Three financial investors who purchased municipal tax liens at auctions in New Jersey pleaded guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids at tax liens auctions held by municipalities.

Rodger Dale DeVries, 73, a resident of Jenison, Mich., has pleaded guilty to illegally importing a polar bear trophy mount in 2007 from Canada into Michigan in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Caridad Guilarte, 54, and Clara Guilarte, 57, each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

An Iowa ready-mix concrete company pleaded guilty today to participating in a price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy for the sales of ready-mix concrete.

Lamon Street, 20, aka “M-Dot,” and Dominique Steele, 21, aka “C-Flack,” pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond to one count of conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise.

Carol Gant pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will not challenge the Producers Guild of America’s proposed use of a voluntary certification system for film producers.

Jason Walter Barnwell, 37, of Evening Shade, Ark., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, Ark., to charges related to his involvement in the Jan. 14, 2011, racially motivated firebombing of the home of a mixed-race couple in Hardy, Ark.

Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for conspiring with his wife, his mistress and their accountant, to commit tax fraud and money laundering.

Onuoha “Iggy” Nwokoro pleaded guilty in federal district court in Washington, D.C., to willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false income tax return for 2004.

A California aftermarket auto lights distributor has agreed to plead guilty today for its participation in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.

Steven Wark, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George in the District of Nevada to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Melinda M. Lambert, a resident of Montgomery County, Ala., pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return.

Miami-area resident Farah Maria Perez, a registered nurse, pleaded guilty today for her participation in a $25 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false billings for home health services.

Bernard Joseph Tully, a former Massachusetts state senator, has pleaded guilty for devising a scheme to defraud a Boston-area businessman out of approximately $18,000 by falsely representing that Tully and his co-conspirator were using the funds to bribe public officials.

Steven Scott Cantrell, of Crane, Texas, pleaded guilty today to hate crime charges stemming from a series of racially-motivated arsons in December 2010, including the arson of a historic African-American church as part of an effort to murder a disabled African-American man.

The Justice Department today announced that brothers Brian Wallis, 21, and James Lee Wallis Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to committing a hate crime by intentionally attempting to intimidate African-American students who were attending Beekman Junior High School in Beekman, Morehouse Parish, La.

Braynert Marquez of Miami pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false employment tax return.

A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to fraudulently gain control of condominium homeowners’ associations (HOA) in the Las Vegas area so that the HOAs could direct business to a certain law firm and construction company.

Stewart David Nozette, a scientist who once worked for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the White House’s National Space Council, pleaded guilty today to attempted espionage for providing classified information to a person he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.

Maxzone Vehicle Lighting Corp. agreed to plead guilty for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.

Valerie Byrd and Isaac Dailey, both residents of Montgomery County, Ala., each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States.

At a hearing today before U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington, D.C., Irfan Ul Haq, 37; Qasim Ali, 32; and Zahid Yousaf, 43, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Glenn E. Morgan Jr. of Detroit pleaded guilty in federal court to sending a noose and threatening photographs through the mail to a Detroit couple because of their race.

Leonard Wasylyk, 49, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson in the District of Delaware.

Two Louisiana brothers pleaded guilty today and were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., for Lacey Act violations for their role in illegally killing American Alligators in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act and Louisiana law.

Marcella Triana pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson in the District of Nevada to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Veniamin Gonikman, 56, who became a fugitive in 2005, was apprehended in Ukraine in January 2011.

Alchico Grant, a resident of Montgomery, Ala., pleaded guilty to his role in two tax fraud and identity theft conspiracies.

Dylan Boyd, aka “Mohammed,” pleaded guilty today in federal court in New Bern, N.C., to one count of aiding and abetting a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Bridgestone Corporation has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $28 million criminal fine for its role in conspiracies to rig bids and to make corrupt payments to foreign government officials in Latin America related to the sale of marine hose and other industrial products manufactured by the company and sold throughout the world.

Two Mobile, Ala., real estate investors and one real estate investment company have agreed to plead guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids for the purchase of real estate at public foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama.

Thomas Aram Manok, 50, of Chantilly, Va., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ten Miami-area residents pleaded guilty today and yesterday in U.S. District Court in Miami for their participation in a $25 million home health Medicare fraud scheme.

Raymond Quintero, 33, pleaded guilty to willfully depriving a detainee of his constitutional right to be free from excessive force amounting to punishment.

– Alan James Watson, 46, of Clinton Township, Mich., pleaded guilty today to fraudulently soliciting and accepting $40 million from more than 750 members of his investment club and losing nearly all of it through non-disclosed, high-risk investments.

Jesus Espino, 43, of El Paso, Texas, and Lorenzo Espino, 51, aka “Lencho,” and “Oso,” of El Paso, each pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney in the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division, to participating in a racketeering conspiracy.

A former project manager of a construction company that had substantial business at Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army installation in El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty today to soliciting and accepting kickbacks from subcontractors on a federal contract with the U.S. Army.

Matthew David Howard Smith pleaded guilty today for his role in founding a website that provided millions of users with the ability to illegally download copyright-protected movies and television programs.

A Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to fraudulently gain control of condominium homeowners’ associations (HOA) in the Las Vegas area so that the HOAs would direct business to a certain law firm and construction company.

Maritza Vidal, 44, and Richard Diaz, 26, each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Six Japanese freight forwarders have agreed to plead guilty and to pay criminal fines totaling $46.8 million for their roles in a conspiracy to fix certain fees in connection with the provision of freight forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the United States.

Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $200 million fine for its role in a criminal price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy involving the sale of parts to automobile manufacturers.

Hana A. Beshara, 29, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty today for her role in founding NinjaVideo.net, a website that provided millions of users with the ability to illegally download infringing copies of copyright-protected movies and television programs in high-quality formats.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $21.1 million criminal fine for its participation in a series of conspiracies to rig bids and fix prices for the sale of optical disk drives.

Two California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids and to commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

A Japanese freight forwarder has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1.84 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix certain fees in connection with the provision of freight forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the United States.

Harris County Commissioner Gerald R. Eversole and Houston-based real estate developer Michael D. Surface both pleaded guilty today in federal court in Houston to making false statements.

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), together with its partners, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education, Health and Human Services and Treasury, today announced the selection of the Center for the Study of Social Policy as the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program (BNCP) Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator.

Melinda Clayton of Montgomery, Ala., pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false claims, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.