September 2010 Press Releases
Sept. 30, 2010 - James
ROCKPORT MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR PRODUCING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
(HOUSTON) – A 28 year-old Rockport man has been sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison without parole for production of child pornography (Read more)
Sept. 30, 2010 - Osteen
FORMER BANK EMPLOYEE INDICTED FOR STEALING FUNDS HELD IN TRUST
(HOUSTON) – A former administrative assistant in the Trust Department of a Galveston branch of Frost Bank has been indicted by a federal grand jury for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft (Read more)
Sept. 30, 2010 - Operation Tres Hermanos
9 ARRESTED AS A RESULT OF OPERATION TRES HERMANOS
(HOUSTON) - Nine people charged with various counts of trafficking cocaine or marijuana or laundering drug proceeds have been arrested as a result of an 18-month Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation dubbed Operation Tres Hermanos (Read more)
Sept. 29, 2010 - Crummey
JURY CONVICTS IN TAX CASE – JUDGE ORDERS DEFENDANT INTO CUSTODY
(HOUSTON) – Immediately after a jury found Brent Edward Crummey guilty of six counts of filing a false claim against the United States in a tax case, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt, who presided over the trial, ordered Crummey into federal custody pending sentencing (Read more)
Sept. 29, 2010 - $3.1 Million Seized
FOURTEEN PERSONS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO SMUGGLE $3.1 MILLION IN CASH INTO MEXICO
17 pieces of luggage found to contain total of $3.1 million in undeclared currency wrapped in air mattresses
(McALLEN, Texas) – Fourteen passengers aboard a tour bus bound for Mexico have been arrested and charged for knowingly conspiring to evade currency transaction reporting requirements of $3.1 million in U.S. currency concealed in luggage (Read more)
Sept. 29, 2010 - Jara-Favela
JURY CONVICTS MEXICAN NATIONAL OF ATTEMPTED ILLEGAL REENTRY INTO THE U.S. AND LYING TO CBP OFFICERS
(LAREDO, Texas) - A former legal permanent resident of the United States deported earlier this year was convicted by a jury's verdict of attempting to illegally re-enter the United States and lying to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents following a one-day jury trial (Read more)
Sept. 29, 2010 - Ramirez et al
MEMBERS OF A STARR COUNTY MARIJUANA SMUGGLING GROUP SENTENCED TO PRISON
(McALLEN, Texas) – Six Starr County area residents convicted of conspiring together to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana have been sentenced today to lengthy prison terms (Read more)
Sept. 28, 2010 - Ferguson et al
TEN MORE SENTENCED FOLLOWING CONVICTIONS FOR ROLE IN STEROIDS/HYDROCODONE/ECSTASY DISTRIBUTION CELL OPERATING IN HARRIS AND FT. BEND COUNTIES
(HOUSTON) – Ten more members of Charles Brock Falkenhagen’s steroid/hydrocodone/ecstasy distribution cell have been sentenced (Read more)
Sept. 27, 2010 - Hale
JURY CONVICTS LAREDO PD OFFICER OF CONSPIRACY TO TRAFFICK COCAINE
Jury acquits on wire and mail fraud charges arising from alleged insurance fraud scheme
(LAREDO, Texas) – A federal jury has convicted Laredo Police Department (LPD) officer Orlando Jesus Hale, aka Chacho, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and using a firearm in furtherance of that drug offense (Read more)
Sept. 24, 2010 - Badat and Ali
ARRESTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH FRAUD SCHEME INVOLVING PURCHASE OF HOUSTON AREA MOTEL
(HOUSTON) - A three-count federal indictment charging Ayub Mohmed Badat and Jam Niaz Ali for their alleged involvement in a mail and wire fraud scheme has been unsealed following the arrest of both men (Read more)
Sept. 24, 2010 - Tindall
CONROE OFFICER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR 2008 BANK ROBBERY
(HOUSTON) – Michael E. Tindall, a former Sergeant with the Conroe Police Department who was convicted following a jury trial in March 2010 for the 2008 robbery of the First Bank of Conroe, has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison (Read more)
Sept. 24, 2010 - Uresti-Granger
LAREDO ARRESTS DISMANTLE ALLEGED ALIEN SMUGGLING RING
(LAREDO, Texas) – A sealed six-count indictment charging a total of seven persons for conspiring to harbor smuggled Mexican, Chinese and other foreign nationals in stash houses in and around Laredo, Texas, and to transporting the aliens between Laredo, Houston and other U.S. locations was partially unsealed today following the arrest of four of the defendants charged (Read more)
Sept. 23, 2010 - Garcia-Gonzalez
JURY CONVICTS BAR OWNER OF SEX TRAFFICKING
(McALLEN, Texas) - Late this afternoon, a federal jury returned its verdicts finding bar owner Beleal Garcia-Gonzalez, 34, of all three counts of sex trafficking alleged in the indictment as well as conspiracy to harbor aliens and six counts of harboring aliens (Read more)
Sept. 22, 2010 - Garcia
ONLINE PREDATOR SENTENCED TO PRISON
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) – Joel Michael Garcia, 29, has been sentenced to prison for attempted coercion and enticement of a child and distribution of child pornography (Read more)
Sept. 21, 2010 - Casarez
WESLACO MAN CONVICTED OF RECEIPT AND PRODUCTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
(MCALLEN, Texas) – After admitting to having received more than 400 movies and 4,000 images of young children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and producing at least one of those images with a Samsung cellular phone and then uploading the image onto his computer, Raul Casarez of Weslaco, Texas, was convicted of receipt and production of child pornography (Read more)
Sept. 21, 2010 - Lopez et al
SENDING PARCELS OF MARIJUANA THROUGH U.S. MAIL RESULTS IN PRISON TERMS FOR THREE
(MCALLEN, Texas) – Three McAllen residents convicted of distributing marijuana via the U.S. Mail have been sentenced to prison (Read more)
Sept. 20, 2010 - Falkenhagen
LEADER OF FT. BEND AREA STEROIDS/HYDROCODONE/ECSTASY RING SENTENCED
(HOUSTON, Texas) -- Charles Brock Falkenhagen, the leader of a ring involved in the trafficking of steroids, hydrocodone and ecstasy in the Fort Bend county area, was sentenced to prison today for conspiracy to possess and distribute anabolic steroids, hydrocodone, and ecstasy, and for laundering money while smuggling human growth hormone from China into the United States (Read more)
Sept. 17, 2010 - Gonzalez-Lopez
FEMALE UNITED STATES CITIZEN CONVICTED FOR ALIEN SMUGGLING
(BROWNSVILLE, Texas) – A jury has found Raquel Gonzalez-Lopez, 33, a U.S. citizen residing in Matamoros, Mexico, guilty of conspiracy and bringing an illegal alien into the U.S. (Read more)
Sept. 16, 2010 - Cole
DME OWNER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR HEALTH CARE FRAUD
Almost $1 million in restitution ordered
(HOUSTON) – An owner of a durable medical equipment (DME) company has been sentenced to prison for defrauding the Medicaid health care program of approximately $1 million by submitting false and fraudulent claims for incontinence supplies (Read more)
Sept. 16, 2010 - Suddeth
FORMER KINDERGARTEN TEACHER INDICTED FOR SEXUALLY EXPLOITING SCHOOL CHILDREN IN CURACAO
(HOUSTON) - A federal grand jury has charged a former kindergarten teacher at the International School of Curacao with molesting children at the school and taking pornographic photographs of some of the children (Read more)
Sept. 15, 2010 - Bellamy
LOCAL TAX RETURN PREPARER SENTENCED FOR FALSIFYING TAX RETURNS
(HOUSTON) – A local tax return preparer has been sentenced to prison for preparing false income tax returns (Read more)
Sept. 15, 2010 - Infante
PERUVIAN CITIZEN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR TRANSPORTING AND POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
(HOUSTON) – A Peruvian national convicted of transporting and possessing numerous compact and digital video disks into the United States upon arriving at Bush Intercontinental Airport aboard an international flight in September 2009 has been sentenced to prison (Read more)
Sept. 15, 2010 - Operation X-Men
OPERATION X-MEN NETS TWO ROMA POLICE OFFICERS AND OTHERS FOR ALLEGEDLY CONSPIRING TO TRAFFICK MARIJUANA
(MCALLEN, Texas) - Two members of the Roma, Texas, Police Department (RPD) were arrested yesterday along with five others as the result of a federal indictment charging each with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana since August 2006 (Read more)
Sept. 14, 2010 - Roqumore
FORMER HOUSTON GAS TRADER ACCUSED IN $6.8 MILLION FRAUD
(HOUSTON) – A 19-count indictment charging a former Houston gas trader with wire fraud and money laundering arising from an alleged scheme to defraud several natural gas trading companies of nearly $7 million has been unsealed (Read more)
Sept. 14, 2010 - Richardson
PASADENA MAN CONVICTED OF DISTRIBUTING AND POSSESSING HUNDREDS OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IMAGES AND VIDEOS
(HOUSTON) – Following a one-day bench trial, United States District Court Judge Gray Miller has found Bennie E. Richardson IV, of Pasadena, Texas, guilty of distributing and possessing child pornography (Read more)
Sept. 14, 2010 - Zamora
FORMER CITY PARKS WORKER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR COCAINE CONSPIRACY
(HOUSTON) – A former city parks worker convicted of conspiracy and attempt to possess with intent to distribute cocaine has been sentenced to 327 months in federal prison without parole (Read more)
Sept. 10, 2010 - Samuel-Harris
FORMER NRG INC. EMPLOYEE SENTENCED TO PRISON
(HOUSTON) – An employee of NRG Energy Inc. has been sentenced to prison for defrauding her former employer of more than $600,000 (Read more)
Sept. 9, 2010 - Armendariz et al
LAST TWO OF EIGHT CHARGED IN ATTEMPTED CARJACKING OF OFF DUTY BP AGENT CONVICTED
(MCALLEN, Texas) – The last two of eight defendants charged with the attempted carjacking of an off duty Border Patrol agent have been convicted of attempted carjacking on the eve of trial (Read more)
Sept. 9, 2010 - Cavazos
FORMER POSTAL EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH THEFT OF MAIL MATTER
(LAREDO, Texas) - Raul Cavazos, 62, of Edinburgh, Texas, has been arrested as a result of the return of a sealed indictment which charges him with theft of mail matter by a U.S. Postal Service employee (Read more)
Sept. 7, 2010 - Edman
SELLING COUNTERFEIT CISCO PARTS TO BUREAU OF PRISONS MEANS OWNER OF SYREN TECHNOLOGY WILL NOW SPEND TIME THERE
(HOUSTON) – Robert Edman 30, formerly of Richmond, Texas, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for selling counterfeit Cisco products to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) (Read more)
Sept. 7, 2010 - Encinia
FORMER GUARD PLEADS GUILTY TO PROVIDING MARIJUANA TO INMATE
(VICTORIA, Texas) – A former federal prison guard has been convicted of smuggling contraband into a federal facility (Read more)
Sept. 3, 2010 - Garcia
TRAFFICKING METH RESULTS IN LIFETIME PRISON TERM FOR PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICKER
(LAREDO, Texas) – A third-time conviction for trafficking drugs lands trafficker in federal prison for life without parole (Read more)
Sept. 3, 2010 - Wang
HOUSTON RESIDENT CONVICTED OF TRAFFICKING IN FAKE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
(HOUSTON) - En Wang, 32, the owner of Houston-based Jiao Long USA Inc., has been convicted of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and causing the introduction of counterfeit and misbranded drugs into interstate commerce (Read more)
Sept. 2, 2010 - McCullough
FORMER CFO OF HOUSTON ENGINEERING FIRM SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR EMBEZZLING MILLIONS
(HOUSTON) – Christopher McCullough, 47, currently of Frederic, Colo., and formerly of Houston, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for his embezzlement of more than $3 million while serving as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of LJA Engineering (Read more)
Sept. 2, 2010 - Operation Havoc
OPERATION HAVOC YIELDS 21 ARRESTS
(LAREDO, Texas) – A total of 21 alleged members of a cocaine and marijuana trafficking and money laundering organization are in federal custody today as a result of enforcement actions conducted on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010, in Laredo and Austin, Texas, and Tampa, Fla. (Read more)
Sept. 2, 2010 - Taylor
FORMER USPS CONTRACTOR ARRESTED FOR MAIL THEFT
(HOUSTON) – Linda Taylor, 50, of Coldspring, Texas, has been arrested as a result of the return of a one-count indictment charging her with theft of U.S. Mail (Read more)
Sept. 1, 2010 - Davis
LOAN OFFICER INDICTED FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO BANKS
(HOUSTON) - A former loan officer for a Houston financial services company has been indicted for making false statements to two Houston banks as part of an alleged scheme to defraud the banks (Read more)
