A federal grand jury sitting in Muskogee, Okla., returned an indictment today charging former Bryan County, Okla., Sheriff’s Lieutenant Kevin Bennett Holt, 48, of Achille, Okla., with federal civil rights violations and related acts of obstruction of justice.

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., has returned a seven-count indictment charging Sanford Ltd. with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Ronald Mitchell, 33, an officer with the New Orleans Police Department, was convicted today of obstructing justice and committing perjury during the course of a federal civil suit related to the shooting death of civilian Danny Brumfield in September 2005.

Ilios Shipping Company S.A., pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

Pelican Refining Company LLC, was sentenced today to pay $12 million for felony violations of the Clean Air Act and obstruction of justice charges in federal court in Lafayette, La.

A federal grand jury in Des Moines, Iowa, returned an indictment today charging two former Des Moines Police Department Officers Mersed Dautovic and John Mailander with violations of federal criminal laws related to an incident involving an alleged assault against a civilian on Sept. 13, 2008.

Two corporations pleaded guilty today in separate hearings in Baltimore for their role in managing and owning a ship engaged in deliberate discharges of waste oil and plastic garbage.

The director of the school lunch program for the government of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa was convicted today in relation to his efforts to obstruct a federal grand jury and law enforcement investigation into a bribery scheme.

Two corrections officers were sentenced to prison today for civil rights and obstruction charges stemming from prisoner abuse that took place at the South Florida Reception Center (SFRC), a state prison in Doral, Fla.

John P. Miller, a Certified Public Accountant, was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida with obstructing the Internal Revenue laws and preparing false tax returns the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Stephen Michael Kirkpatrick, 47, was indicted on two counts of violating the victim’s rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and the use of unreasonable force by a person acting under color of law and one count of obstruction of justice.

Italian-based shipping company Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company S.P.A., owner and operator of the Motor Vessel Bottiglieri Challenger, and Vito La Forgia, the vessel’s chief engineer, have been charged in a four-count indictment with the illegal dumping of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, conspiracy and two counts of obstruction of justice.

Father and son, John Tuma and Cody Tuma, 28, of Shreveport, were both charged in a five-count indictment with violations of the Clean Water Act, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to illegal discharges coming from the Arkla Disposal Services Inc., a facility in Shreveport, La.

Ilios Shipping Company S.A. was sentenced today in federal court in New Orleans for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice.

Abby Beard Hogan, 50, pleaded guilty yesterday in the Northern District of Florida for her role in the obstruction of a multinational investigation into the disappearance of her husband, James Hogan, then an employee in the U.S. Consulate in Curacao, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Pamela Cothran Marsh for the Northern District of Florida, U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office.

The Justice Department announced today that five officers from the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were sentenced in connection with the federal civil rights prosecution of a police-involved shooting that occurred on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, leaving two innocent civilians dead and four others seriously wounded.

A former New Orleans Police Department officer Ronald Mitchell was sentenced today to 20 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance for lying under oath and obstructing justice.

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that attorney Aristotle “Rick” R. Matsa, of Worthington, Ohio, was convicted of numerous tax fraud and obstruction of justice related offenses, including witness tampering and making a false statement.

Mix, 50, of Katy, Texas, was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice in a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana and unsealed today.

Suzanne Land, a Cincinnati attorney, pleaded guilty today to obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) while representing the estates of two deceased clients, the Justice Department and IRS announced. District Court Judge Herman J. Weber presided over the guilty plea hearing.

An executive of South Korean-based Hyosung Corporation has agreed to plead guilty and to serve time in a U.S. prison for obstruction of justice charges in connection with an automated teller machine (ATM) merger investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division.

Prastana Taohim, 38, the captain of the M/V Gaurav Prem, was found guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice.

Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County, Fla., was convicted by a federal jury in Miami of three counts of making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and one count of obstruction of an agency proceeding.

Paul Solofa, the former chief financial officer for the Department of Education for the government of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa was sentenced today to 35 months in prison following his conviction earlier this year for his efforts to obstruct a federal grand jury and law enforcement investigation into a bribery scheme.

Former Fort Deposit, Ala., Police Officer Carlos Tyson Bennett was arrested today on charges of stealing money from motorists on Interstate 65 in central Alabama and subsequently trying to conceal his criminal activity, announced the Justice Department.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 38, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, pleaded guilty today to obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.

Veteran District of Columbia defense attorney Charles F. Daum, 66, of Arnold, Md., was found guilty today of one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, three counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of subornation of perjury, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Chief Cathy L. Lanier of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department; and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

A federal grand jury in Albuquerque has issued a seven-count indictment charging three corrections officers at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) with various crimes related to the assault of an inmate housed at MDC on Dec. 21, 2011, and subsequent attempts to cover up and impede the investigation of the assault.

After a seven week trial in federal court in Camden, N.J., multiple defendants were convicted on various felony counts of creating false records, trafficking in illegally possessed oysters, obstructing the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of public health and safety, and conspiring to commit those crimes.

William B. Clayton, a residential builder formerly of Corolla, N.C., was arrested yesterday on charges of obstructing the tax laws and converting government property.

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman was resentenced today to serve 78 months in prison for his role in bribery, conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice charges involving former HealthSouth CEO Richard M. Scrushy.

A federal jury in Washington, D.C., today returned guilty verdicts against Sanford Ltd., a New Zealand fishing company, on six counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County, Fla., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to 21 months in prison.

A federal judge in Worcester, Mass., sentenced William Scott Dion today to 84 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States, and for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor also ordered Dion to pay restitution in the amount of $3 million.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 39, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for her role in obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.

A federal judge in Worcester, Mass., sentenced Catherine June Floyd today to 60 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor also ordered Floyd to pay restitution in the amount of $3 million.

A federal judge in Boston sentenced Charles Adams today to 48 months in prison for tax evasion, conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor also ordered Adams to pay restitution in the amount of $401,000.

A federal judge in Boston sentenced Gary Alcock today to 14 months in prison for tax evasion, for conspiring to defraud the United States, and for willfully failing to file tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor also ordered Gary Alcock to pay restitution in the amount of $515,518. Alcock pleaded guilty to the charges on Dec. 9, 2011, and provided substantial assistance to the government in prosecuting the case against the remaining defendants, which Judge Saylor cited, among other factors, as a basis for a reduced sentence.

The indictment charges former FBI special agent Robert G. Lustyik Jr., 50, of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.; Michael L. Taylor, 51, of Harvard, Mass., the principal of Boston-based American International Security Corporation (AISC); and Johannes W. Thaler, 49, of New Fairfield, Conn., each with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of obstructing justice and one count of obstructing an agency proceeding.

William R. Herder of Bellville, Ohio, pleaded guilty yesterday to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the tax laws and currency structuring, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division Kathryn Keneally, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Stephen M. Dettelbach and Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, Darryl K. Williams announced. Herder was previously indicted in June of this year.

Nagoya, Japan-based Tokai Rika Co. Ltd., has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $17.7 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of heater control panels (HCPs) installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere.

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that attorney Aristotle R. Matsa (Rick Matsa), of Worthington, Ohio, was sentenced to 85 months in prison by the Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Judge Sargus also ordered Matsa to pay a criminal fine of $265,000, make restitution to the IRS in the amount of $388,000, and pay restitution to a client from whom Rick Matsa embezzled funds in the amount of $24,069.

BP Exploration and Production Inc. (BP) has agreed to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress and pay a record $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for its conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today.

A federal judge sentenced Spokane, Wash., Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. to 51 months in prison followed by three years supervised release for civil rights and obstruction violations stemming from his March 18, 2006, beating of an unarmed citizen and an extensive cover-up that followed, the Justice Department announced today. Following a Taser deployment and a rapid series of baton blows to the head, neck and body, the victim, the late Otto Zehm, 36, was hogtied, stopped breathing and was transported to the hospital, where he died two days later. The defendant claimed the beating was justified because he felt threatened by a plastic bottle of soda Zehm was holding.

A defendant who tried to escape fraud charges against him by exerting pressure on a U.S. Attorney’s spouse and candidate for office pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice for perpetrating the scheme.

Michael Carlow, a resident of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty today to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service.

Anthony McIntosh, a former correctional officer at the Prince George’s County Detention Center, in Upper Marlboro, Md., today pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for providing false information about the circumstances surrounding the in-custody death of Ronnie White on June 29, 2008.

A New Zealand fishing company that owned and operated the tuna fishing vessel San Nikunau, and a former chief engineer on the ship, were sentenced in federal court today for environmental crimes and obstruction of justice.

Today, Matthew E. Davidson, a former corrections officer of the Alabama Department of Corrections, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., to two counts of violating the civil rights of a former inmate at Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton, Ala., and to one count of conspiring with other corrections officers to obstruct justice by covering up the incident.

James M. Davis, 64, formerly of Baldwyn, Miss., the former chief financial officer of Stanford International Bank (SIB) and Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving SIB, and for conspiring to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into SIB.