives) in connection with a plot to detonate a vehicle bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony earlier this evening in Portland, Ore., the Justice Department announced.