A patient recruiter who sold the personal information of Medicare beneficiaries from San Diego and Los Angeles to fraudulent Los Angeles medical clinics and durable medical equipment (DME) companies was sentenced late yesterday to 21 months in prison in connection with a scheme to defraud Medicare.

U.S. Army Major Roderick D. Sanchez pleaded guilty today to a one-count criminal information charging him with bribery for accepting money and items of value in return for being influenced in the awarding of Army contracts.

A federal court in Pensacola, Fla., sentenced the last two promoters of a fraudulent tax- and debt-elimination scheme to prison terms for their roles in tax fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Donald Williams was sentenced today in connection with a series of Costa Rica-based business opportunity fraud ventures.

“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.

According to the superseding indictment, the defendants were members of the Latin Kings, a violent street gang with members operating in Maryland since at least 2007.

A patient recruiter for a Houston-based home health care company pleaded guilty today in connection with a $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Leading up to next week’s election, the Department has devoted significant time and resources in recent months to enforce the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009, in order to ensure that all military and overseas voters can access their right to vote and have their votes counted in the upcoming election.

John T.C. Yeh, the owner of Viable Communications Inc., and his brother, Joseph Yeh, the former vice president for corporate strategy and second in charge for Viable, pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s Video Relay Service program.

Joseph Barringer, 55, the owner of a Florida pool cue company, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Orlando to violating the Endangered Species Act in connection with the illegal export of African elephant ivory through an online auction site.

A Miami grand jury returned an indictment today against two executives of Cargolux Airlines International S.A., a Luxembourg-based corporation, for participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate certain surcharges on air cargo shipments to and from the United States.

A Miami grand jury returned an indictment today against four former airline executives of competing air cargo carriers for participating in a conspiracy to fix surcharges on air cargo shipments from the United States to South and Central America following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty for his role in organizing and financing a network of high-tech, indoor marijuana grow facilities stretching from Florida to Connecticut.

Todd Alan Cook, 24, of Wichita Falls, Texas, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III for selling more than $1 million worth of pirated computer software through the Internet, in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws.

A fired information technology director for Transmarx LLC, a Richmond, Va., company, was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for hacking into his former employer’s website.

A securities attorney and a former stock broker were sentenced today to 188 months and 151 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in an extensive pump-and-dump stock manipulation scheme.

The United States has reached a settlement with Rocky Mountain Instrument Company (RMI) to resolve claims that the manufacturer violated the False Claims Act.

Platinum One Contracting, located in Capitol Heights, Md., its president, Anthony Wright, and Capitol Contractors, also located in Capitol Heights, and its president, Vernon J. Smith III, have agreed to pay the United States $200,000 to settle claims that they used false statements to obtain contracts from the Department of Defense.

The Justice Department announced today that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy more than 400 federal observers and department personnel to 30 jurisdictions in 18 states for the Nov. 2, 2010, general election.

"Today, we commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act," said Attorney General Holder.

"The Trafficking Victims Protection Act was a landmark piece of legislation," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.

"Human trafficking is a grave affront to human rights and to our nation’s core values, and there can be no higher calling in our commitment to vindicating the individual rights of all people than eradicating this form of modern-day slavery," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. (ANA) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $73 million criminal fine for its role in two separate conspiracies to fix prices in the air transportation industry.

Benjamin Haskell was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor in Springfield, Mass., to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the 2008 burning of the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, a predominately African-American Church, on the morning after President Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American President of the United States.

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.

James Bradley Branscum, Tony Branscum, both of Salado, Ark., and Curtis Coffee of Batesville, Ark., were indicted this week by a federal grand jury on charges related to their roles in burning a cross in the yard of an African-American resident in Salado on Aug. 28, 2010.

The Department of Justice has scheduled three public hearings on its regulatory proposals concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The United States has asked a federal court in Chicago to permanently bar John E. Rogers, a Chicago tax lawyer and former partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, from promoting tax shelters that allegedly use distressed Brazilian debt to illegally lower customers’ reported income.

A federal court Tuesday issued a memorandum opinion and a preliminary injunction against Arthur Piner Grider, III; Asgard Avionics Corp. of Florida; and 14 other corporate defendants who operate as employee leasing companies, from violating the Internal Revenue Code.

Gregory Mussmacher was convicted by a jury in May 2010 for physically abusing a juvenile in his custody and for obstructing justice to cover up what he had done.

David Chiaradio, 28, of Westerly, R.I., was convicted today by a federal jury in Providence, R.I., of one count of distribution of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.

Ilya Sobolevskiy, a 25-year-old resident of Maryland, was sentenced today to serve 12 months in prison and to pay a $3,000 fine for violating the civil rights of members of an Urbana, Ill., mosque, announced the Justice Department.

Tyrone L. Ellis, a former civilian employee of the Department of Defense (DoD), was arrested yesterday and has been charged with conspiracy, conversion and false statements related to his alleged theft of Army Emergency Relief (AER) funds while he was employed at Camp Humphreys in the Republic of Korea.

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.

Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV) was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

David R. Lewalski, formerly of Gainesville, Fla., was arrested today in Manhattan on a wire fraud charge related to his alleged participation in a $30 million investment fraud scheme.

"One concrete and very direct result of the Justice Department’s participation in the Task Force is that we have forged and fostered strong relationships with our partners in the fight against financial fraud," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) implemented the Unified Financial Management System (UFMS), a core centralized accounting system that improves internal controls and standardizes data.

Brooke E. Reyna, 28, of Barrington, N.H., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to making false statements.

Gary Lee Rimmer, 56, was indicted in June 2010 and charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

Harold James Nicholson, 59, appeared before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown and pleaded guilty to the crimes of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

A federal judge in Providence, R.I., entered a preliminary injunction against Michael Brier, individually, and doing business as Refunds Now Inc., RNTS Inc., FTIRS Inc., POTIRS Inc. and IHIRS Inc. from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of Indiana have reached an agreement with the city of Indianapolis on important modifications to a 2006 consent decree that will make Indianapolis’ sewer system more efficient, leading to major reductions in sewage contaminated water at a savings to the city of approximately $444 million.

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.

Lauren Stevens of Durham, N.C., was charged with one count of obstructing an official proceeding, one count of concealing and falsifying documents to influence a federal agency, and four counts of making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.

“In January 2008, Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed Assistant United States Attorney John Durham to investigate the destruction by CIA personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations," said Matthew Miller, Director, Office of Public Affairs.

The Justice Department and Hilton Worldwide Inc. today announced a comprehensive, precedent-setting agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that will make state-of-the-art accessibility changes to approximately 900 hotels nationwide.

Remy Heath, aka “Remy,” “King Remy,” and “King Mellow,” 26, of Hyattsville, Md., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, in connection with his gang activities as a member and leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation.

St. Joseph Medical Center has agreed to pay the United States $22 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that it paid unlawful remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Act and violated the Stark Law when it entered into a series of professional services contracts with MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Lee Enterprises Inc. and its subsidiary, Lee Publications Inc., violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by publishing an advertisement that discriminated on the basis of familial status in the Elko Daily Free Press.