Free Republic

JACKSON, MS—Monyette Quintel Jefferson, 27, Terence Dale Jenkins, 25, and Anthony Ricardo Payne, Jr., 25, all Jackson Police Department patrol officers at the time of the offense, have been arrested for accepting bribes to protect what they believed to be drug transactions following an undercover operation, U.S. Attorney John Dowdy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced today. On June 25, 2010, an undercover FBI agent, posing as a drug dealer, met with Officers Monyette Quintel Jefferson and Anthony Ricardo Payne at Metro Center Mall to discuss their protection of a shipment of cocaine that was coming into...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Scott Allan Herrick, 40, of Twin Lakes, Michigan, was sentenced to serve 95 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today. Herrick surreptitiously videotaped boys as they were dressing in the boys’ locker room in the YMCA in Muskegon and kept a massive collection of 100,000 images of child pornography with him at the Gerber Boy Scout Camp in Twin Lakes, Michigan. He was convicted at trial of three counts of attempting to produce child pornography. On the first day of trial, Herrick pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of...

WASHINGTON—Rudolf L. Cheung, 57, a resident of Massachusetts, pleaded guilty today in federal court in the District of Columba to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act in connection with the unlawful export of 55 military antennae from the United States to Singapore and Hong Kong. The plea was announced by Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; John Morton, Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Mark Giuliano, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch; and Eric L....

WASHINGTON—A former research scientist was sentenced late yesterday to 60 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Dow Chemical Company and selling them to companies in the People’s Republic of China, as well as committing perjury, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. for the Middle District of Louisiana. U.S. District Court Judge James J. Brady also sentenced Wen Chyu Liu, aka David W. Liou, 75, of Houston, to two years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $600,000 and pay a $25,000 fine. A...

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Minnetta Walker, 44, of Buffalo, N.Y., who was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, to be followed by one year supervised released, by U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who handled the case, stated that Walker was employed by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as a behavior detection officer, assigned to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport (Buffalo Airport) in Cheektowaga, New York. TSA is responsible for ensuring passenger...

GREENBELT, MD—U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced former Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson, age 62, of Mitchellville, Maryland, today to 87 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his leadership role in an extortion conspiracy wherein in exchange for bribes, Jack Johnson corruptly used his public office to engage in fraudulent actions including steering millions of dollars in federal and local funds to favored developers; and tampering with a witness and evidence. Judge Messitte also ordered that Jack Johnson pay a $100,000 fine and forfeit $78,000 and an antique Mercedes Benz. The sentence...

LAREDO, TX—A Webb County Constable Precinct One deputy has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to use his official capacity to protect loads of cocaine, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. Eduardo Garcia, aka Eddie Garcia, pleaded guilty late this morning to count one of the indictment charging him with a violation of the Hobbs Act. U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Hacker accepted Garcia’s guilty plea and is expected to file a report and recommendation with Senior U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen recommending the plea be accepted and the defendant convicted of the federal felony offense. At today’s hearing,...

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....

BALTIMORE—William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. The plea agreement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office. “William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did...

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr., announced today that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a sentence of 309 years' imprisonment for Robert Thompson, also known as John Lawson, age 44, of Zachary, Louisiana. Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph E. Tyson imposed the sentence on February 17, 2010, following Thompson's conviction on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obstruct justice; seven counts of wire fraud; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering; one count of mail fraud; one count of honest services mail fraud; one count...

PHILADELPHIA—Anthony Hadaway, 35, of Philadelphia, was sentenced today to 293 months in prison for two violent robberies of commercial establishments in Philadelphia during the summer of 2008. In November 2010, a federal jury found Hadaway guilty of the August 2008 robbery at the Fashion Unlimited clothing store, located at 6127 Woodland Avenue; and the August 2008 armed robbery of the EZ-Cleaners dry cleaning store, located at 701 S. 52nd Street. During the robbery at the Fashion Unlimited store, Hadaway viciously assaulted the store owner by grabbing the back of her head and smashing her face against the floor. A trauma...

GREENBELT, MD—A criminal information was filed today charging Prince George’s County Councilwoman Leslie Johnson, age 59, of Mitchellville, Maryland, with conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering. The criminal supersedes a criminal complaint previously filed against Mrs. Johnson. The preliminary hearing scheduled on the criminal complaint has been canceled. No court proceeding is currently scheduled. The charge was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington,...

McALLEN, TX—Edgar Quezada-Luna, 21, of Mexico, has been charged with carjacking, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The three-count indictment was returned yesterday in federal court in McAllen, Texas. According to allegations in a federal criminal complaint filed in McAllen, Texas on Feb. 18, 2011, Quezada-Luna allegedly stole a black BMW X-5 luxury sport utility vehicle from a female driver at gunpoint near the Arts District Business Center on North Main Street in McAllen shortly before 2 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2010. He allegedly had someone transport the BMW into Mexico. The indictment also charges him with two...

LOS ANGELES—A senior attorney with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was sentenced this morning to 212 months in federal prison for taking nearly one-half million dollars in bribes from immigrants who were promised immigration benefits that would allow them to remain in the United States. ICE Assistant Chief Counsel Constantine Peter Kallas, 40, of Alta Loma, received the 17⅔-year sentence from United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. In addition to the prison term, Judge Hatter ordered Kallas to pay $296,865 in restitution after fraudulently receiving worker’s compensation benefits. “Mr. Kallas has received one of the longest sentences...

NORFOLK, VA—Five men from Somalia were sentenced today to life followed by a consecutive 80 years in prison for engaging in piracy and related offenses in their attack on the USS Nicholas. Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office; Alex J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Mark Russ, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Norfolk, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis. “Today...

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Cynthia D. Magee was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison, following her guilty plea to an indictment charging her with fraudulently obtaining more than $20,000 in disaster relief following Hurricane Katrina. United States District Judge Larry A. Burns additionally ordered Magee to pay $20,572 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after her release from prison. According to court records, shortly after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, Magee submitted a claim for disaster relief to Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), in which she falsely stated...

FRANKFORT, KY—A former democratic election commissioner in Clay County was sentenced today to 20 years for his role in helping a criminal enterprise make millions of dollars and obtain power and authority in the county. Charles Wayne Jones, 71, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Danny C. Reeves for conspiring with a former circuit court judge, a school superintendent, and other county officials in schemes that involved racketeering, money laundering, and voter fraud. Last March, a jury convicted Jones and seven others for their roles in the above mentioned schemes. The jury also found that the eight men were...

McALLEN, TX—A DPS employee and several others have been arrested and charged for attempting to provide a fraudulent Texas driver's license to another individual under an assumed name in exchange for cash, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. Maritza De Leon, 32, of McAllen, Texas, an employee with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), along with Marco Antonio Hernandez, 40, Edinburg, Texas, and Romana Soto-Varela, 39, a Mexican national residing in Donna, Texas, and San Juan De Dios Alejandro Rocha-Zuniga, aka Oscar Rocha, 33, were arrested late Wednesday, March 2, 2010. Each is charged with conspiring to...

ATLANTA—RUSSELL E. WORSHAM, 44, of Macon, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge J. Owen Forrester to serve the rest of his life in federal prison on the charge of using the Internet to attempt to entice a child to engage in sexual activity. "This defendant trolled the Internet searching for child victims," said Sally Quillian Yates, United States Attorney. "His conduct was more than mere words. A brave victim testified during trial that from the time she was 9 until she was 12, this dangerous predator repeatedly sexually assaulted her. On the day of his arrest, the...

WASHINGTON—A federal jury in Baton Rouge, La., today convicted a former research scientist of stealing trade secrets from Dow Chemical Company and selling them to companies in the People’s Republic of China, as well as committing perjury, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. for the Middle District of Louisiana. After a three-week trial, the jury found Wen Chyu Liu, aka David W. Liou, 74, of Houston, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft and one count of perjury. According to the evidence presented in...