Ralph Nicoletti pleaded guilty in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court today before U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon to committing three assaults targeting African-American residents in Staten Island, N.Y., on the night of President Barack Obama’s election victory. Nicoletti was the last of four defendants to plead guilty in the federal prosecution stemming from the attacks.

Timothy Oldani, 24, of Scott Depot, W.Va., and Joseph Oldani, 21, of Camp Lejeune, N.C., both pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of West Virginia to conspiring to steal military optics from the U.S. Marine Corps and illegally export them from the United States.

The Department announced today the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Anthony D. Jackson, an Air Force National Guard member, against Union County College (UCC) under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Department today announced a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve allegations in a lawsuit the Department filed on behalf of Randall A. Slocum, an Air Force Reservist, against the city of Iola, Kan. The complaint, filed in December 2008, alleged that the city of Iola violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by taking into consideration Slocum’s military service obligations when it disciplined him and denied him a wage increase.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the complaint of pattern or practice religious discrimination filed by the United States against WMATA under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The former finance director of an Orange County, Calif.-based valve company pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a conspiracy to pay approximately $628,000 in bribes to numerous foreign government officials.

Former Tippah County, Miss., Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Rogers, 35, pleaded guilty today to a one-count information charging him and former Deputy Sheriff William Rogers with violating the civil rights of an arrestee. William Rogers, 56, who is Jeffrey Rogers’ father, pleaded guilty on Jan. 20, 2009, to the same charge of violating the civil rights of an arrestee.

The United States has filed a complaint against Westar Energy alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by making major modifications to the Jeffrey Energy Center, a coal-fired power plant in St. Marys, Kan., without also installing and operating modern pollution control equipment.

Raul Cortes-Meza, 21, aka “Oscar”, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to sex trafficking of a minor from Mexico.

A former employee at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti pleaded guilty today to one count of theft for stealing more than $800,000 from the U.S. Department of State. According to court documents, Jean G. Saint-Joy, 25, a citizen of Haiti, was employed as a cashier by the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from approximately 1995 until July 2008.

A federal jury in Memphis, Tenn., today found Arthur Sease IV, a former Memphis Police Department officer, guilty on forty-four counts of civil rights, narcotics, robbery and firearms offenses. The evidence at trial showed that from November 2003 through April 2006, Sease conspired with other Memphis police officers to use their authority as law enforcement officers, including their service weapons, to rob suspected drug dealers of cash, cocaine and marijuana. Sease and his co-conspirators would then resell the stolen drugs for their own profit.

A former Velda City, Mo., auxiliary reserve police officer pleaded guilty today to violating the federal civil rights of a woman he sexually assaulted during a traffic stop and to concealing evidence of his crime from federal investigators. According to facts presented in court, on or about July 9, 2006, Joe Ernest Phillips, 38, then an auxiliary reserve police officer for the Velda City Police Department sexually assaulted a woman while acting under color of law and deprived her of her civil rights.

A former member of the U.S. armed services pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Tucson for his role in a widespread bribery and extortion conspiracy. The charges arise from Operation Lively Green, an undercover investigation conducted by the FBI that began in December 2001. To date, 56 additional defendants have been sentenced for their roles in the conspiracy.

Kellogg Brown & Root LLC (KBR), a global engineering, construction and services company based in Houston, pleaded guilty today to charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.

Harris Taubman, of Hyannis, Mass., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to receiving and possessing child pornography. Taubman, 48, pleaded before U.S. District Judge William G. Young to three counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He was indicted on those charges on Feb. 6, 2008.

A fish wholesaler, its owner and an employee have all pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for the illegal purchase and sale of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River from 2003 through 2007.

Tai Khiem Tran, 47, pleaded guilty today in San Diego to conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise, the “Tran Organization,” in a scheme to cheat casinos across the United States and Canada. Tran admitted that he and his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained up to $1 million during card cheats.

RE/MAX East-West, a real estate firm in Elmhurst, Ill., and one of its former real estate agents, John DeJohn, have agreed to pay $120,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and national origin. The consent decree was signed on Feb. 17, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo.

The United States has filed a complaint against Louisiana Generating alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by operating the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant in New Roads, La., without also installing and operating modern pollution control equipment after the generating units had undergone major modifications.

Timothy Christenbury, of Charlotte, N.C., pleaded guilty today to possessing child pornography. Christenbury, 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl Horn III to one count of possession of child pornography. He was indicted on those charges on Dec. 16, 2008. According to the indictment, Christenbury possessed computer files containing child pornography from on or about Sept. 2 to Sept. 4, 2007.

The United States has intervened in two whistleblower suits filed in the Northern District of California against the drug manufacturer Scios Inc. and its parent company, Johnson &off-label” use because it is not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label.

Jack A. Taylor, 68, a resident of Rolling Springs, Ky., pleaded guilty today to producing child pornography and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Taylor, appearing before U.S. District Court Judge David F. Hamilton in Indianapolis, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release following completion of his prison term, forfeit all items seized during the investigation that were used to commit his offense, and to pay $4,000 in restitution to his victim.

Five St. Mary’s County, Md., commercial fisherman pleaded guilty today to illegally overfishing striped bass also known as rockfish.

The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of the City of Chicago (Board), alleging pregnancy discrimination in employment against former elementary school teacher Traci Meziere.

Leonard Fox a/k/a Anton a/k/a “Daddy” pleaded guilty today to a federal civil rights charge for sex trafficking of minors. In U.S. District Court in Memphis, Fox admitted to recruiting and obtaining underage girls and arranging for those girls to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit.

U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice in federal court in Houston. Kent, 59, a district judge in the Southern District of Texas, pleaded guilty to making false statements to a special investigative committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during an investigation of a judicial misconduct complaint filed against him.

The Department announced today the resolution of the lawsuit filed by the United States against the state of Vermont to enforce the reporting requirements of the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA is designed to ensure that members of the uniformed services and overseas citizens may effectively participate in federal elections.

Gary Moss and Devan Klausegger of Medford, Ore., pleaded guilty today to conspiring to interfere with civil rights. According to facts stipulated in their plea agreements and set forth in the indictment, on May 26, 2008, Moss poured a flammable liquid on the front lawn of the victims’ residence in the shape of a cross and the letters “KKK”.

The Department announced today that it has reached a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve a lawsuit filed by the Department against the Administrative Office of the Courts of the State of North Carolina and the Honorable Jerry Braswell, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for North Carolina Judicial District 8-B, in his official capacity.

Soripada Lubis, a naturalized American citizen originally from Indonesia, pleaded guilty today to harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain. Lubis’ wife, Siti Chadidjah Siregar, a citizen of Indonesia, pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal agents who were investigating the scheme.

An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen today pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to murder Americans overseas, including by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, and by demonstrating on video how these explosives would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants.

An employee of a Sewell, N.J., company that provided temporary electrical utilities pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site in New Jersey.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with the city of Dayton that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint that Dayton has been engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-Americans in its hiring of entry-level police officers and firefighters, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

Rodrigo Molina, 33, a Brazilian national who resided in Miami, was found guilty by a federal jury on 11 of 16 charged counts related to a $13.5 million money laundering conspiracy. Molina was found guilty on Feb. 25, 2009, following a seven-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kevin Stenger, an Indiana National Guard member, against Wagner Industrial Electric Inc. (Wagner), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). USERRA was enacted in 1994 to protect service members from being disadvantaged in their civilian careers due to serving in the uniformed services.

After nearly 13 years as a fugitive, a former New Jersey resident has been returned to the United States, and pleaded guilty today to conspiring to committing one of the nation’s largest known motor fuel excise tax schemes. Aaron Misulovin a/k/a Albert Friedman, a/k/a Valery Vibornov, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden, N.J., to one count of conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and three counts of tax evasion.

The United States has filed a lawsuit to block KV Pharmaceutical Company, its subsidiaries, ETHEX Corp. and Ther-Rx Corp., and its principal officers from making and distributing adulterated and unapproved drugs. At the same time, KV agreed to the injunction in a consent decree.

A Middlesex, N.J., industrial pipes, valves and fittings supply company and its co-owner pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund sites in New Jersey. The sites are Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali, located in Newark, N.J.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Ecolab Inc. (Ecolab) that will resolve the Department’s complaint, which was filed today, that Ecolab failed to reemploy Michigan veteran Stephen Alasin in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, as amended (USERRA). The consent decree was approved by the court today as well.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Stimson Lumber Company (Stimson) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint, also filed today, that Oregon-based Stimson failed to reemploy Oregon reservist David Eckhardt in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

Odell Folks, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Tanya Smith, a resident of Waterbury, Conn., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims for tax refunds. Folks also pleaded guilty to mail fraud and making a false tax return.

The United States has intervened in a whistleblower suit filed in the District of New Mexico against Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS) and three of its hospitals in New Mexico: Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell, Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming, and Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas. The suit alleges that CHS and its three hospitals violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly causing to be presented to the United States false claims for federal matching Medicaid funds.

John Joseph Cota, a California ship pilot, pleaded guilty today to negligently causing the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a law enacted in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Cota, who piloted the M/V Cosco Busan when it hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge on Nov. 7, 2007, also pleaded guilty today to violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of protected migratory birds.

A former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) employee who falsified his performance evaluation to justify an annual performance award to which he was not entitled pleaded guilty today to one count of making false statements.

Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen, who was the Chief Engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/T Nautilus, pleaded guilty today to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of oil-contaminated bilge water from the M/T Nautilus.

Japanese electronics manufacturer Hitachi Displays Ltd., agreed to plead guilty and pay a $31 million fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the sale of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display panels (TFT-LCD) sold to Dell Inc.

A former congressional staffer pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to commit honest services fraud. Ann Copland, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts in the District of Columbia.

Charles Brown, 54, of Mesa, Ariz., pleaded guilty today to one count of receiving child pornography. During the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt, Brown admitted to receiving child pornography.

A securities attorney pleaded guilty today to defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 different publicly traded companies. David B. Stocker, 49, of Phoenix pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a “pump-and-dump” scheme.

Beverly L. Masek, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery.  Masek pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline in Anchorage to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.