News and reports from the Department of Justice.

News Release: NASHVILLE - Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey pleaded guilty today to violating campaign finance laws and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a scheme to benefit his 2016 campaign for U.S. Congress.

News Release: CONTACT: Barbara Burns. PHONE: (716) 843-5817. FAX #: (716) 551-3051. BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Steven Gasiorek, 37, of Cheektowaga, NY, who was convicted of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, was sentenced...

News Release: BOSTON - A Boston man was arrested yesterday for a drug distribution offense involving fentanyl and a fentanyl analogue known as para-fluorofentanyl.

News Release: LOS ANGELES - A former Amtrak employee pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for conspiring with her husband to steal nearly $1 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and for fraudulently obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits while she worked at Amtrak.

News Release: Assistant U. S. Attorneys Owen Roth and Aaron P. Arnzen.

News Release: NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia Beach man was sentenced today to 4 years in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon.

News Release: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on Nov. 18, 2022 after a four (4) day trial before United States District Judge Eldon E. Fallon, GEORGE BENNETT, aka “G," 39, from the greater New Orleans area, was convicted of three counts of drug trafficking charges.

News Release: TRENTON, N.J. - A Somerset County, New Jersey, man admitted fraudulently obtaining over $850,000 in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, announced today.

News Release: ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal jury has convicted Michael Rech, 49, of North Chili, NY, of 37 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

News Release: DES MOINES, IOWA - Michael Allen James, age 39, of Des Moines, was sentenced to 240 months in prison for distributing a controlled substance which resulted in death on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. On August 5, 2022, Gregory Michael Williams, age 38, was sentenced to 168 months in prison for distributing a controlled substance which resulted in death. Both men were sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge Stephanie Rose after pleading guilty.

News Release: NASHVILLE - A federal jury yesterday convicted a Clarksville, Tennessee man of filing false tax returns that omitted income he earned from his business, announced U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

News Release: Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that STEPHFAN SANDERSON, also known as “Birdy" and “Beans, 24, of Covington, Georgia, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to a firearms trafficking offense.

News Release: INDIANAPOLIS - Coenraad Cromhoudt, 48, of Cayuga, Indiana, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution and receipt of child sexual abuse material.

News Release: COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Bristol, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 36 months in prison for multiple counts of mail fraud and mail fraud conspiracy. He was also ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution.

News Release: PROVIDENCE - Jason Hatcher, 40, of New York, NY, was sentenced today to nearly three years in federal prison for his participation in a conspiracy that defrauded more than a dozen Rhode Island seniors who unknowingly fell victim to a so-called “grandparent scam," announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.