New York Paralegal

GREENBELT, MD—Prince George’s County Councilwoman Leslie Johnson, age 59, of Mitchellville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to the charge of conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering in order to obstruct a federal corruption investigation. The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeannine A. Hammett of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office. “We hope that this sordid tale of corruption will help usher in a new era of honest government,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Every government official in Maryland swears to serve faithfully without partiality or prejudice, but some officials are tempted to violate that oath. Honest government requires meaningful checks and balances that deter corrupt officials from abusing their power and detect them w...

A task force comprised of FBI agents and Los Angeles police officers, formed to address criminal activity in the northeast San Fernando Valley, arrested 14 of 18 individuals who were charged for their roles in a narcotics distribution network and the illegal sales of firearms, announced André Birotte Jr., United States Attorney in Los Angeles; Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles, and Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department. Ten of those charged were taken into custody by task force members during the execution of arrest warrants carried out early this morning. Four of those charged were previously in custody on unrelated charges and four are being sought be the task force. Nine federal defendants were charged in five criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and the remaining nine cases will be filed with the state of California. Additionally, five federal search warrants and two state search warrants were serv...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that attorney ARTHUR CUTILLO was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 30 months in prison for his participation in an insider trading scheme in which he misappropriated material, nonpublic information (“Inside Information“) from his employer for the purpose of securities trading. CUTILLO previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud on January 14, 2011. U.S. District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN imposed today’s sentence. U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “Attorney Arthur Cutillo exploited his access to confidential information in exchange for cash. With today’s sentence, he now joins a growing group of privileged professionals who are paying a high price for insider trading.“ According to the charging documents and court proceedings in this case: At all relevant times, CUTILLO worked at the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP. In 2007 and 2008, he, a...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JAMES CROMITIE, DAVID WILLIAMS, and ONTA WILLIAMS, were each sentenced today to 25 years in prison for plotting to bomb synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York, and to use Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles to shoot down military planes located at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. The defendants were convicted in October 2010 after a two-month jury trial. United States District Judge COLLEEN McMAHON, presided over the trial and imposed today’s sentences. Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “James Cromitie, David Williams, and Onta Williams voluntarily agreed to target synagogues and military planes using what they thought were real bombs and missiles. As reflected in the sentences imposed by Judge McMahon, these were extremely serious crimes that targeted New York and its citizens. Today’s sentences ensure that the...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Koch Foods of Mississippi, LLC, violated federal law by subjecting a class of female employees to harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. The EEOC said Koch Foods subjected a class of female Hispanic employees in its Morton, Miss., poultry processing plant to various forms of sex-based harassment, including sexual assaults over several years. The lawsuit also accuses Koch Foods of discrimination against a class of male Hispanic employees because of their national origin. The EEOC lawsuit further contends that Koch Foods allowed or maintained an environment hostile to Hispanic female employees between 2004 and 2008 which involved the same supervisor sexually harassing them. His misconduct included unwanted physical contact such as approaching them from behind while they were working and physically groping and rubbing their bodies, the EEOC said. The lawsuit also alleges that other Hispanic women were v...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of DANIEL SANTANA, 35, to 25 years to life in prison for the 1997 murder of Carmen Maria in Harlem. On June 13, 2011, a jury in New York State Supreme Court found SANTANA guilty of all of the charges in the indictment: two counts of Murder in the Second Degree, including one count of Murder in the Second Degree with depraved indifference to human life, as well as one count of Kidnapping in the First Degree. “The facts of this case are truly chilling,” said District Attorney Vance. “A woman was burned alive, individuals were tortured, and the perpetrators of these heinous crimes were at large for more than a decade. Cold cases are not forgotten cases, and this Office is committed to using all resources available to vigorously prosecute criminals, in spite of the passage of time. I would like to thank our tireless prosecutors and the jury for their service in this trial.” As proven at trial, in the early...

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Bethpage pediatrician has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that he sexually abused and assaulted girls as young as 11 years old under the guise of medical examinations, and then secretly videotaped and photographed them.Rakesh Punn The 60-count indictment, filed with the court on Monday, charges Dr. Rakesh Punn, 53, of Bethpage, with four counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, 28 counts of Assault in the Second Degree, 10 counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, three counts of Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child, one count of Possessing a Sexual Performance by a Child, six counts of Unlawful Surveillance in the Second Degree, seven counts of Fraudulently Obtaining a Signature, and one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Third Degree. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison on each of the 28 assault charges. He is schedu...

Defendants SALVATORE DEPAOLA and JEFFREY MELOFCHIK were acquitted of charges relating to the deaths of Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino during the August 18, 2007, fire at the former Deutsche Bank building located at 130 Liberty Street. “We respect the jury’s verdict,” District Attorney Vance said. “Nothing can bring back these two brave firefighters, and our thoughts are with their families. We hope that this prosecution brought necessary attention to the importance of safety in the construction and demolition industries.” The cases against MITCHEL ALVO and the JOHN GALT CORP. are still pending.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announces the sentencing of RAJEEV KUMAR, 31, to at least 15 years in state prison for the 2000 rape of a Manhattan resident. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. On June 7, 2011, the defendant pled guilty to the all of the charges against him: Rape in the First Degree, Sodomy in the First Degree, and Conspiracy in the Second Degree. According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, in 2000, the victim reported to the police that she was raped. A rape kit was collected from the victim, and although DNA was recovered, no matches were found. In 2009, KUMAR was convicted of arson after setting a limousine on fire in Queens. His DNA, which was collected upon his conviction, matched the 2000 rape. Following his initial indictment on Rape and Sodomy charges in August 17, 2010, the defendant was also indicted on November 1, 2010, on one charge of Conspiracy in the Second Degree. Accor...

WASHINGTON—Ted G. Loza, the former chief of staff for a District of Columbia Council member, was sentenced today to eight months in prison for his role in a large-scale, long-term scheme to corrupt the taxicab industry in Washington, D.C. The sentencing, which took place this morning, was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Loza, 46, pled guilty in February 2011 to two charges of accepting illegal gratuities and one charge of making a false statement to the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. He was sentenced by Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman. Upon completion of his prison term, Loza will be placed on four months of supervised release. The judge also ordered Loza to perform 150 hours of community service for what he called an abuse of public trust. “In this case, the victims are the citizens of th...

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr., announced today that DEREK A. LEWIS, age 50, of Port Allen, Louisiana, pled guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Brian A. Jackson to violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). LEWIS, the Mayor of the City of Port Allen, Louisiana, had been charged by a federal grand jury with a variety of offenses related to his taking of bribes while Mayor. His trial had been scheduled to begin on July 25, 2011. RICO provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and forfeiture. Given LEWIS’s acceptance of responsibility and cooperation, the parties have agreed that a sentence of imprisonment not to exceed five years is appropriate. In addition to any term of imprisonment, LEWIS will be required to forfeit all of the proceeds from the offense and faces up to $250,000 in fines and a term of up to three years of supervised release following imprisonment. LEWIS’s conviction is...

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dolgencorp, LLC, doing business as Dollar General, will pay $50,000 to three former female employees and provide other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC charged in its suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dolgencorp, LLC, d/b/a Dollar General, Civ. No. 1:09cv00700), filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, that from at least February 2005 through at least May 2006, Amanda Strickland, Maria Strickland and Tina Baxley were subjected to a sexually hostile work environment while employed at Dollar General stores in Greensboro and Pleasant Garden, N.C. The EEOC alleged that the women were sexually harassed by a male Dollar General store manager. The alleged sexual harassment included offensive sexual comments, requests for sex and unwelcome touching of the women’s breasts and buttocks. According to the EEOC’s compla...

SAN FRANCISCO – Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch violated federal law when it fired a Muslim employee for wearing a hijab (religious head scarf), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s suit, in October 2009, Umme-Hani Khan, a 19-year-old Muslim woman, started working at the Hollister store (an Abercrombie & Fitch brand targeting teenagers aged 14 through 18) at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, Calif. As an “impact associate,” she worked primarily in the stockroom. At first she was asked to wear headscarves in Hollister colors, which she agreed to do. However, in mid-February, she was informed that her hijab violated Abercrombie’s “look policy,” an internal dress code, and was told she would be taken off schedule unless she removed her headscarf while at work. According to the EEOC, Khan was fired on Feb. 23, 2010, for refusing to take off the hijab...

Teletrack, Inc. has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it sold credit reports to marketers, in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This settlement seeks to protect consumers’ privacy by ensuring that their sensitive credit report information is not sold for marketing purposes. According to the FTC’s complaint, as part of its business Teletrack sells credit reports and other services to businesses – such as payday lenders, rental purchase stores, and non-prime rate auto lenders – that mainly serve financially distressed consumers. These businesses use Teletrack’s credit reports to decide whether and on what terms to provide credit to their customers. The complaint alleges that Teletrack created a marketing database of information that it gathered through its credit reporting business. It then sold the information in this database – including lists of consumers who had applied for non-traditional credit products – to marketers. F...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - On Saturday, 132 kilograms (290 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of $11 million was seized in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, by agents and officers from the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD). As part of a multi-agency operation, law enforcement officers assigned to the task force inspected vehicles, passengers and cargo on board ferries at the Fajardo port of entry arriving from the islands of Culebra and Vieques, off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico. During the inspection, CBP scanned a dump truck that arrived from Culebra, which revealed brick-shaped objects concealed in the hydraulic system of the truck's bed. Further inspection revealed that the hydraulic shaft was removed and the bottom was welded. When CBP attempted to identify the driver, he fled the port area undetected abandoning the tru...

Gary Foster, a former vice president in Citigroup, Inc.’s treasury finance department has been arrested on bank fraud charges arising from his embezzlement of more than $19 million. Foster was apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport Sunday morning when he arrived on a flight from Bangkok.1 The defendant’s initial appearance is scheduled this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. at the United States Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. The charges and arrest were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office. According to the complaint, Foster transferred money from various Citigroup accounts to Citigroup’s cash account and then to his personal account at a different bank. Between July 2010 and December 2010, he allegedly caused approximately $900,000 to be moved from...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of WILLIAM EISEMAN, 39, a Sergeant in the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), for lying under oath and conducting unlawful searches and seizures in Northern Manhattan. EISEMAN pled guilty to the top charge in his indictment, Perjury in the First Degree, as well as three counts of Official Misconduct. He is expected to be sentenced on September 6, 2011. A separately charged defendant, NYPD Officer MICHAEL CARSEY, 30, has been charged with Perjury, Offering a False Instrument for Filing, and Official Misconduct, and is next due in court on August 29, 2011. “Perjury is an extremely serious crime,” said District Attorney Vance. “This defendant was supposed to train the next generation of police officers to patrol high-crime areas. Instead, he abused his authority and lied under oath, violating the public’s trust. His guilty plea to a felony means that he will be removed from the police force, and will...

In response to numerous complaints from members of the community, officers from the First Precinct Crime Section and Community Oriented Police Enforcement (COPE), along with members of the Town of Babylon Quality of Life Task Force, raided Razor’s Edge, located at 207 Bay Shore Road, on June 23. The shop’s owner, Lawrence Johnson, was charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 5th Degree and Aggravated Harassment 2 nd Degree. He was also charged with Trademark Counterfeiting and Failure to Disclose the Origin of Recordings after he was found in possession of a large quantity of counterfeit DVDs and CDs. The Town of Babylon Building Department condemned the building as an unsafe structure and posted signs on the building forbidding entry. Johnson, 31, of Deer Park , will be arraigned today at First District Court in Central Islip . A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, today announced that HASSANAH DELIA, 24, of East Hartford, was sentenced yesterday, June 23, by United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 110 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for the sex trafficking of two minor girls in 2009. According to court documents and statements made in court, DELIA and Jarell Sanderson recruited two 14-year-old girls to work as prostitutes. In July 2009, Sanderson and DELIA transported the girls to hotels in Hartford and East Hartford where the girls engaged in sexual conduct with men in exchange for money that was paid either to Sanderson or DELIA. The men who paid to engage in sexual conduct with the girls had responded to an advertisement placed on a website by Sanderson by calling a phone that was answered by DELIA, who then se...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of JUDY DEL GALDO, 66, and her son JOSEPH DEL GALDO, 46, for stealing more than $16 million from the textile business where JUDY DEL GALDO had worked for more than two decades. The mother-son duo are accused of laundering the stolen money through a shell company, and then spending much of it on luxury items. They are also charged with diverting millions to JOSEPH DEL GALDO’S failing, now-defunct ambulance company. The pair was indicted on charges including Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Money Laundering in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, and Forgery in the Second Degree. “The defendants presented themselves as successful, high-rolling entrepreneurs, but the appearance of wealth and success was just a charade, forged on the backs of the owners and employees of the textile business that they are charged with victimizing,” said District Attorney Vance. According to documents fi...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that PLAURENT CELA and SKENDER CAKONI were found guilty yesterday in Manhattan federal court of narcotics conspiracy and firearms charges in connection with their participation in an international drug trafficking organization. As part of the organization, the defendants helped smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana into the United States, and used firearms to defend their marijuana business against a rival gang of drug dealers. CELA and CAKONI were convicted after a three-week trial presided over by U.S. District Judge RICHARD J. HOLWELL. Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “Plaurent Cela and Skender Cakoni flooded our neighborhoods with marijuana—resorting to lethal violence when someone got in their way. With these convictions, they will now go to prison, and our streets will be that much safer as a result.” According to the Superseding Indictment filed in Manhattan federal...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALEXANDER KAPLAN, formerly a Brooklyn-based real estate lawyer and the owner of a title insurance company, was sentenced on Friday, June 17, 2011, in Manhattan federal court to 46 months in prison by United States District Judge RICHARD J. HOLWELL for his role in a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme. KAPLAN was convicted, on February 6, 2009, of eighteen counts of mortgage fraud after a two-week jury trial. According to the evidence presented at trial and statements made in court: From late 2004 through January 2007, KAPLAN and his coconspirators obtained hundreds of mortgage and home equity loans by submitting loan applications and supporting documents to various lenders that contained false information about, among other things, the prospective borrower’s employment, income, and intent to reside in the property in question, as well as the fair market value of the property. The...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant Director-In-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced today the filing of a criminal Complaint against ARID UKA, a/k/a “Abu Reyyan,” charging UKA with murdering and attempting to murder United States Air Force (“USAF”) personnel in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 2, 2011. The Complaint charges UKA with two counts of murdering officers of the United States Government, one count of attempting to murder officers of the United States Government, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, and one count of committing an act of violence at an international civil airport resulting in the death of another person. UKA, 21, is currently in custody in Germany. According to the Complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court: On March 2...

LOS ANGELES—An El Monte man who sexually molested a 5-year-old child for at least a year and admitted taking pictures of the attacks – images that were discovered when he applied to be an officer with the California Highway Patrol – was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison. Christian Hernandez, 31, received the maximum sentence of 360 months in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to one count of production of child pornography. United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II sentenced Hernandez and ordered that the defendant, once he is released from prison, be on supervised release for the rest of his life. In addition to the prison term, Judge Wright ordered Hernandez to pay more than $71,000 for counseling for the victim until the victim turns 18. Hernandez has been in custody for the past three years after being arrested by the SAFE Team (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement), a multi-agency task force coordinated by the FBI. The investigation began when Hernandez appli...

Freight Trucking Company Subjected Black Employees to Racial Slurs and Nooses, Federal Agency Charges SALISBURY, N.C. – A Concord, N.C.-based freight trucking company violated federal law by subjecting a class of African-American employees to a racially hostile work environment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s complaint, from as early as May 2007 through at least June 2008, Contonius Gill, a truck driver, and other African-American employees were repeatedly subjected to unwelcome derogatory racial comments and slurs by employees and managers at A.C. Widenhouse, Inc. These comments and slurs included “n----r,” “monkey,” and “boy.” On one occasion Gill was approached by a co-worker with a noose and was told, “This is for you. Do you want to hang from the family tree?” The complaint alleges that on another occasion, the company’s general manager told Gill, “We are going coon hunting, are you going to be ...

Employers Still Barring Large Groups of People from Jobs Based on Race, Sex, Age, Other Prohibited Bases WASHINGTON – Deliberate discrimination against job seekers based on their race, sex, age, national origin or other prohibited basis remains a major national problem, a battery of experts told the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at a Commission meeting today. “Intentional discrimination in hiring remains a significant problem,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien. “The EEOC will continue to address this problem through enhanced education and outreach and through vigorous enforcement of the law.” At the start of the meeting, EEOC General Counsel P. David Lopez recounted a hiring case he litigated against WalMart when he was an EEOC trial attorney in Phoenix. The case arose out of a charge by two deaf applicants who were expressly denied by the company because they were deaf. As part of a negotiated settlement, the company aired a commercial on Arizona t...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of KELLI CONLIN, 53, to one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony. CONLIN served as the Executive Director and President of NARAL Pro-Choice NY (NARAL) and the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), both non-profit entities located at 470 Park Avenue South in Manhattan from 1992 to 2010. During CONLIN’s tenure, NARAL became a leading advocate in the pro-choice and women’s health movements. The organizations’ Boards of Directors removed CONLIN as President and Executive Director in early 2011 after an internal audit revealed the spending and accounting improprieties that led to today’s disposition. The investigation leading to today’s guilty plea revealed that beginning in 2007 until 2010, while working for NARAL and NIRH, CONLIN submitted credit card expenditure sheets and reimbursement check requests that contained false descriptions of her expenditur...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced a guilty verdict in the trial of DAN EVANS, 26, on murder and other charges relating to two separate violent incidents in East Harlem that occurred three years apart from each other. A jury convicted the defendant of all of the counts in the two indictments: Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, and Assault in the Second Degree. The defendant faces a potential maximum of 90 years to life in prison at his sentencing on July 19, 2011. “Today’s conviction is the result of five years of dogged investigative work on difficult cases, one of which had no eyewitnesses come forward,” said District Attorney Vance. “Both attacks were random, senseless acts of gun violence that victimized innocent bystanders, including a young mot...