Tag: November 2016
William Grobes IV Pleads Guilty to $4.5M GI Bill Fraud
NORFOLK, Va. — William E. Grobes, IV, 45, of Chesapeake, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering in a brazen $4.5 million scam that exploited the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The owner of the College of Beauty and Barber Culture (CBBC) orchestrated a years-long scheme to defraud the Department of…
Torrance Man Jace Jeanes Gets 87 Months for Child Porn Ring
A Torrance man has been slammed with an 87-month federal prison sentence after amassing and distributing more than 20,000 images and videos of child pornography through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. Jace Jeanes, 39, admitted to hoarding the illicit material and making it accessible to predators across the digital underground. Jeanes was sentenced Monday by United…
Ammon Covino Sentenced to Additional Prison Term for Illegal Marine Life Trade
Crime journalist’s gritty report: Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced former Idaho Aquarium operator Ammon Covino to eight months in prison for violating conditions of his release, and ordered an additional one-year term of supervised release. Covino, 43, was originally convicted in 2013 for conspiring to harvest, transport, and sell spotted eagle rays and lemon sharks.…
Raphael Oswald Pleads Guilty in $139K Tax Fraud Scheme
Palm Beach resident Raphael Oswald, a/k/a Mackenson R. Olibrice, 37, of Rivera Beach, Florida, pled guilty to orchestrating a massive stolen identity tax fraud scheme that netted over $139,308 in ill-gotten federal tax refunds. The plea, entered in federal court, marks a grim milestone in a case that exposed layers of financial deception tied to…
Jim C. Hodge, Allied Home Mortgage Liable for $92M FHA Fraud
A federal jury has found Jim C. Hodge and his former mortgage empire, Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation and Allied Home Mortgage Corporation, liable for a decade-long campaign of civil mortgage fraud that cost U.S. taxpayers over $92 million. After a five-week trial in Houston, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict holding the entities and…
Shawn Keathley Sentenced in Hurricane Meth Deal
Shawn Keathley, 26, of Hurricane, West Virginia, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced to two years for distributing methamphetamine, marking another conviction in the government’s relentless push against synthetic drug networks in central Appalachia. Keathley pleaded guilty to a single count of meth distribution and admitted in court that on March 20, 2014,…
Carlsbad Man Sentenced in $15M Sinaloa Cartel Money Laundering Scheme
Bradley John Martin, 55, of Carlsbad, has been sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison for his role in a sprawling international money laundering ring that moved over $15 million in drug profits tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and affiliated trafficking organizations. The sentence, handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Christina…
Jim C. Hodge, Allied Home Mortgage Liable in $92M FHA Fraud
Jim C. Hodge and the entities formerly known as Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation and Allied Home Mortgage Corporation were found liable by a federal jury in Houston for a sprawling, more than ten-year mortgage fraud scheme that defrauded the Federal Housing Administration’s insurance program of tens of millions. After a five-week trial, the jury…
Bakare Indicted in Stolen Identity Tax Fraud
MACON, GA – Shade Bakare, a resident of Columbus, Georgia, is facing federal charges after a grand jury indictment revealed her central role in a brazen stolen identity refund fraud scheme. The indictment, unsealed today, alleges Bakare cashed fraudulently obtained tax refund checks throughout 2013, lining her pockets at the expense of taxpayers and victims…
Morgantown Man Jailed for Synthetic Marijuana, Money Laundering
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – In a dramatic turn of events, Randolph Kocan, 61, from Morgantown, was meted out an 87-month sentence in federal court today for distributing synthetic marijuana and money laundering. United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced the sentencing. Kocan, who ran Mid Nite Adult in Morgantown, has been selling designer drugs…
