News and reports from the Department of Justice.

News Release: SEATTLE - Six members of a drug distribution conspiracy operating in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties are charged federally with various drug and firearms crimes. On Wednesday, in searches of eight locations in Whatcom and Snohomish Counties, law enforcement seized: 85,000 fentanyl pills, 2.3 kilograms fentanyl powder, 6.2 kilograms methamphetamine, 1.1 kilograms heroin, 5.1 kilograms cocaine, two guns, $185,000 U.S. currency, and three vehicles.

News Release: BOSTON - A Lawrence man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to fentanyl distribution charges.

News Release: NEWARK, N.J. - Two owners of a New Jersey pharmaceutical marketing company admitted their roles in a $38 million compounded medication health care fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

News Release: A former police chief in Amite City, Louisiana and a former Amite City councilmember were each sentenced yesterday to one year in prison for violating federal election laws as part of a conspiracy to pay, or offer to pay, voters for voting in a federal election.

News Release: GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - U.S. Attorney Mark Totten today announced that Jonathon Thomas Burgett, 37, of Holland, Michigan was sentenced to 30 years in the Bureau of Prisons for the sexual exploitation of a child. In imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering noted that Burgett “engaged in conduct that will, for a lifetime, severely impact" the victim. Burgett will be on supervised release for 5 years when he gets out of prison.

News Release: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TARAS ILYICH BEVZ, a citizen of Russia, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for laundering over a million dollars of proceeds of various internet frauds targeting dozens of U.S. citizens and companies. BEVZ was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald.

News Release: CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Nathaniel Blayn Becker, 43, of Marietta, Ohio was sentenced today to eight years and one month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with pipe bombs found on tugboats on the Ohio River.

News Release: SAVANNAH, GA: A former U.S. Army service member has admitted his involvement in a plot that led to the stabbing death of a former fellow soldier whose body was found in his Fort Stewart barracks room in June 2020.

News Release: ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Woodbridge man pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in dogfighting, and a Camp Springs, Maryland, man pleaded guilty today to advertising a dogfight on the internet.

News Release: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that CARY YAN, a/k/a “Hong Hui Yan," a/k/a “Chen Hong," and GINA ZHOU, a/k/a “Chaoting Zhou," a/k/a “Angel Zhou," pled guilty to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA") in connection...

News Release: Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KENNEY COTTO, 25, of New Britain, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 72 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for firearm offenses stemming from his participation in the burglary of a Portland firearms dealer in December 2020.

News Release: TAMPA, Fla. - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury has found Justin Kelly (35, New Port Richey) guilty of conspiracy to distribute 40 grams of fentanyl resulting in death, distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, three counts of possession/distribution of fentanyl, ...

News Release: NEWARK, N.J. - A Pennsylvania man was arrested for sexually exploiting and attempting to entice a minor victim, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

News Release: EUGENE, Ore.-A former employee of the Burns Paiute Tribe was sentenced to federal probation today after she stole and crashed a vehicle owned by the Tribe used to transport students to and from school events.

News Release: TAYLOR DZICZEK, 30, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, was arrested today on federal criminal complaint charging him with robbing a Connecticut bank earlier this year. As alleged in the complaint, Dziczek is also a suspect is several additional bank robberies that have occurred in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire since September 2021.