The Justice Department today entered into a sweeping agreement with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Governor Luis Fortuño to resolve its civil investigation of the Puerto Rico Police Department.

U.S. District Court Judge William P. Johnson entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Sunland Inc., a Portales, N.M.-based producer of peanut butter, and Jimmie D. Shearer, president and chief executive officer of Sunland, the Justice Department announced today.

Demetrio Juan Gonzales, 40, a former corrections officer at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court to 33 months in prison followed by three years of supervised released for violating the civil rights of an individual in his custody when he struck and choked the victim in the shower room/dress out area of MDC.

Three men, including two former officers with the Police of Puerto Rico, were convicted today by a federal jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for their roles in providing security for drug transactions.

Following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Puerto Rico today convicted a former executive of a Florida-based coastal water freight transportation company for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for water transportation of freight between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

Today the United States filed a civil action against ATP Oil &s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The complaint addresses the defendants’ alleged unlawful discharges of oil and unpermitted chemical dispersants from the defendants’ floating oil and gas production platform, the ATP Innovator, into the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal jury late yesterday convicted Kevin Casaus, 25, a former corrections officer at the Bernalillo County, N.M., Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Albuquerque, N.M., on obstruction of justice and falsification of records charges.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor the municipal election on March 12, 2013, in the town of Guadalupe, in Maricopa County, Ariz., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, returned an indictment against Thomas Farmer, a former executive of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Crowley Liner Services, for participating in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

A superseding indictment against four Police of Puerto Rico (POPR) officers was announced today by Roy L. Austin Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico; and Carlos Cases, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office.

Alexis Candelario-Santana, 41, faces life in prison following his conviction of murdering eight people and an unborn child and attempting to murder 19 others during a mass shooting at a Puerto Rico pub in 2009.

Xavier Jiménez-Benceví, aka “Xavi,” 28, faces life in prison following his conviction of murdering Delia Sánchez-Sánchez, a federal witness on a drug trafficking case.

Julian Zapata Espinoza, also known as “Piolin,” 32, pleaded guilty today to the murder of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata and the attempted murder of ICE Special Agent Victor Avila in Mexico.

Two former police officers with the Police of Puerto Rico were convicted of attempting to extort a commonwealth defendant and soliciting bribe payments of $50,000.

Peter Picone, 40, of Methuen, Mass., has been charged with importing counterfeit semiconductors from China for sale in the United States.

he Justice Department today entered into a sweeping civil rights agreement with the commonwealth of Puerto Rico to modernize and reform the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD).

Today, the Justice Department and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed an historic and court-enforceable agreement to ensure that local police services will be delivered in a manner that is both highly effective and consistent with the Constitution, the laws of the United States and our most treasured values.

Thank you, Governor, for that kind introduction. You and your administration – particularly, Secretary Sánchez Betances – have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the safety and welfare of the people of Puerto Rico

Federal authorities arrested eight people in the cities of Arroyo and Patillas, Puerto Rico, yesterday on felony and misdemeanor charges for the illegal take, possession and sale of endangered sea turtles and their parts for human consumption as well as aiding and abetting violations of the Endangered Species and Lacey Act, announced Robert G. Dreher, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

The Department of Justice announced today the filing of a lawsuit against the Puerto Rico Police Department PRPD) alleging that the PRPD discriminated against Yolanda Carrasquillo on the basis of race, color and religion in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (Title VII).

Two former officers with the Police of Puerto Rico and another individual were sentenced to prison late yesterday for their roles in providing security for drug transactions.

Xavier Jiménez-Benceví, aka “Xavi,” 28, was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction for murdering a federal witness on a drug trafficking case.

A second superseding indictment against five Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) officers was announced today by Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico; and Carlos Cases, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office.

Alexis Candelario-Santana, 42, was sentenced today to life in prison for murdering eight people and an unborn child and attempting to murder 19 others during a mass shooting at a Puerto Rico nightclub in 2009.

Attorney General Eric Holder met with Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam today to discuss the release by the Mexican government of Rafael Caro Quintero, who was convicted of murdering Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in February 1985.

David Oquendo-Rivas, 29, was sentenced today to life in prison for his role in the murder of eight people and an unborn child during a mass shooting at a Puerto Rico nightclub in 2009.

The Justice Department announced today that, jointly with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, it is moving in the U.S. District Court for the appointment of Juan Mattos Jr. as Technical Compliance Advisor (TCA).

Two former police officers with the Police of Puerto Rico were sentenced to serve 63 and 60 months in prison for attempting to extort a defendant and soliciting bribe payments of $50,000.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Manuel Garcia-Figueroa, a resident of Playa Añasco, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty to a bill of information charging him with a felony violation of the Lacey Act for the illegal sale of sea turtle meat, the Justice Department announced today.

The former president of Sea Star Line LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based water freight carrier, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and to pay a $25,000 criminal fine for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

A former disc jockey for area high school parties pleaded guilty today in the District of Puerto Rico to producing child pornography.

Bill Melot, a farmer from Hobbs, N.M., was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison today to be followed by three years of supervised release for tax evasion, program fraud and other crimes, the Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General announced.

The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada and Mexico – Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Chairwoman Edith Ramirez of the Federal Trade Commission, Canadian Commissioner of Competition John Pecman and President Alejandra Palacios Prieto of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission – met today in Washington, D.C., to discuss their mutual efforts to ensure continued effective antitrust enforcement cooperation in our increasingly interconnected markets.

A former correctional officer at the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into the prison where he worked, Bayamón State Penitentiary, in exchange for a $3,000 payment.

A former state marshal and a correctional officer in Puerto Rico were sentenced today for attempting to smuggle heroin to inmates in exchange for payment.

A former correctional officer in Puerto Rico was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into state prison by delivering it to an inmate in the parking lot of the Medical Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A federal grand jury in Albuquerque, N.M., indicted John Greene, 70, a former captain at the Gallup-McKinley Adult Detention Center, on charges related to the sexual assaults of women inmates in his custody.

Michael Garcia, a former detective with the Las Cruces Police Department who focused on child abuse and sex crimes investigations, pleaded guilty today in federal court to a one count information charging Garcia with violating the civil rights of an LCPD student intern when he sexually abused her while on duty.

A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against John W. Ng, 58, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, charging him with hate crime offenses related to anti-Semitic threats he made against a Jewish woman who owns and operates the Nosh Jewish Delicatessen and Bakery in Albuquerque.

The Department of Justice reached a settlement with eBay Inc. that prevents the company from entering into or maintaining agreements with other companies restraining employee recruitment and hiring.

"This is one further step towards closing an unfortunate chapter for Silicon Valley and other companies who unlawfully agreed to deny their employees the opportunity to receive competing job offers. These so-called “do not poach” or anti-solicitation agreements are per se unlawful, and the Antitrust Division takes them very seriously," said Assistant Attorney General Baer.

Sixteen current and former Puerto Rico police officers have been indicted for their alleged participation in a criminal organization, run out of the police department, that used their affiliation with law enforcement to make money through robbery, extortion, manipulating court records and selling illegal narcotics.

A current Puerto Rico Superior Court Judge and Puerto Rico businessman were charged with orchestrating a criminal scheme in which the businessman paid bribes to the judge presiding over the criminal case against the businessman according to an indictment unsealed today.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on June 3, 2014, in Alameda and Napa Counties, California, and Cibola County, N.M., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights statutes.

Today, U.S. District Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí approved the selection of Arnaldo Claudio to serve as Technical Compliance Advisor (TCA), overseeing the implementation of sweeping civil rights reforms under the Agreement for Sustainable Reform of the Puerto Rico Police Department.

Three Police of Puerto Rico (POPR) officers and two civilians were charged with robbery, firearms violations, drug conspiracy and civil rights violations for their involvement in a July 2012 robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and an additional POPR officer was charged with lying to federal agents

As part of his My Brother’s Keeper initiative, President Obama announced new AmeriCorps partnerships with federal agencies and the private sector to connect young people to mentoring, support networks and job skills to help them reach their full potential

The Justice Department today announced it has signed a joint statement of principles with the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, that reflects the good-faith intent of both sides to enter into a court-enforceable agreement to reform the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

A Puerto Rico businessman pleaded guilty today to bribing Puerto Rico Superior Court Judge Manuel Acevedo-Hernandez, who presided over the businessman’s vehicular homicide trial and acquitted him of all charges

Sixteen former Puerto Rico police officers have pleaded guilty for their roles in a criminal organization run out of the police department. The officers used their affiliation with law enforcement to commit robbery and extortion, to manipulate court records in exchange for bribes, and to sell illegal narcotics