The Department has entered into a consent decree with the City of Ecorse, Mich., that, if approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Mich., will resolve the Department’s complaint against Ecorse filed in July 2008.

A federal court has barred a Chicago tax preparation firm, El Caminante, Inc. and its principal operator, Maria Colica, from preparing federal income tax returns claiming false tax credits. The company and Colica agreed to the injunction. The Government civil injunction complaint filed in the case alleged that Colica fraudulently claimed fuel tax credits for customers who were not entitled to them.

WASHINGTON and PENSACOLA, Fla. – Six U.S. defendants convicted for their activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise were sentenced today in the Northern District of Florida, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Thomas F. Kirwin and FBI Executive Assistant Director J. Stephen Tidwell announced.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King of the Civil Rights Division announced today that Thomas Houston, former Chief of the Gary, Ind., Police Department, was sentenced to 41 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for violating the civil rights of a Gary resident in June 2007.

A federal judge today sentenced Jimmy “Jimbo” Sullivan, the former chief of police in Mendenhall, Miss., to 30 months in prison for using excessive force when he repeatedly stomped on the head of an arrestee. At his guilty plea hearing on Jan. 30, 2009, Sullivan admitted that he used excessive force on July 22, 2005, after joining other law enforcement officials in the apprehension of a man who led police on a car chase.

A Chicago grand jury indicted the president and vice president of an Illinois refuse disposal container repair company for engaging in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud the city of Chicago on a contract for the repair of refuse carts. This is the first case to be brought in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation into the refuse cart repair industry.

STX Pan Ocean Co. Ltd. (STX), headquartered in Seoul, Korea, and the owner of the commercial cargo ship, M/V Ocean Jade, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy as well as falsifying and failing to properly maintain records meant to ensure compliance with maritime pollution laws. The chief engineer of the M/V Ocean Jade, Hong Hak Kang, a Korean citizen, also pleaded guilty today to failing to maintain environmental records and making false statements.

James W. Dotts Jr., 33, of Georgetown, Ind., pleaded guilty today in New Albany, Ind., to one count of possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 37 months in prison and lifetime supervised release following completion of his prison term.

James Freeman of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was sentenced to life in prison today for his activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise. Freeman, a registered sex offender, was found guilty following a six-day trial in January 2009 of six counts relating to his criminal activities as a member of the child exploitation enterprise.

The Department has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against Nobel Learning Communities Inc. (Nobel) alleging the company violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding children with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities from its schools and programs.

The Department announced a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve its lawsuit filed on behalf of David D. Sweatt, a Michigan Army National Guard member currently serving in Iraq, against his former employer, Americraft Carton Inc. (Americraft).

Style Craft Furniture Co. Ltd., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., to one count of smuggling cribs containing internationally protected wood known as “ramin.”

A former officer and two employees of Teamsters Local 743 (Local 743) were convicted today in federal court in Chicago of federal labor fraud and theft charges in connection with stealing union ballots in an effort to rig two elections in favor of an incumbent slate of officers in 2004. A federal jury returned guilty verdicts today, after deliberating since April 29, 2009, against the three defendants whose trial began on April 6, 2009.

Timothy Lantz, 57, of Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty today in Columbus to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of failing to update his sex offender registration.

Patrick Cochran, 47, of Lake Jackson, Texas, pleaded guilty today to one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen who was the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/T Nautilus, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for maintaining inaccurate records that concealed a discharge of oil-contaminated water from the bilges of the M/T Nautilus. Oria was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by supervised release for a term of two years and a $3,000 fine.

Two former managers of the Bank of China and their wives were sentenced today after their convictions on Aug. 29, 2008, by a federal jury in Las Vegas on charges of racketeering, money laundering, international transportation of stolen property as well as passport and visa fraud.

A federal grand jury in Houston returned a two-count indictment today charging Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group (SFG), with conspiring to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proceeding investigating SFG, as well as a substantive count of obstructing the SEC proceeding.

Robert P. Merz, 45, was convicted by a federal jury in Philadelphia today of advertising, transporting, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Roger Lowe, 50, of Indianapolis, was sentenced today to five years in prison for receiving child pornography.

Georgia-Pacific, a manufacturing company headquartered in Atlanta, has agreed to perform remedial work at an estimated cost of nearly $13 million to contain two former disposal areas within the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Allegan and Kalamazoo Counties, Mich.

Christopher Handley, 39, of Glenwood, Iowa, pleaded guilty today in Des Moines, Iowa, to possessing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children and mailing obscene material.

"Preventing the sexual exploitation of children, and stopping and punishing those who do it are a leading priority. The Department aggressively enforces the laws at our disposal to protect our children."

The Department today has entered into a settlement agreement with the city of Chicago’s Board of Education that, if approved and entered by the court, will resolve a complaint of pregnancy discrimination filed by the United States against the board under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Winfield Thomas, a resident of Carey, Ohio, and Jeanne Herrington, a resident of Parma, Mich., were sentenced today to prison for conspiracy and other tax charges.

Kevin Howard, former chief financial officer and vice president of finance for Enron Broadband Services (EBS), Enron’s failed telecommunications business, pleaded guilty today to falsifying books and records.

Donald Charles Collier III, 45, of Carpinteria, Calif., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge George H. Wu to one count of mailing child pornography.

A Grand Rapids, Mich., grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging a former school superintendent with engaging in a conspiracy to accept a bribe from a vendor and to deprive his former employer and the citizens of Michigan of his honest services in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate Program.

Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera, 43, a Cuban national, and Henry Mantilla, 35, of Cape Coral, Fla., have been charged in a scheme to produce and sell counterfeit International Game Technology (IGT)-brand video gaming machines, commonly known as slot machines, and counterfeit IGT computer programs.

William Cozzi, a Chicago police officer, was sentenced today to 40 months in federal prison for violating the federal civil rights of a man whom the officer struck repeatedly with a dangerous weapon while the man was handcuffed and shackled in a wheelchair.

Lawrence Cohen, a resident of Las Vegas and a former employee of the now defunct Freedom Books, pleaded guilty today to a tax charge before U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson in Las Vegas. Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false 2000 Form 1040 for a client of Freedom Books.

A Tampa federal grand jury has charged a Florida man with criminal contempt of a federal court order in connection with the operation of a fraudulent vending machine business opportunity. The criminal charges form part of the government’s continued nationwide crackdown on business opportunity fraud.

Jeffrey Davis, a former employee of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to engaging in a felony conflict of interest by collecting fees from customers of a company he owned and operated for services he performed as part of his official duties at NARA.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the appointment of Brian M. O’Leary as the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) Chief Immigration Judge. Prior to his appointment, Judge O’Leary served as an immigration judge from May 2007 to June 2009 at the Arlington, Va., Immigration Court. He served as a temporary board member on the Board of Immigration Appeals from May 2006 to May 2007 and as a deputy chief immigration judge in the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge from March 2003 to May 2006.

John Reece Roth, 72, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sentenced to 48 months in prison for violating the Arms Export Control Act by conspiring to illegally export, and actually exporting, technical information relating to a U.S. Air Force (USAF) research and development contract.

Joseph McNealy, a former Jackson, Miss., computer systems administrator, was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for receiving and possessing images of child pornography.

Brenda Stevenson, an officer with the city of Highland Park, Mich., Police Department, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges of using unlawful and excessive force and making a false statement to an FBI agent.

A Greek citizen, Panagiotis Lekkas, the captain of the bulk cargo ship the M/V Theotokos, pleaded guilty today to four felony counts in federal court in New Orleans for violating anti-pollution laws, ship safety laws and obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard investigation.

A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County, Calif., was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket.

Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/V Myron N, and the second engineer, Dimitrios Papadakis, both citizens of Greece, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the cargo ship.

Carl Courtright III, of Granite City, Ill., was sentenced today to life plus 10 years in prison for production of child pornography and other offenses.  A federal jury convicted Courtright of one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of bank fraud following a five-day trial in March 2009.

Warren Mumpower of Spokane, Wash., was sentenced to life in prison today for his activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise.

William Travis Brown, 39, of Sellersburg, Ind., was convicted today by a federal jury in Indianapolis of transporting and possessing child pornography. Brown was charged on July 8, 2009, in an amended indictment with one count of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography.

Mark Edwin Cairnes, 51, of Jonestown, Texas, has been charged with advertising, receiving and possessing child pornography. A grand jury in the Western District of Texas returned the indictment against Cairnes on July 21, 2009, which was unsealed today after his arrest yesterday in Jonestown.

Robert Restuch, 69, of Bullhead City, Ariz., pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of mailing child pornography. As part of his plea agreement, Restuch admitted that he entered a U.S. Post Office in Bullhead City and mailed a package that contained more than 600 images of child pornography, including images depicting children less than 12 years old.

A former chief of staff to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. to three years of probation, including 170 days of home detention, and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Johnny Pires, 24, of Middleboro, Mass., was convicted today by a federal jury in Boston of attempting to receive child pornography and possessing child pornography.

Robert Jeffery, 55, was convicted today by a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., for his role in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

Charles Brown, 54, of Mesa, Ariz., was sentenced today to five years in prison and lifetime supervised release following his prison term for receiving child pornography.

Michael D. Doyle, 41, of Woburn, Mass., was sentenced today to four years in prison for possessing images of child pornography. Doyle also was sentenced to nine years of supervised release following his term in prison by U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. The court accepted Doyle’s guilty plea to a one-count information charging possession of child pornography, which was filed on April 22, 2009.