Tag Archives: Department of Justice

New Jersey Child Predator Sentenced to Life in Prison

January 10, 2013blogarrest, child predator, Department of Justice, federal prison, HSI, ICE, life sentence, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Operation Predator, Rhode Island State Police, Rhode Island State Police Computer Crimes Unit/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, sentencing, US Marshals Service, USPSAlex Meyerovich

A Pemberton, N.J., man was sentenced Monday, January 7, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to life plus 10 years in federal prison. The man was convicted in May 2012 on charges of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual acts with a minor, aggravated sexual assault, enticement of a minor and distribution of child pornography. The man was previously convicted on three occasions in the state of New Jersey for crimes against children, including child pornography and aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. The sentence is the result of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Donald J. Jones III, 48, was arrested by HSI special agents and the Rhode Island State Police April 8, 2011, after he traveled by bus from Philadelphia to Providence, expecting to meet with an 8-year-old girl and her father.

Jones communicated for nearly three weeks via the Internet and by phone with a person he believed was the girl’s father, when in fact he was communicating with federal agents assigned to the Rhode Island State Police Computer Crimes Unit/Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

“As prosecutors, we have no higher calling than to aid parents in protecting their children,” said U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha, District of Rhode Island. “Accordingly, I am very pleased with the life sentenced handed down today, which ensures that a remorseless, recidivist pedophile has been brought to justice. Spending the rest of his life in prison ensures that he will never, ever harm another child.”

“Today’s life sentence demonstrates the serious consequences that await those who would sexually prey upon and exploit children,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of HSI Boston. “Criminals with this kind of depravity in mind should know that we are ever vigilant. For every tactic taken to evade law enforcement, we will adapt our strategies to find them and prosecute them. Through our partnerships with state, local and other federal law enforcement agencies in Rhode Island, HSI will continue to police cyber space to investigate child predators and ensure that they feel the full weight of the law.”

“In addition to preventing this particular pedophile from further targeting any more children, a life sentence sends a clear message to others that may choose to follow in the same path he did,” said Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police. “I commend the prosecutors, troopers, local police and federal agents for their continued vigilance in tracking, arresting and prosecuting those who prey on our children.”

“A life sentence demonstrates the serious consequence that awaits those who sexually exploit innocent children,” said Kevin M. Niland, U.S. Postal Service inspector in charge. “The Postal Inspection Service will to continue to aggressively identify, target and arrest those who dare prey on our children.”

According to the government’s evidence presented at trial March 21, 2011, Jones posted a message on an adult Internet forum seeking a parent willing to allow him to have sex with their pre-pubescent child. The message was discovered by a postal inspector assigned to the Rhode Island ICAC who responded, posing as the father of an 8-year-old Rhode Island girl.

Jones and the agent exchanged numerous emails which evolved from the parent purporting to have an interest in allowing Jones to have sex with his daughter, to Jones at first describing and then emailing videos of child pornography in an effort to depict his intentions. They also had numerous telephone conversations, including conversations during which a female Providence Police officer posed as the young girl.

The government presented evidence to the jury that Jones purchased clothing for the young girl and mailed them to the person he believed to be her father. Jones also purchased and brought with him a nightgown and underwear for the young girl to wear.

On April 8, 2011, federal agents watched as Jones boarded a bus in Philadelphia and traveled to New York and then on to Rhode Island. Jones was arrested by federal and state law enforcement agents as he stepped off the bus in downtown Providence.

According to the State of New Jersey sex offender registry, Donald J. Jones III is a level two child sex offender, convicted in 1993 on charges of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Both offenses were against a female under the age of 13. Jones was sentenced today to a consecutive 10 year federal prison sentence for committing a new sex offender crime while being required to register as a sex offender.

Providence Police, special agents from HSI New Jersey and the U.S. Marshals Service assisted in the investigation.

The Rhode Island ICAC is a Department of Justice grant-funded program administered by the state police, and is comprised of six state police detectives, detectives from the Providence, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick, Johnston and Pawtucket police departments, and federal officers from HSI and the United States Postal Inspectors’ Office. The objective of the ICAC is to form strong working relationships among federal, state and local law enforcement in order to effectively and efficiently prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute online child exploitation and child pornography crimes.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.

Department of Justice Restrains $4 Million of Former Nigerian Governor’s Assets

October 16, 2012blogAsset Identification and Removal Group, assets, Department of Justice, Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Department of Justice Criminal Division, DHS, foreign official corruption, HSI, HSI Attache, ICE, immigration, Nigeria, restraints, United StatesAlex Meyerovich

The Department of Justice has executed restraints on more than $4 million in additional corruption proceeds in connection with the prosecution and conviction in the United Kingdom of James Onanefe Ibori, the former governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Foreign Corruption Investigations Group, HSI Asset Identification and Removal Group in Miami, and HSI Attaché London.

As a result of this action, the United States has restrained more than $7 million in assets tied to Ibori and his associates, including the $4 million that were restrained the week ending in October 5, 2012, and more than $3 million in assets previously made subject to a restraining order issued May 22 by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“This serves as a warning to those corrupt foreign officials who abuse their power for personal financial gain and then attempt to place those funds in theU.S.financial system,” said ICE Director John Morton. “HSI special agents will continue to work with our law enforcement partners at the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section to investigate and prosecute those involved in such illicit activities and hold corrupt foreign officials accountable by denying them the satisfaction of their illegal earnings.”

Specifically, the Department of Justice filed an application to supplement the prior order in the District of Columbia to identify for restraint a luxury condominium unit at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., as well as proceeds from the sale of another condominium, a penthouse unit, located at the Ritz-Carlton. On Oct. 4, 2012, the district court amended its prior order to name these additional assets, which the United States executed against the Ritz-Carlton condominium and more than $3 million in proceeds from the sale of the penthouse unit. The United States is working closely with the United Kingdom’s Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police Service to forfeit these corruption proceeds.

According to the original and supplemental applications, Ibori served as the governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007, and misappropriated millions of dollars in Delta State funds. He laundered those proceeds through a myriad of shell companies, intermediaries and nominees in several jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom. Although Nigeria’s Constitution prohibits state governors from maintaining foreign bank accounts and serving as directors of private companies, Ibori and his associates accumulated millions of dollars in assets in the United Kingdom and the United States, according to the applications. Ibori was convicted in the United Kingdom of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced April 18 by a British court to 13 years in prison.

This case is part of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. This initiative is carried out by a dedicated team of prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, working in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and where appropriate return those proceeds to benefit those harmed.

Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through institutions in the United States should contact federal law enforcement or email kleptocracy@usdoj.gov.

HSI’s Foreign Corruption Investigations Group in Miami targets corrupt foreign officials around the world that attempt to utilize U.S. financial institutions to launder illicit funds. The group conducts investigations into the laundering of proceeds emanating from foreign public corruption, bribery or embezzlement. The objective is to prevent foreign derived ill-gotten gains from entering the U.S. financial infrastructure, to seize identified assets in the United States and repatriate these funds on behalf of those affected.

The case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys Woo S. Lee and Elizabeth Aloi of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.

MS-13 Gang Officially Designated a Transnational Criminal Organization by HSI

October 12, 2012blogcriminal activities, Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, DHS, drug trafficking, gang, gang activity, homicide, HSI, human smuggling, human trafficking, ICE, immigration fraud, MS-13, murder, National Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, Operation Barbed Wire, Operation Community Shield, racketeering, sex trafficking, street gang, TCO, transnational criminal organization, violenceAlex Meyerovich

On Thursday, October 11, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) with the assistance of the Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) designated the Latin American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) as a transnational criminal organization (TCO). This group is being designated by Treasury pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581, which targets significant TCOs and their supporters. E.O. 13581 is a key part of the National Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime.

Using the authority provided in E.O. 13581, Treasury is targeting the economic power of MS-13 as a transnational criminal network – and those individuals and entities who work with them, enable them and support them – by freezing any assets those persons may have within U.S. jurisdiction. Any property or property interests in the U.S., or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which these targets have an interest are blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

“This designation allows us to strike at the financial heart of MS-13 and is a powerful weapon in our fight to dismantle one of the most violent, transnational criminal organizations operating today,” said ICE Director John Morton. “History has proven that we can successfully take down organized crime groups when we combine sophisticated investigative techniques with tough street level enforcement, cutting off cash flows, contraband and collaborators to ensure they no longer find safe haven in our communities.”

“MS-13 is an extremely violent and dangerous gang responsible for a multitude of crimes that directly threaten the welfare and security of U.S. citizens, as well as countries throughout Central America,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen stated. “This action positions us to target the associates and financial networks supporting MS-13, and gives law enforcement an additional tool in its efforts to disrupt MS-13’s activities.”

MS-13 is being designated for its involvement in serious criminal activities, including drug trafficking, human smuggling and sex trafficking, murder and violence, racketeering, and immigration offenses. MS-13, consisting of at least 30,000 members and present in at least five countries, including the United States, is one of the most dangerous criminal gangs in the world today. MS-13 violently protects its illicit interests through murder, murder for hire, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion and assassination. MS-13’s creed is exemplified by one of its mottos, “mata, roba, viola, controla,” which translates in sum and substance to “kill, steal, rape, control.” In addition, MS-13 members have been responsible for numerous killings within the United States.

The HSI National Gang Unit will take the law enforcement lead, under this MS-13 enforcement effort dubbed, “Operation Barbed Wire.” The National Gang Unit removes gang members from our neighborhoods and, when appropriate, from the United States. In 2005, HSI initiated Operation Community Shield, an international law enforcement initiative to enhance U.S. public safety. Operation Community Shield partners with existing federal, state and local anti-gang efforts to identify violent street gangs and develop intelligence on gang members and associates, gang criminal activities and international movements, to arrest, prosecute, imprison and/or deport transnational gang members as well as to suppress violence and prosecute criminal enterprises. The National Gang Unit’s goal is to deter, disrupt and dismantle gang operations by tracing and seizing cash, weapons and other assets derived from criminal activities. Since 2006, HSI has arrested 4,078 MS-13 gang members and, partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice, has successfully brought to indictment numerous MS-13 racketeering investigations in Washington, D.C., Virginia, New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta.

MS-13 is the first transnational criminal street gang designated as a TCO. Others TCOs include the The Brothers’ Circle, Camorra, Yakuza, and Los Zetas in the United States.

Fresno Man Arrested for Federal Child Pornography Charges

February 17, 2012blogarrest, child pornography charges, Department of Justice, HSI, ICE, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Operation Predator, Project Safe ChildhoodAlex Meyerovich

A 47-year-old Madera man made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday, February 15, following his arrest on child pornography charges by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Lewis Gaudinier, 47, of Madera, Calif., was taken into custody the afternoon of February 14 based on a criminal complaint charging him with receipt of child pornography. Gaudinier remains in custody and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe at 1:30 p.m. on February 15. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri.

Gaudinier originally came under suspicion after HSI special agents and investigators assigned to the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, determined that a computer traced to Gaudinier’s residence was receiving images of child
pornography via peer-to-peer software. According to the criminal complaint, the
alleged illegal activity took place from approximately Dec. 24, 2011, through Feb. 4.

As part of the probe, task force investigators executed a state search warrant at Gaudinier’s Madera residence. A forensic analysis of the computer found in Gaudinier’s home revealed at least 1,000 image and video files of child pornography. Those files primarily showed girls, ranging from approximately 3 to 14 years of age, posed in sexually explicit positions and engaging in sex acts.

“Every time these compromising images and videos are viewed, the children in them are victimized again,” said Paul Leonardi, resident agent in charge of HSI Fresno.
“Children have the right to be safe from Internet predators. That is why HSI will continue to work closely with its law enforcement counterparts to vigorously investigate these cases and seek justice for the innocent victims.”

Receiving material involving the sexual exploitation of minors carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The charges in the complaint are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The investigation is part of HSI’s Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who sexually exploit children, and Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department of Justice effort launched in May 2006 to combat the growing
epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

As part of Operation Predator, HSI is encouraging the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678.