Tag: January 2017
Cupertino Couple Caged in $5M Auto Fraud Scheme
Yujen Chen, 61, and Maria Chen, 59, of Cupertino, are headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 75 and 64 months, respectively, for a sprawling wire fraud and identity theft scheme tied to their Sunnyvale auto dealership, 888 Auto Corporation. The couple admitted to defrauding luxury car financing companies and innocent third parties by…
Las Cruces Woman Gets 33 Months for Heroin Trafficking
Alejandra Gomez, 29, of Las Cruces, N.M., is headed to federal prison for 33 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute. The sentence, handed down in Albuquerque federal court, marks the end of a year-long investigation that exposed a steady flow of high-purity heroin through Doña Ana County. Gomez…
Christina Crites, Joseph Muster Cop Meth Charges in Elkins
ELKINS, W.Va. — A pair of Elkins residents have folded under federal pressure, admitting their roles in a methamphetamine distribution scheme that poisoned the streets near protected zones. Christina Crites, 46, and Joseph Muster, 28, both of Elkins, West Virginia, stood before the court today and pleaded guilty to pushing crystal poison in proximity to…
Bronx Teacher Hector M. Cruz Charged in Cockfighting Ring
HECTOR M. CRUZ, a 59-year-old Bronx public school teacher, was arrested and charged today with running a brutal cockfighting enterprise out of a facility in the Bronx. Federal authorities say Cruz bred, trained, and sold fighting roosters equipped with knives and gaffs, shipping them across the country for use in illegal animal fights where birds…
Quick Bear Sentenced for Sex Offender Registration Failure
Ennors Quick Bear, 28, of St. Francis, South Dakota, was slammed with a 15-month sentence for failing to register as a sex offender, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. The U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange imposed the harsh penalty on January 31, 2017, after Bear was found guilty of not updating his registration…
Richard One Feather Sentenced for Assaulting Federal Officer
A 47-year-old Mission, South Dakota man launched a violent resistance against law enforcement during a traffic stop that escalated into a federal crime, leading to an 8-month prison sentence. Richard One Feather was sentenced on January 30, 2017, by U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange for assaulting, opposing, resisting, and impeding a federal officer—a conviction…
Crystal Burrows Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud in IRS Scam
Crystal Burrows stood motionless in a Dallas federal courtroom this afternoon as she admitted to orchestrating a multi-year wire fraud scheme targeting the Internal Revenue Service. Flanked by U.S. Marshals, the defendant pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney to one count of wire fraud, marking the collapse of a calculated operation built…
Elkins Man David Maxwell, 31, Pleads Guilty to Meth Distribution
David Maxwell, 31, of Elkins, West Virginia, admitted in federal court today that he distributed methamphetamine, sealing his fate as the latest player in the region’s relentless drug trade to face federal justice. Maxwell pled guilty to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine” in U.S. District Court. The charge carries a maximum penalty of twenty…
Post Falls Woman Admits Hiding $38,960 in Bankruptcy Scam
Rebecca C. Buell, 48, of Post Falls, Idaho, stood in federal court today and admitted to hiding $38,960.53 in assets during a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in 2013. Facing federal charges, Buell waived her right to indictment and pleaded guilty to concealment of bankruptcy assets, according to U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson. The crime came…
Hartford Cocaine Kingpin Todd Vernon Caged for 5 Years
Todd Vernon, 42, of Hartford, is going down for five years behind federal bars after being sentenced to 60 months for trafficking multi-kilo shipments of cocaine across state lines. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer handed down the sentence in New Haven, adding five years of supervised release and a $50,000 fine. Vernon, a Canadian…
