Stories by DOJ Newswire on Federal Newswire


Orlando Man Who Used Internet To Sexually Exploit  12-Year-Old Sentenced To Life In Prison

News Release: Orlando, Florida - U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Andre Maurice Lewis (37, Orlando) to life in federal prison for enticement of a minor. The court also ordered Lewis to forfeit the cellphone he used to commit the offense. Lewis had pleaded guilty on Aug. 15, 2022.


Third Conspirator In Attempted $600,000 Cocaine Purchase Sentenced To 19 Years In Federal Prison

News Release: Orlando, Florida - U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Derek Morales-Figueroa (26, Orlando) to 19 years and 7 months years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Morales-Figueroa had pleaded guilty on May 10, 2022.


News Release: SACRAMENTO, Calif. - One defendant was sentenced and two others pleaded guilty today for their participation in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin in the Eastern District of California, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.


Fort Worth Manufacturer Charged in Glock Switch Case

News Release: A Fort Worth man who allegedly manufactured and sold thousands of machinegun conversion devices - small, 3D-printed gadgets that convert ordinary firearms into fully automatic machineguns - has been federally charged, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.


News Release: Bryan Ross, 26, from Ellsworth, Iowa, plead guilty November 4, 2022, in federal court to Producing and Distributing Child Pornography.


News Release: EL PASO - A New Mexico woman was sentenced Wednesday to 50 months in prison for her involvement in a scheme to purchase firearms in West Texas and Southern New Mexico and then export them into Mexico.


Ipswich Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Offenses

News Release: BOSTON - An Ipswich man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to distributing and possessing child pornography.


News Release: CHARLOTTE, N.C. - An indictment was unsealed today in federal court charging Wynn A.D. Charlebois, 52, of Charlotte, with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a multi-million dollar investment fraud scheme, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Charlebois had his initial court appearance this morning after he surrendered to the FBI.


News Release: PHOENIX, Ariz. - Dominic Tyah Watchman, 20, of Lupton, Arizona, and a member of the Navajo Nation, was sentenced on Nov. 2, 2022, by United States District Judge Susan M. Brnovich to 66 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Watchman previously pleaded guilty to robbery.


News Release: A Louisiana man was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and one day in prison for possessing dogs for the purpose of using them in an animal fighting venture.


News Release: MIAMI-Omar Smith, 42, of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., who has worked on South Florida political campaigns, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for lying on a coronavirus relief loan application and fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to help small businesses financially survive the Covid-19 pandemic.


News Release: BOSTON - A West Roxbury man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with a scheme to defraud an insurance provider for physical therapy services that were not provided to patients.


News Release: BOSTON - A Norwell man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for a drug distribution offense involving fentanyl.


News Release: Twelve of the eighteen individuals were arrested during a large-scale operation in Levelland, Texas and surrounding counties Wednesday. The operation, led by the FBI’s Lubbock Resident Agency, involved around 150 law enforcement personnel. The remaining six individuals, who were already in state custody, are being brought into federal court on writs.


News Release: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Mo., woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to fraudulently receiving a $10,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan, a program that was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.


News Release: Earlier today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Lorenzo Bailey, Quincy Battice, Jean Fremont, and Oluwagbenga Agoro on multiple counts of a superseding indictment charging them with conspiracy to murder rival gang members in-aid-of racketeering, attempted murder in-aid-of racketeering, attempted...


Ohio Company Settles False Claims Act Allegations of Billing for Non-Existent Construction Materials

News Release: Wise Services Inc. (Wise), located in Dayton, Ohio, has agreed to pay $302,500 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of false and fraudulent invoices for non-existent materials to the Department of Energy (DOE) and paying improper kickbacks. The settlement amount was negotiated based on Wise’s lack of ability to pay.


News Release: WASHINGTON - An Ohio man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including the theft of a coat rack from the Capitol Building. His and others’ actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.


News Release: A man who distributed heroin and fentanyl in Dubuque, Iowa, plead guilty on Nov. 18, 2022, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.


Thirty-Year-Old Mississippi Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Transfer Obscene Material to a Minor

News Release: NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that COLBI TRENT DEFIORE, age 30, a resident of Carriere, Mississippi, pleaded guilty as charged on November 16. 2022 before United States District Judge Sarah S. Vance after previously being charged with attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1470.