New York Paralegal

WASHINGTON – The Dow Chemical Company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Michigan, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

McALLEN, TX—A total of 20 South Texas residents indicted for their roles in a scheme to defraud the American Family Life Assurance Company (Aflac) of millions of dollars by filing thousands of false injury claims under Aflac’s accident-only insurance plan have been convicted this week, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

WASHINGTON – Four corporations involved in owning and operating a fleet of vessels regularly visiting New Orleans were today sentenced to pay a $1 million penalty and banned from doing business in the United States for the next five years by Judge Carl J. Barbier, the Justice Department announced.

WASHINGTON – Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.55 million civil penalty to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations for shipping more than 590,000 highway and non-road engines without the correct emissions controls, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.   Caterpillar also allegedly failed to comply with emission control reporting and engine-labeling requirements.   Engines operating without proper emissions controls can emit excess nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter and other air pollutants that impact people’s health, potentially causing respiratory illnesses and aggravating asthma.  

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of 11 individuals on conspiracy and drug charges relating to the sale of marijuana from a Central Harlem store that purported to sell furniture. The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to distribute wholesale quantities of marijuana, as well as with Criminal Sale of Marijuana in the First, Second, Third and Fourth Degrees.[1]

CAMDEN, NJ—A second New Jersey man today admitted to his role in a $40.8 million mortgage fraud conspiracy, serving as a “straw buyer” to cause a lender to release almost $980,000 based on a fraudulent mortgage loan application, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

HOUSTON—A Houston Police officer has been arrested following the return of an indictment by a Houston grand jury charging him with drug trafficking and corruption, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris.

A bill for licensing paralegals in New York state would be something to get excited about if the reason for its introduction were not suspect. The justification of this bill is as follows :

ATLANTA – Resource Real Estate Management, Inc., doing business as Resource Residential, will pay $335,000 to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Gastonia, N.C., restaurant violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment that caused her to quit her job, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

WASHINGTON – Two defendants who co-owned and operated two Brooklyn,N.Y.,-area pharmacies were arrested today on health care fraud charges for their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud Medicare Part D that resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent billings, announced the Department of Justice, FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Office of Inspector General (OIG).

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury has indicted a former Sacramento immigration consultant and 13 other individuals alleging they participated in an elaborate immigration fraud scheme in which foreign nationals from Eastern Europe and Russia paid to enter into sham marriages with locally recruited U.S. citizens.

MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court in Duluth, a 42-year-old Duluth man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for taking a 13-year-old girl across state lines with the intent to sexually abuse her. United States District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced Todd Richard Franik, who was indicted on October 5, 2010, and pleaded guilty on November 5, 2010, to one count of interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. In imposing the 30-year prison term, Judge Frank said a sentence of anything less would be insufficient to promote respect for the law and protect the public.

Richard Hughes was driving a 2002 Lincoln Continental southbound on Route 110 in North Amityville at 5:56 a.m. when his vehicle struck two pedestrians near Ritter Avenue. The female pedestrian, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The male pedestrian, who is unidentified, was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow where he was listed in critical condition.

DETROIT - TSW Management, Inc, an owner of several Burger King restaurants in the Metro Detroit area, violated Title VII by subjected a class of female employees to pervasive sexual harassment and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

The staff here at  New York Paralegal Blog would like to take this time to wish all of our readers a great summer!

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of HAO “HOWIE” WANG, 28, for stealing more than $1.1 million from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMC”) and stealing the identities of four victims. WANG pled guilty to Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Identity Theft in the First Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, Forgery in the Second Degree, and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of DARYL JONES, 53, a caseworker for the New York City Human Resources Administration (“HRA”), for receiving bribes in exchange for information regarding clients of the Home Energy Assistance Program (“HEAP”), a federally-funded program administered by HRA that helps low-income New Yorkers pay for heating bills and repairs. A separately-charged defendant, ALVARO BLAKE, 54, a former HRA supervisor, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court for receiving a bribe. On June 8, 2011, a third separately-charged defendant, RODCLIFF LEVY, 44, the owner of several plumbing and heating companies, pled guilty to charges of Bribery and Offering a False Instrument for Filing.

Mohammed Wali Zazi, the father of convicted terrorist Najibullah Zazi (“Najibullah”), was found guilty today by a Brooklyn federal jury of destroying bomb-making materials and conspiring to obstruct the federal investigation into Najibullah’s and his co-conspirators’ terrorist plot to attack the New York City subway system.

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the takedown of an elaborate criminal network that set up bogus nursing schools throughout New York City and Long Island. Hundreds of students collectively paid more than $6 million to enroll in the programs that claimed would qualify them for careers in nursing. However, the certifications and transcripts the schools provided were fraudulent.

WASHINGTON – Approximately 1,985 individuals have been arrested on narcotics-related charges as part of a 20-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Project Delirium,” which targeted the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, the Department of Justice announced today.

WASHINGTON – Markus Walder, former head of North America Offshore Banking at an international bank headquartered in Zurich; Susanne D. Rüegg Meier, a former manager with the international bank; Andreas Bachmann, a former banker at a subsidiary of the international bank; and Josef Dörig, the founder of a Swiss trust company, have been charged with conspiring with other Swiss bankers to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The four are charged in a superseding indictment together with four other defendants (Marco Parenti Adami, Emanuel Agustino, Michele Bergantino and Roger Schaerer) who were charged in an indictment returned on Feb. 23, 2011.

BOSTON — Following an investigation and audit of Form I-9 documents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), 14 New England employers have been fined this fiscal year for various violations that enabled companies to hire illegal aliens. The inspection of the employers' documents are part of ICE's worksite enforcement strategy, launched in 2009 to reduce the demand for illegal employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation's lawful workforce, by focusing its resources on the auditing and investigation of employers suspected of cultivating illegal workplaces by hiring workers who are later determined to be employed illegally.

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a North Massapequa man already on probation has been convicted at trial of attacking his mother with a cordless telephone after she threatened to call the police on him. John Norton

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RAYMOND CAPOZZIELLO, the leader of an oxycodone trafficking organization based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was sentenced today to 40 months in prison. CAPOZZIELLO pled guilty on March 21, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and one count of distributing oxycodone. CAPOZZIELLO, 46, of Trumbull, Connecticut, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge KIMBA M. WOOD.

PHOENIX—Four family members were arrested today and face federal charges for exploiting the labor of immigrant Vietnamese nationals for years at their I Do, I Do Wedding Shop in Flagstaff, Arizona, federal authorities announced.

TAMPA, Fla. — Nineteen individuals in Florida and California were charged in Tampa Federal Court on Wednesday for their involvement in a nationwide drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracy, following an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 450,177 refund checks worth almost $108 million to homeowners who were allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. As part of the FTC’s efforts to protect financially distressed homeowners, the FTC reached a settlement with Countrywide last year over allegations that the company collected excessive fees from borrowers who were struggling to keep their homes. “It’s astonishing that a single company could be responsible for overcharging more than 450,000 homeowners,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. “Countrywide’s unconscionable behavior harmed American consumers on a massive scale and we are proud to be getting every single dollar back to hundreds of thousands of struggling consumers who can least afford to lose the money.”

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Hempstead police officer has been charged with selling opiate-based prescription painkillers following a long-term investigation by the District Attorney’s Office.Brian Jones

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Merrick man who stabbed an eight-year-old boy in the back at a Westbury arcade has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault charges.

CHICAGO—A northwest suburban man was sentenced to six years in federal prison for engaging in an investment fraud scheme that swindled more than $5 million from approximately 150 victims who invested in funds he purported to operate. The defendant, Scott M. Ross, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in March, was sentenced yesterday, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today. Ross misused money he raised from investors for his own benefit, including salary and a stadium sky box, and to make Ponzi-type payments to certain customers who complained.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of SHARMON WADE, 37, to nine to 18 years in prison for defrauding investors in a scam that involved fictitious real estate property investments. Judge Michael Obus granted the District Attorney’s request that WADE be considered a predicate felon for previous convictions, and ordered WADE to pay $1,242,623.13 in restitution to these victims. WADE pled guilty on May 17, 2010, to grand larceny, securities fraud, scheme to defraud, and a violation of tax law.

SEATTLE — Mason County Forest Products, which operated a saw and wood planing mill in Shelton, Wash., agreed to pay $900,000 to two female workers to settle a federal lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

WASHINGTON – An executive of a Taiwan manufacturer of aftermarket auto lights was arrested on July 12, 2011, at Los Angeles International Airport and indicted today for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights, the Department of Justice announced today. Aftermarket auto lights are incorporated into an automobile after its original sale, often as repairs following a collision or as accessories and upgrades.

WASHINGTON - Fourteen individuals were arrested today by FBI agents on charges related to their alleged involvement in a cyber attack on PayPal’s website as part of an action claimed by the group “Anonymous,” announced the Department of Justice and the FBI. Two additional defendants were arrested today on cyber-related charges.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the conviction of JAMES MARGULIES, 47, an attorney and corporate executive, for looting a Manhattan-based public company of more than $90 million worth of illegally issued securities, and stealing more than $20 million from investors.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A Baca Raton nursing and rehabilitation facility violated federal law by firing an employee over Sabbath-keeping issues, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

JOSEPH SHERESHEVSKY, a former Chief Operating Officer of the private equity firm WexTrust Capital, LLC (“WexTrust Capital”), was sentenced today to 262 months in prison on charges stemming from a fraud that raised more than $9 million from investors in private placement real estate offerings. SHERESHEVSKY, 54, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge DENNY CHIN.

(CN) - The Kansas Supreme Court suspended an attorney indefinitely for sending explicit photos to a police officer who was posing as a 14-year-old girl. Cesar Alberto Baca was on his home computer in Missouri when he communicated in a chat room with someone he thought was a Colorado teenager. Baca described himself as a 30-year-old in Colorado and used the online names "machavalia" and "krazeecock." During his online chats, Baca uploaded three photos of his penis.

WASHINGTON - Mark D. Leitner entered a plea of guilty in the Northern District of Florida to filing false liens against federal law enforcement and corruptly endeavoring to impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department announced today. Senior District Court Judge Lacey A. Collier presided over the hearing at the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, where Leitner admitted to filing the false liens against the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, the former clerk of court, and numerous Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Department of Justice trial attorneys and an IRS criminal investigation special agent involved in a 2010 tax fraud prosecution against Leitner.

Earlier today, Vincent McCrudden, a former commodities trader, pleaded guilty to two counts of transmitting threats to kill more than 40 current and former officials of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the National Futures Association (“NFA”) and the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). McCrudden has been in custody since his arrest on January 14, 2011.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a permanent injunction in U.S. district court against CAM Mining LLC of Pike County, Ky., prohibiting advance communication of any federal mine inspection.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cavalier Telephone Company Inc. will pay $1 million and furnish other significant relief to settle an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of MBAREK LAFREM, 32, relating to an attack on a woman in the restroom of a bar in Hell’s Kitchen. The defendant pled guilty to Assault in the First Degree and Attempted Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. The defendant is expected to be sentenced on September 1, 2011.

A man entered the bank, located at 8 Little East Neck Road, at approximately 3 p.m. and handed a teller a note demanding cash. The teller complied with the demand and the subject fled the scene on foot out of the bank’s back entrance and headed westbound.

(CN) - Michael Jackson's former manager claims he is entitled to commissions on business deals that have taken place in the years since the King of Pop's death. Frederick DeMann, owner and president of the company DeMann Entertainment, then Weisner-DeMann Entertainment Inc., was Michael Jackson's manager during the lucrative years between 1978 and 1983 - when Jackson released the albums "Thriller" and "Off the Wall."

(CN) - The Department of Justice continued to defend its position on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a motion filed in the 9th Circuit late Thursday, asking the federal appeals panel to reconsider its lifting of a stay while the Obama Administration finishes the "orderly transition" called for by Congress, which could be complete in a matter of weeks.

Washington, D.C., July 15, 2011 – The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges Thursday against the CEO of a purported foreign currency trading firm, alleging he scammed hundreds of investors with false promises of high, fixed-rate returns while secretly using their money to fund his start-up alternative newspaper. Additional Materials

TRENTON, NJ—Former Newark police sergeant Michael J. Lalley was sentenced today to 16 months in prison for attempting to prevent a witness from truthfully giving information to FBI agents conducting a federal criminal investigation into his possible sexual contact with minors in the 1990s, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

TULSA, Okla. – A federal court has agreed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that national clothing retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch, doing business as Abercrombie Kids, committed religious discrimination against a 17-year-old Muslim girl, the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that Abercrombie Kids failed to hire Samantha Elauf for a sales position because she wore a hijab, or head scarf, in observance of her sincerely held religious beliefs.

Brian Swezey was operating a 1999 Polar 21-foot Center Console boat in the Great South Bay, off Captree Island in Islip, when his boat collided with a 1989 Steiger Craft, carrying six people, at approximately 3:20 a.m.

MILWAUKEE – A federal district court judge in Milwaukee has entered a consent decree resolving an employment discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against a major Wisconsin building products company, the agency announced today.

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a statement announcing that it will forbear from enforcing most provisions of its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule against real estate brokers and their agents who assist financially distressed consumers in obtaining short sales from their lenders or servicers.

WASHINGTON – Alexander Otis Matthews, a Virginia real estate businessman pleaded guilty today to fraud charges in connection with mortgage and investment schemes to obtain more than $12 million in fraudulent loans.

WASHINGTON—An ongoing Internet fraud scheme conducted by several networks of organized cyber criminals in Romania and the United States has been disrupted as a result of a series of law enforcement actions coordinated since 2010 between Romanian and U.S. law enforcement, including numerous arrests and searches that took place yesterday in Romania.

NEW YORK – New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced a significant federal ruling in ongoing efforts to improve Indian Point’s accident preparedness, and ensure the protection of public health and the environment of the surrounding region.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The leader and members of an international heroin trafficking ring have been charged with using couriers to smuggle heroin from Ghana into the United States, a sign of the growth of West Africa as a major hub for international drug trafficking. Today's charges were made public after coordinated arrests in Ghana, Maryland, and New York assisted by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

CHICAGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a class race discrimination lawsuit in federal district court here today against Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center. The EEOC charged that the hospital, on Chicago’s South Side, subjected a class of black female employees to different terms and conditions of employment and segregation in job assignments because of their race. The suit also alleged that at least one of the women was demoted in retaliation for opposing and complaining about unlawful employment practices.

NEWARK, NJ—A partner at the New York office of an international law firm was arrested today by FBI agents and federally charged with distributing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

ARLINGTON, Va. — On behalf of its Mine Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor has filed complaints in U.S. district courts against two companies in North Carolina and Texas to collect unpaid civil fines resulting from federal mine safety violations.

WASHINGTON—Emerson Winfield Begolly, 22, of New Bethlehem, Pa., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., today for allegedly soliciting Islamic extremists to engage in acts of terrorism within the United States and posting bomb-making instruction materials online.

BALTIMORE – Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Inc. (JHHCG), a full-service home health care provider, violated federal law when it fired an employee because of her disability and because she challenged the company’s failure to accommodate her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.

An indictment was unsealed yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn charging Mousa Khouli, also known as “Morris Khouli,” Salem Alshdaifat, Joseph A. Lewis, II, and Ayman Ramadan, with conspiring to smuggle Egyptian antiquities into the United States and conspiring to launder money in furtherance of smuggling.1 The arraignments of Khouli and Lewis are scheduled today before United States Magistrate Judge Andrew L. Carter, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. Alshdaifat’s arraignment took place yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen, at the U.S. Courthouse, 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan. Ramadan, a Jordanian citizen residing in the United Arab Emirates, is a fugitive. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Edward R. Korman.

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The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Deborah Clough, former bookkeeper for Proctor High School, was sentenced yesterday in United States District Court by Chief Judge Christina Reiss to 14 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release on charges of theft from an organization receiving federal funding and filing false tax returns.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte, N.C.-based operator of janitorial services violated federal law when it failed to abide by the terms of a voluntary mediation settlement agreement it entered into with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the EEOC charged in a lawsuit filed today.

BALTIMORE – A construction company that provides services to the U.S. Army at its Aberdeen, Md., location will pay $230,000 and furnish other substantial relief to settle an EEOC gender-based abuse and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

MCALLEN, Texas — A man from Mexico, who admitted to taking hostages, was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years and eight months in federal prison for his role in a May 2010 hostage-taking case, announced U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) with the assistance of Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office. Hugo Oscar Rodriguez-Montoya, 37, of Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced July 13 to 140 months by U.S. District Judge Randy Crane. He was also been ordered to serve a three-year period of supervised release. Rodriguez-Montoya entered a guilty plea in December 2010. According to court documents, on May 10, 2010, ICE HSI special agents were notified that Leon-Villa, of Guanajuato, Mexico, had shot himself during a botched alien-smuggling attempt. At that time, agents interviewed a smuggled alien who had escaped from Leon-Villa and the others. The...

PHILADELPHIA—Roosevelt Hairston Jr., 46,of Malvern, PA, pleaded guilty today to mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false tax return stemming from his embezzlement of $1.7 million from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 13, 2011. Hairston was employed in various senior positions at CHOP, including most recently as general counsel and executive vice president. Between 1999 and February 14, 2011, Hairston used dozens of false invoices he created for shell companies to steal from CHOP. Hairston was able to steal for so long because he occupied a position of trust at the hospital and because he engaged in extensive efforts to conceal and prolong the scheme. Hairston used the funds he stole from CHOP to live a lavish lifestyle, purchasing items such as real estate, a yacht with a captain, and high-end automobiles. Hairston faces five to seven years in prison, restitution, and ...

PORTLAND, ORE. – Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., a grocery chain employing more than 30,000, violated federal law when it failed to stop a customer from sexually harassing several female employees, the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, female employees at Fred Meyer’s Oak Grove store in Milwaukie, Ore., were sexually harassed by a customer who visited the store almost daily, and often several times a day, since at least 2007. He would sit by the employee time clock in order to pull women onto his lap as they walked past to punch in. He would also rub up against female workers, giving unwanted hugs and groping their bodies, the EEOC said. When they protested, the customer would smirk or make comments such as, “That’s what they’re there for,” indicating the employee’s breasts. Despite numerous complaints by the staff, the EEOC said, Fred Meyer managers excused the customer’s offensive behavior ...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of DARNELL HARDWARE, 26, for three separate sexual abuse incidents that occurred on subways in Manhattan in 2002 and 2005. In each case, the defendant rubbed his penis against a woman in a crowded subway car, ejaculated on her, and fled the subway when the doors opened. Prosecutors presented evidence from the cases to a Grand Jury in 2006 and obtained “John Doe” indictments. Based on the defendant’s DNA profile in the New York State DNA databank, the indictments now charge HARDWARE with Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Forcible Touching, and Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree.[1] “This case represents a small but significant step towards ensuring the safety and protection of women on the subway,” said District Attorney Vance. “These are our wives and sisters, mothers and daughters, colleagues and friends, and they should not ride the subway in fear of being sexually assaulted. Forensic science and ...

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former real estate agent and a former loan officer are among five co-defendants who have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in an $11 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved upscale homes in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, Parkville, and elsewhere. Carole L. Colson, 68, of Lake Worth, Fla., a former real estate agent, Anthony E. Hicks, 39, of Little Rock, Ark., a former mortgage loan officer, and Zelda Ann Jackson, also known as Zelda Ann Aberin, 38, of Woodland Hills, Calif., pleaded guilty today in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to the charge contained in a Nov. 19, 2010, federal indictment. Bruce Q. Williams, 42, of Kansas City, Kan., a former mortgage loan officer, and Mark P. Billey, 38, of Buena Park, Calif., have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to participatin...

EL DORADO, Ark. – Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, a manufacturer and seller of chemical products in El Dorado, Ark., will pay $80,000 and furnish other relief to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging racial discrimination, the agency announced today. The EEOC’s suit (Civil Action No. 1:09-CV-01042) alleged that Great Lakes violated federal anti-discrimination law when it terminated several black employees because of their race. Specifically, the EEOC alleged that Great Lakes terminated black employees based upon discriminatory and subjective evaluations. Race discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. "The EEOC remains committed to promoting equality of opportunity in the workplace for members of all races. We ...

WASHINGTON – A patient recruiter for three Detroit-area clinics was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in fraud schemes that attempted to defraud the Medicare program of more than $15 million, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. Arnaldo Rosario, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen in the Eastern District of Michigan.  In addition to the prison term, Rosario was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay, jointly and severally with other defendants in the case, $10,765,325 in restitution.     Rosario pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud on Aug. 18, 2009.   According to court documents, Arnaldo Rosario admitted that he was responsible for overseeing and facilitating the payment of cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries who visited Sacred Hope Medical Center Inc., Dearborn Medical Rehabilitation Center Inc. (...

LOWELL– A Lowell police officer has been arraigned on charges that he allegedly raped two prostitutes as well as solicited prostitution from others while he was on-duty, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public today. Aravanh Lakmany, 31, of Dracut, was arraigned today in Lowell Superior Court on charges of extortion, rape (3 counts), and solicitation of prostitutes (3 counts). Middlesex Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Michael Sullivan released the defendant on personal recognizance. His next court date is August 30 for a pretrial conference. According to authorities, the defendant is a Lowell police officer and worked between the hours of 12:30 am and 8:30 am. The defendant is alleged to have solicited several prostitutes during his shift, beginning in 2009. The defendant would allegedly approach the women, ask them to get into the backseat of his cruiser or personal vehicle and would drive them to an isolated area where they would engage in sexual conduct. ...

WASHINGTON – A husband and wife from Mathews County, Va., were sentenced today for conspiring to impair and obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the ascertainment and assessment of federal income taxes from 2001 through 2010, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.   John Scott Miles was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Kathryn Charles Miles was sentenced to 20 months in prison.   Both were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $215,591.27 in restitution. John Miles and Kathryn Miles were charged in October 2010 and pleaded guilty in March 2011 before U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson in Norfolk, Va., who sentenced them today. At their plea hearings, Kathryn Miles and John Miles admitted to earning taxable income as the owners and operators of a construction business named “Scotts Construction” and “KCM Construction & Design.”   Kathryn Miles also admitted to earning taxable income as a nurse ...

WASHINGTON – A federal court has permanently barred Charles Klink, Caleb Grodsky and Steven Block from promoting abusive tax shelters known as “intermediary transactions” and “distressed asset trusts,” the Justice Department announced today.   The civil injunction orders, to which the three men consented without admitting to the allegations against them, were entered by Judge Joseph Irenas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.   The court orders require the defendants to give the government a list of all persons who participated in any tax plan or arrangement that they promoted since Jan. 1, 2000. According to the government complaint , Klink and Grodsky, who are both attorneys in Southern California, and Block, who resides in Louisville, Ky., and has worked in the financial services industry for more than two decades, received millions of dollars from customers across the country for helping them dispose of corporate assets without...

KANSAS CITY, KS—A Leawood, Kansas man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for selling $1 million worth of counterfeit Cisco computer equipment, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today. Christopher Myers, 42, Leawood, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to bring goods into the United States by false statements, to smuggle goods into the United States, and to traffic in counterfeit goods. In his plea, Myers admitted he conspired with co-defendant Timothy Weatherly of Overland Park, Kan. They operated a business called Deals Direct, Inc., from a warehouse in Merriam, Kansas. Beginning in 2005 and continuing through Nov. 14, 2006, Myers and Weatherly imported computer equipment from China. They put counterfeit Cisco labels on the equipment and placed the counterfeit goods in Cisco boxes with counterfeit Cisco manuals. The counterfeit equipment was sold on Deal Direct’s website and on eBay as genuine Cisco equipment. They obtained access to Cisco’s confidentia...

ATLANTA—JUNA GWENDOLYN BABB, 56, and MICHAEL J. BABB, 54, of Ellenwood, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal court to felony offenses related to a scheme to compel the labor of a young woman from the Kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa. United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “This case reminds us that modern-day slavery is occurring in our communities. This young woman believed that she was traveling to the United States for a brief visit to help with a wedding. Instead, she was forced to work for the defendants for more than two years. It is especially disturbing that the victim was exploited by a minister and his wife.” In Washington, D.C., Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division said, “The Department is committed to prosecuting individuals who engage in schemes to exploit and compel the labor of vulnerable persons.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin said, “Human trafficking, while taking on many forms, consists pri...

WASHINGTON – An Iowa-based company pleaded guilty today to participating in a price-fixing conspiracy for the sales of ready-mix concrete, the Department of Justice announced.     According to a one-count felony charge filed on June 24, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, Iowa, VS Holding Co., which formerly operated as Alliance Concrete Inc., a producer of ready-mix concrete with headquarters in Orange City, Iowa, participated in a conspiracy with another ready-mix concrete company to fix prices for ready-mix concrete sold in the northern district of Iowa.   The department said the company participated in the conspiracy beginning at least as early as January 2006 and continuing until as late as January 2008.   Ready-mix concrete is a product comprised of cement, aggregate (sand and gravel), water and other additives.   The concrete generally is produced in a concrete plant and is transported by concrete-mixer trucks to work...

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ARMEN KAZARIAN pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to racketeering in connection with his involvement with the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise engaged in a wide range of criminal activity. KAZARIAN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge PAUL A. GARDEPHE. Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “International organized crime has emerged as one of the most serious law enforcement problems of the 21st century. It is a problem that this office—and the Department of Justice as a whole—is committed to rooting out. Today, crime boss Armen Kazarian becomes the first known “Vor” to have been convicted of racketeering, but he will not be the last. His guilty plea should send a strong message to international gangsters all over the world that if you commit crimes in this country, we will find you, and we will prosecute you with the full f...

LN3 Kendra Johnson stands on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) on her first underway tour. LN3 Johnson graduated from Naval Justice School in May 2010 and is a military justice legal clerk assigned to the Enterprise's Legal Department. Enterprise is the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and next to USS Constitution, the oldest active commissioned ship in the Navy. Enterprise is in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting close-air support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Source: JAG

Brooklyn, July 7, 2011 – Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the sentencing of Justin Harris, 29, Glendon Jackson, 23, and DeShawn Owens, 26, for sexually assaulting three women and assaulting and robbing multiple victims during an August 2007 home invasion. Glendon Jackson was sentenced to 260 years in prison. Justin Harris was sentenced to 192 years in prison. DeShawn Owens was sentenced to 153 years in prison. Defendants Harris and Jackson were convicted on June 27. Owens was convicted by a separate jury on June 28. Harris was convicted on six counts of Robbery in the First Degree, two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, five counts of Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, one count of Burglary in the First Degree and other charges. Jackson was convicted of two counts of Rape in the First Degree, six counts of Robbery in the First Degree, two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, one count of Criminal Sexual Act in the First De...

SACRAMENTO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has signed a friend-of-the court brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in support of the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "Health care reform saves lives, and that is why I am determined to protect this law," Attorney General Harris said. The filing comes one week after the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the constitutionality of the federal health care reform law in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama. It was the first federal appeals court ruling to address the constitutionality of the landmark health care law. Attorney General Harris and nine other attorneys general argued in the brief that the Constitution grants Congress broad powers to regulate interstate commerce - and that the decision to purchase health insurance has a significant impact on interstate commerce because it allows the formation of risk pools, lowers heal...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division has obtained an agreement for Maryland's Prince George's County Public Schools system to pay $4,222,146 in back wages due 1,044 workers to resolve violations of the H-1B temporary foreign worker program. Investigators from the department found that PGCPS illegally reduced the wages of the H-1B workers by requiring them to pay fees that the school system was required to pay. The H-1B program allows employers to hire foreign professionals in certain specialty occupations to work temporarily in the U.S. Workers hired under the H-1B program must be paid at least the same wage rates and benefits as those paid to U.S. workers doing the same job in the same area, so that the wages of similarly employed U.S. workers are not adversely affected. "The Labor Department has the responsibility for ensuring that employers who use the H-1B program follow the law and do not place U.S. workers at a disadvantage to H-...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) returned a collection of objects illegally imported into the United States from Iraq. The objects were discovered as part of four separate investigations by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Tampa, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; El Paso, Texas; and Little Rock, Arkansas. The objects were presented during a joint repatriation ceremony attended by Iraqi Ambassador to the United States, Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie, Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Kumar Kibble, and Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office James McJunkin. "Pilfering and trading in a country's ethnic and cultural heritage treasures, either during a time of peace or upheaval, are major transgressions that ICE, in coordination with a host of domestic and international partners, works to detect and stop," said Kibble. ...

WASHINGTON – JP Morgan Chase & Co. has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve the company’s role in anticompetitive activity in the municipal bond investments market and has agreed to pay a total of $228 million in restitution, penalties and disgorgement to federal and state agencies, the Department of Justice announced today.   As part of its agreement with the department, JPMorgan admits, acknowledges and accepts responsibility for illegal, anticompetitive conduct by its former employees.   According to the non-prosecution agreement, from 2001 through 2006, certain former JPMorgan employees at its municipal derivatives desk, entered into unlawful agreements to manipulate the bidding process and rig bids on municipal investment and related contracts. These contracts were used to invest the proceeds of, or manage the risks associated with, bond issuances by municipalities and other public entities.   “By entering into i...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of STEVEN CARTER, 49, for the rape and murder of Antoinette Bennett in 1986. The crime remained unsolved for 24 years, but the case was reopened last year by the Manhattan DA’s Forensic Sciences/Cold Case Unit, which was created in April 2010 and is reviewing thousands of unsolved homicides dating back to the 1970s. After a thorough re-examination of evidence and the use of new forensic techniques, investigators from the District Attorney’s Office uncovered sufficient evidence to charge CARTER with murder. CARTER is charged with two counts of Murder in the Second Degree, including one count of murder for causing the victim’s death during the commission of a felony rape.[1] “The Office’s new Cold Case Unit uses advances in DNA technology to solve homicides,” said District Attorney Vance. “The victim’s valiant fight for her life—in which she clawed at her attacker, scraping his skin—made today’s indictment...

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Bayville resident has been indicted by a grand jury on 31 counts for inappropriate sexual contact with 14 children.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Belgian man wanted for child rape and extortion in his home country was turned over to authorities in Brussels, Belgium, today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). ICE agents and officers, assisted by the Marion County Sheriff's Office in Florida, arrested Andy Vertoont, 31, a native of Belgium, at his place of employment in Ocala, Fla., on Nov. 12, 2010. ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Orlando had initiated an investigation as a result of a request for assistance from the Belgian Federal Police and the ICE HSI attaché office in Brussels. Vertoont remained in ICE custody pending his removal to Belgium, where he is wanted on an arrest warrant for the June 2009 rape of a 12 year-old-boy in Belgium. He had been arrested in Belgium and conditionally released prior to his trial. Shortly thereafter, he fled to the United States to avoid prosecution in Belgium. Vertoont is fur...

First Precinct police officers were called to 197 Fulton St. in West Babylon after a 911 caller reported gunshots at 9:34 p.m. on July 5. Officers discovered a 23-year-old male had been killed in the street in front of that location from apparent gunshot wounds. The identification of the man is being withheld pending notification of kin. Police believe the suspect in the shooting fled on foot eastbound on Fulton Street towards Westchester Ave. The suspect is a black male, approximately 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, and he is believed to have been wearing blue jeans and a light-colored hooded sweatshirt. The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will remain confidential.

BROWNSVILLE, TX—Former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspector Luis Enrique Ramirez, 39, has been sentenced to a total of 204 months in federal prison, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. Ramirez, of Brownsville, Texas, was convicted in March 2011, following his guilty plea to conspiring to transport certain aliens within the United States, bringing in a certain aliens into the United States for private financial gain, accepting bribes in his capacity as a government official, and possessing with intent to distribute a quantity exceeding five kilograms of cocaine. Ramirez, 38, of Brownsville, pleaded guilty on March 3, 2011. At that time, Ramirez admitted that between November 2007 and January 2009, while employed as a CBP officer, he was a member of a drug trafficking organization. He admitted that on Dec. 17, 2008, he allowed a co-conspirator to drive a vehicle laden with 12 kilograms of cocaine into the United States via a vehicle primary inspection lan...