News and reports from the Department of Justice.

BJA FY 23 Smart Prosecution: Innovative Prosecution Solutions Training and Technical Assistance Program grant opened on March 1.

News Release: CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Today, U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Brandon Eugene Massey, 38, of Blacksburg, S.C., to 151 months in prison, for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Whitney also imposed five years of supervised release following incarceration.

News Release: WETHERSFIELD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division, and Wethersfield...

News Release: BOSTON - Two members of a Cape Cod heroin trafficking ring have been sentenced to 10 years and nine years in prison for their roles in a violent kidnapping captured on video.

News Release: SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Vietnamese national has been sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing methamphetamine to distribute and a firearm.

News Release: Ocala, FL - Senior United States District Judge Gregory A. Presnell has sentenced Aaron Haa (42, Ocala) to 17 years and 7 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Haa had pleaded guilty on July 13, 2022.

News Release: CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - On Feb. 27, 2023, David Michael Apps, 50 of Chattanooga, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343. Apps is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27, 2023 at 2:00 p.m., before the Honorable Charles E. Atchley, Jr., in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

News Release: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI"), announced today the arrest of BHASKARRAY BAROT for engaging in a years-long scheme...

News Release: The Justice Department announced today a $9 million agreement to resolve allegations that Park National Bank (Park National), headquartered in Newark, Ohio, engaged in a pattern or practice of lending discrimination by “redlining" in the Columbus metropolitan area. The agreement is part of the Justice Department’s nationwide Combating Redlining Initiative that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland launched in October 2021.

News Release: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Ivelisse Rivera-Padilla and Carla Carrillo-Torres, and the company VIP Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (“VIP Healthcare") were indicted by a federal Grand Jury in relation to bankruptcy fraud, a money laundering scheme, PPP fraud, and bank fraud announced W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

News Release: Defendant Threw Lit Object At Police.

News Release: BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on Feb. 21, 2023, Tyler Orvis, 40, of Milton, Vermont, was arrested in connection with an indictment charging violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act for drug trafficking and related activity.

Two Nigerian citizens living in Toronto have been indicted by a federal grand jury for an alleged scam to steal U.S. tax refunds and COVID-19 pandemic benefits, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.

News Release: WASHINGTON - The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance today awarded $4 million in funding to provide training and technical assistance to support the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program. The three training and technical assistance providers will support grantees selected through...

News Release: BOSTON - A former Methuen man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for his role in a Lawrence-based drug trafficking conspiracy involving fentanyl and cocaine.