Jay Odom, 56, of Destin, Fla., was charged in federal court in the Northern District of Florida with one count of providing campaign contributions in the name of another and one count of causing another to make false statements to the FEC.

Former Fort Deposit, Ala., police officer Carlos Tyson Bennett, 37, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller to 37 months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $500 in restitution. Bennett was sentenced for stealing money from motorists during traffic stops, with another former Fort Deposit police officer, Jessie Alan Fuller, on Interstate 65 in 2009.

William W. Lowery IV, 44, of Tappahannock, Va., pleaded guilty today to trafficking in illegally-harvested striped bass, in violation of the Lacey Act.

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a publicly traded mortgage servicing company based in Jacksonville, Fla., has agreed to pay $35 million in criminal penalties and forfeiture to address its participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage-related documents with property recorders’ offices throughout the United States.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that CountryMark Refining and Logistics LLC has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Ind.

A settlement agreement was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver resolving a complaint alleging that two employers, Delaware Resource Group of Oklahoma LLC and FlightSafety Services Corporation, violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by not paying money into two U.S. Air Force veterans’ 401(k) plans.

Frank William Carter, 43, a former police officer of the Laredo, Texas, Police Department, pleaded guilty today in federal court to violating the civil rights of an arrestee.

Eight individuals face federal charges stemming from a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri Department of Conservation investigation of interstate and international trafficking in paddlefish “caviar."

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as well as the Missouri Air Conservation Law, Clean Water Law and Hazardous Waste Management Law at its facility in Mexico, Mo.

Former Congressional candidate Justin Lamar Sternad pleaded guilty today in Miami to violating the Federal Election Campaign Act during his 2012 campaign.

An indictment against former Jefferson Parish, La., Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Hebert, 48, was announced today by Roy L. Austin Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana; Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office; and Sheriff Newell Normand from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The Justice Department announced today that under its 2011 settlements with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, and Saxon Mortgage Servicing Inc., a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, 316 service members whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed upon between 2006 and 2010 are due to receive over $39 million in monetary relief for alleged violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

The Department of Justice has reached a settlement that will require Ecolab Inc. and Permian Mud Service Inc. to divest assets used by Permian’s subsidiary, Champion Technologies Inc., to provide production chemical management services in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in order to proceed with their proposed merger.

Three owners and operators of a Tennessee salvage and demolition company, A&E Salvage, Inc., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Greeneville, Tenn., for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act.

Jason Glenn Thomas, 34, a former sergeant with the city of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Police Department, pleaded guilty today to a criminal civil rights charge for using his authority as a law enforcement officer to sexually assault a woman.

St. Vincent Healthcare, a hospital located in Billings, Mont., and Holy Rosary Healthcare, a hospital located in Miles City, Mont., have agreed to pay $3.95 million plus interest to resolve allegations that they violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by improperly providing incentive pay to physicians that made referrals to the hospitals.

The Department of Justice announced today the settlement of its lawsuit against the Golden Corral restaurant in Westland, Mich., which alleged that the owners and operators of the Golden Corral violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying service to a mother and her minor children based on the appearance of the children’s skin due to a genetic skin disorder.

In the largest drug safety settlement to date with a generic drug manufacturer, Ranbaxy USA Inc., a subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, pleaded guilty today to felony charges relating to the manufacture and distribution of certain adulterated drugs made at two of Ranbaxy’s manufacturing facilities in India.

Two Spring Hill, Tenn., men pleaded guilty in federal court today for their involvement in a racially-motivated conspiracy to interfere with the housing rights of African-American residents of the Spring Lake subdivision of Spring Hill.

Charles Kokesh was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida, for violating the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act by selling two African elephant tusks and for making false accounts of wildlife related to that sale.

An Independence, Mo., woman was indicted by a federal grand jury today for violating the civil rights of an African-American family by setting fire to their residence.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pleaded guilty today in cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States.

The Justice Department issued a findings letter detailing the results of its investigation into the use of solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illness at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Cresson in Cambria County, Pa

Steven Patrick Garcia, Jr., 36, of San Jose, Calif., was sentenced today in federal court in Billings, Mont., to 24 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release for selling and offering to sell migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Lacey Act, the Department of Justice announced today. Garcia had pleaded guilty to the charge on January 16, 2013.

Roland Kaufmann, CEO of Axius, Inc., was sentenced today to serve 16 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to bribe purported stock brokers and manipulate the stock of a company he controlled.

MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. will pay a $720,000 civil penalty to settle charges that the company violated premerger reporting and waiting requirements when it acquired voting securities of Scientific Games Corporation.

The Justice Department today announced that a scientist and his wife, who both previously worked as contractors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, have pleaded guilty to charges under the Atomic Energy Act and other charges relating to their communication of classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

SunCoke Energy Inc. and two of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.995 million to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations of emission limits at the Gateway Energy and Coke plant in Granite City, Illinois, and the Haverhill Coke plant in Franklin Furnace, Ohio.

U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey of the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the Civil Rights Division, announced today that Stephen Molen, a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office in Pulaski County, Ky., was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of violating the civil rights of victims by using excessive force in October 2009 and October 2011.

King Pharmaceuticals LLC (King) will pay $2.2 million and take measures to comply with the Clean Air Act to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility located in Bristol, Tenn.

Corporate investor Barry Diller will pay a $480,000 civil penalty to settle charges that he violated premerger reporting and waiting requirements when he acquired voting securities of The Coca Cola Company.

"After carefully weighing the evidence, the court agreed with the Justice Department and 33 state attorneys general that executives at the highest levels of Apple orchestrated a conspiracy with five major publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & to raise e-book prices."

Two individuals, Donald Torriero and Julius DeSimone, were sentenced in federal court in Utica, N.Y., for illegally dumping thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris on a 28-acre piece of property on the Mohawk River in upstate New York, the Justice Department announced.

The United States has filed suit against PharMerica Corp. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The lawsuit alleges that PharMerica violated the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act by dispensing controlled drugs without valid prescriptions and causing claims for illegally dispensed drugs to be submitted to the Medicare program.

Bradley Eberhart, 51, of Garden Valley, Idaho, and Douglas Greiner, 53, of Eagle, Idaho, were sentenced this week in federal court for violating the asbestos work practice standards of the Clean Air Act, announced Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Wendy J. Olson, U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky David J. Hale and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels announced that Steven Molen, a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury on one count of violating the civil rights of a victim by using excessive force in August 2008.

The United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky have reached a settlement with the AK Steel Corporation (AK Steel) in Ashland, Ky., resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, AK Steel’s title V permit, and the Kentucky State Implementation Plan, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Big West Oil LLC has agreed to pay a $175,000 penalty and to spend approximately $18 million to install emission controls at its refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. Big West Oil will also invest $253,000 to improve the monitoring and management of potential releases of hydrofluoric acid at the facility.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels and U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota Timothy Q. Purdon announced that Dominique Jason Flanigan was arraigned today on civil rights and threats charges.

Tammy Dickinson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, and Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced that an Independence, Mo., man and woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the civil rights of an African-American family by setting fire to their residence.

Two Los Angeles-based consulting firms, MotorScience Inc., and MotorScience Enterprise Inc., (MotorScience) and their owner, Chi Zheng, have agreed to settle alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations stemming from the illegal import of 24,478 all-terrain, recreational vehicles into the U.S. from China without testing to ensure emissions would meet applicable limits on harmful air pollution, announced the Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (ARB).

Jonathan Deck, 59, of Norwood, N.J., was sentenced today in federal court in Utica, N.Y., to 15 months in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with the illegal dumping of thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris on a 28-acre piece of property on the Mohawk River in upstate New York, the Justice Department announced.

The Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Houston-based CITGO Petroleum Corp. (CITGO) has agreed to pay a $737,000 civil penalty and to implement projects to reduce harmful air pollution, resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its petroleum refining facilities located in Lemont, Ill., and Lake Charles (Westlake), La.

Total Petrochemical USA Inc. (Total) will pay an $8.75 million penalty for failing to comply with the terms of a 2007 settlement with the United States that resolved alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

David Ostermeyer, who retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2012, will pay the government a $30,000 penalty to settle allegations that he participated in a matter in which he had a financial interest that conflicted with his duties when he was Chief Financial Officer of the agency.

Nolan L. Agner, the last of five Virginia Beach charter fishing boat captains convicted of poaching Atlantic striped bass was sentenced today in federal court in Norfolk, Va. All five captains – including Agner, Jeffery S. Adams, Raymond Carroll Webb, David Dwayne Scott, and William W. “Duby” Lowery IV – were sentenced for violating the Lacey Act by selling illegally-harvested striped bass, the Justice Department announced.

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.

Former Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Hebert, 48, pled guilty today to one civil rights violation, five bank fraud violations and one aggravated identity theft violation, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite Jr. for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson of the FBI New Orleans Field Office and Sheriff Newell Normand from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Three subsidiaries of Weatherford International Limited (Weatherford International), a Swiss oil services company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, have agreed to plead guilty to anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and export controls violations under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA)

Robin Smith, a former corrections officer at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, S.C., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Columbia, S.C., to violating the civil rights of a pre-trial detainee.